



Photos aren't the best examples, but taking a pick to your tyres to pull any shards of glass out before they get to work further in and get to your tube or cost you sealant and pressure as you wear down your tyre.
I appreciate they can also wiggle out by themselves but they probably eat into your tread or make larger cuts as they escape, so evicting them early prevents them making a larger 'wound' thats easier for something else to find its way into and cause you a flat later down the line.
This might be on the extreme side of maintenance and bike care, i try to do this every other month with 'a fine tooth comb' level of effort where i explore every cut and hole with a pick, but when i clean my bike on a stand I'll slowly rotate my wheel and look for prizes to remove every couple of weeks.
I figure the time cost beats stopping for a puncture, and my commuter is a roady, so the tyres are leaner and a bit more susceptible. But i see 'bigger/thicker' commuter tyres at work harbouring big ol' chunks of glass and even roof/thumb tacks that would wreck a tube if they get through.
by Positive_Ad_7149
1 Comment
I wanna explore this post a bit further. I enjoy being ‘extra’ and making alot of time for maintenance and seeing how far i can take or run components, ive picked and cleaned my f+r tyres as ive posted this, they’re both tubeless and in exploring and cleaning all the cuts with a pick they’ve both self sealed once; this demonstrates that imbedded glass can cut deep into the tyre and put your tube at risk, obviously my pick has found the ‘worst/deepest’ and gone beyond that, and my tyres have self sealed. But this has found and resolved a ‘future puncture’ while I’m at home. Instead of on the road.
So if you’re skimming this and thinking this is a bonus chore that can give you punctures, or penalise you for running tubes, or celebrating tubeless. Your effectively dodging future punctures by cleaning out substantial existing damage, and you can also deflate tyres with tubes and carry out the same inspection/removal and not risk damaging your tubes.
Furthermore, you can patch tyres like innertubes; if you’ve discovered a deep gouge that concerns you. You can apply patches to the inside of a tyre, it will give an extra mild barrier. I will patch the inside of performance racing tyres if tubeless sealant continues to bleed out of a hole that sealant has ‘fixed’. Sturdier tyre boots also exist. Park tool sells a heavy duty tyre patch that you can apply to the inside of a tire if your concerned by any damage.