I've had three flats over the past 2 weeks – 2 in the back wheel and 1 in the front. Trying to figure out what's causing it. The roads near me have a lot of debris on them at the moment, but I haven't been able to find any debris within the tires. Could these tires be too worn? They're schwalbe marathons with about 8000 km on them and I think they look fine, but I'm stumped as to what's causing this – any ideas appreciated
by szrfph
10 Comments
Where on the tubes are the punctures? Find the puncture, find the culprit
Examine the interiors of your tires when you repair a flat. Take a cotton swab around the interior to catch any small points that may be causing the flats. Make sure you are running pressures between the minimum and maximums on your tires.
on schwalbes?! you may have a special kind of luck
Check the sidewalls too, for damage. Agree they don’t look worn.
Sometimes its just like that, ill go years without a flat then get a dozen in one season.
I’ve been using these same tires for a handful of years, and it seems the older punctures can have the wire matrix ‘leak’ into the tube-facing surface.
Was having similar problems, and finally went deep investigating. There was a tiny wire poking in that I kept missing. Tried to pull it, thinking it was debris, but it was attached. Covered it with a tube patch and the tire is back in action.
Find the hole in the tube. What’s it look like? A slit or a pinhole?
If it’s a slit, your tire pressure was too low and/or you hit a curb or pothole. That’s called a “snakebite” or a “pinchflat” because the tube got pinched between the rim and the ground, and there are often 2 slits close together that look like a snake bite.
If it’s a pinhole, the next question is is it on the outer diameter or inner diameter of the tube?
If the pinhole on the inside diameter, then it is likely that your rim tape/strip is not doing an adequate job covering the sharp ends of your spokes, I’d recommend replacing the strip/tape.
If the pinhole is on the outside diameter, then you have something sharp in the tire that you MUST find and remove. Could be glass, thorn, staple, wire, or nail. Run your fingers around the inside of the tire until you feel something sharp (I’m not responsible for injury) and then remove sharp object with pliers, tweezers, or a blade.
It might help if you hold the tube next to the wheel after you’ve located the hole to determine where on the tire to look.
I commuted 20 miles a day for 3 decades over the same route. I could go months/years without a puncture and on one day I had 3 on one journey, in both tires at different points in the journey so not a botched repair.
Sometimes it’s just the way life goes but also a bit of due diligence,as others have also suggested, never goes amiss 😉
I use Marathons on 4-5 bikes in past decade. Not. One. Flat. I simply will not tour with anything else. New bike? New schwalbes. It’s that simple.
OMG, that’s my current tire !!! I freaked out when I saw the photo …
I see too much damage … change your tires. So much damage over not that much wear tells me you’re doing smth rough. If you were just heavy (as I am) there will be much more wear … over 8K
These tires could be old or dupes. Get legit new ones, not worth the risk.
And yes – properly inflated Marathon never gave me a flat. Across 5 bikes, since forever.