Punctures

[PH]

I don't mind them really, the occasional one seems a fair price for riding on decent tyres, it's usually just an excuse for a short break, step off the bike, eat something, do something different for a few minutes...
But flippin heck, two weeks into 2023 and I've already had more than in 2022, two last year and THREE this, on different wheels - One slow one that got me home after adding air, pin hole but worryingly couldn't find anything in the tyre, then a thorn on the canal path yesterday, went out to check the pressure on that this morning and front was flat from a shard of glass... If it keeps up at this rate I'll have to eat my words and buy some Marathon Pluss 

[Danneaux]

I feel for and with you, Paul.

I just had a rare front puncture on the nearly new Continental UltraSport fitted to my Fixie. I put it down to a particularly bad road I had to ride to and from my former doctor's medical clinic -- and my frame of mind. Found out they have breached privacy laws and the whole of my medical records -- for the last 9 years! -- have been interleaved with those of a cancer patient currently in extremis and no one at the clinic seemed to care about his immediate medical needs or my privacy, despite three hours spent there with the clinic manager explaining the law and seriousness of the problem.

Whatever, it kept me from being as watchful as I should have been and as a result I nailed a piece of glass square-on and psssssssssssss! In the pouring rain, of course, and no cover to be found. Glad I had a spare at the ready as successfully applying a patch would have been iffy in the moment.

Next time, I need to compartmentalize and focus better on the task at hand.

That said, damp/wet days do make rubber easier to cut. Remembering back to my public school science class days, we could hack and saw away on rubber Bunsen burner tubing all day with no result but wet the blade or tubing with water first and it cut like a hot knife through butter. I always get more punctures in winter than summer and this may be why....

Best and in empathy, Dan.

[Moronic]

Funny you should mention punctures. I've been excitedly running my Mercury's original Schwalbe G-One Speed 50mm tubeless and convinced this tech was the way of the future. Loved the way the white sealant would lead me to the site of a puncture, and how quick and easy it was to plug without removing a wheel.

Then the rear, tread well worn, slowly goes down and stays down. Adding sealant doesn't help, and no evidence of the leak. I'd bought a set of Rene Herse Extralights that I'd been dying to try and so threw one on the rear - discoverig that on my rim it would need a tube, which RH recommends anyway in the fine print. Said recommendation including the observation that if run tubeless, the sidewall will start to leak as the tyre ages.

Fast forward to an early morning recently when Lizzy and I go to dig out the bikes for a spin and I have a flat front. Diagnosis goes the same way as the rear: adding sealant just wastes it but no sign of tread damage.

Forensic examination in a sink full of water discovers a trail of tiny bubbles from a part of the tyre near the rim.

My guess: it is not only RH ultralights that start to leak from the sidewalls as they age.

So the other RH is now on the front and I'm back to tubes at both ends. Only happy bit is the discovery that patches now come self-adhesive and are reported as working well.

Most annoying bit is the return to removing the wheel in most cases when effecting a repair.

I'm enjoying the Extralights but not convinced they offer so much excitement that I won't return to less exalted competitors that run on my wheels tubeless. We'll see.

I'm not even sure the Extralights (rear) are that pretty.

[mickeg]

Most of the snow here has disappeared from sublimation.  Since Christmas have only had a slight dusting of fresh snow.  The heavy snow was before Christmas.  Did a 20 mile ride for exercise a couple days ago, first ride in over a month.  No ice, thus have not installed the studded tires yet.  No punctures yet this year, but I only average one a year.  I had one puncture last year, thus an average year.  As I type this, it is minus 2 degrees (C) outside.

[John Saxby]

Jeez, George, not even sure that qualifies as winter 

Sounds pretty good, tho', I have to say.

-19 C here this morning, tho' it must be said thatwas the coldest night of the winter -- until now, we've had loadsa snow, but only one night down to -10.  The snow is already at approx half of our annual average of 220 cms, with the snowiest month (Feb) still to come.  Strange times, if nowhere near as malevolent and the weather in Buffalo NY.

So, no cycling at all at chez moi since mid-November:  the road conditions, esp motorists' behaviour, make it just too dangerous.  Here's an enjoyable & thoughtful vid on winter cycling in Canadian cities (excluding, of course, those in southwestern BC), and how & why they do it so well in Finland:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCBU  (It's 15 mins long, & you can skip the last couple of minutes.)

Ah yes, the link to punctures:  Reading with interest all your experiences with tubeless and/or light'n'fast tires. Tho' I won't have to contend with winter punctures, I'm thinking about buying an RH 650B x 42 mm as a front tire for day rides on Freddie. If I buy one, I'll spec the "endurance" casing, & use Schwalbe's XXlight tubes.  My only experience with RH tires was in the summer of 2017.  Bought a pair of Naches Pass 26 x 1.75s for my Raven, seeking slightly more volumes than the Schwalbe Supremes 26 x 1.6s I was running at the time. The RHs ("Compass" at the time) were lovely tires, comfortable and a cog faster than the Supremes.

BUT.  There were two problems. The first was minor: installed, they were the same size as the Supremes, 40 mm inflated.  So, no greater volume, although the more flexible sidewalls did make them a little more comfortable (as well as faster) than the wholly-acceptable Supremes. 

The second problem was, for me, a deal-breaker: in three or four day rides totalling about 400 kms over ten days or so in Ottawa and surrounds, I had three punctures on three separate rides, one at the front and two at the rear.  These were slow-ish leaks rather than big cuts or blowouts; and were central to the tube, not a product of sidewall cuts. I repaired or replaced the tube en route each time.  After those three punctures I decided then & there not to use the Naches Pass tires for any touring, and in fact stopped using them entirely. 

So, an expensive experiment, and I'm not in any rush to buy the next (650B) iteration.

Good luck to all with your winter riding.  Mine will be strictly aboard my trainer bike. 

[mickeg]

I have been happy enough with Schwalbe Marathon series tires (including Dureme, Extreme, etc.) over the years that I doubt I will buy anything else for pavement riding.  And with occasional sales pre-covid, at this time have so many unused tires in inventory that it will probably be years before I buy another.

Compass/Rene Herse, I am sure they are nice but I do not mind being a bit slower, so not interested at this time.

And tubeless, since in a typical year I ride five or six different bikes, about three or four of which get a lot of miles on them, I would probably spend a lot more time maintaining sealant than I spend on the occasional tube change.  So, sticking with tubes.  I do not see tubeless as being any advantage to me.  That said, if I had one bike and put all my miles on that one, I might be more inclined to use tubeless.

I will probably have to put my studded tires on in a month or so.  Another reason to stick with tubes, in a typical year I am switching between non-studded and studded tires on my Nomad Mk II twice a year.
 

[martinf]

Compass/Rene Herse, I am sure they are nice but I do not mind being a bit slower, so not interested at this time.

Very lightweight tyres might be slower if you factor in the time spent repairing punctures.

Having been satisfied with lightweight Schwalbe One on my old derailleur lightweight I tried Schwalbe One on my Brompton.

3 punctures in about 200 kms, at that rate even Marathon Plus are globally faster. So I sold them and put something heavier on the Brompton.

What I didn't realise at the time of purchase was that the Schwalbe One comes in several different types. The 700C on my lightweight had a lightweight puncture protection belt, this was absent on the 16" Brompton tyres.

[mickeg]

...  and how & why they do it so well in Finland:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCBU  (It's 15 mins long, & you can skip the last couple of minutes.)
...

Thanks for posting, great video.

Here expect about a half inch of rain (~12mm) tomorrow, just above freezing, but the ground is frozen so it will probably be a mess.

[kwkirby01]

PH, the bike looks like your 'new' Nomad. Aside from the puncture, how are you getting on with it? Do you find yourself using it more than the Mercury? How does it compare?
Kevin

[JohnR]

I've not had sidewall leaks on the G-One Speed tyres and wonder if they get too much flexing if a bike is well loaded. I'm currently riding on tubeless G-One Allround tyreswhich are approaching 1000 miles since fitted in September. So far there are no noticeable punctures but pressures need to be topped up by a few PSI every week or so. I like a bit of tread when using the mucky winter roads which these tyres provide but they also roll very nicely. It might be wishful thinking but I assume that as the little knobs hold the main tyre carcass a few mm clear of the road surface then there's a reduced risk of small thorns or bits of glass causing punctures.

[PH]

Found out they have breached privacy laws and the whole of my medical records -- for the last 9 years! --

That's awful Dan, data protection of any sort is simpler than it's ever been, it's hard to imagine the level of incompetence that would lead to that.
But yes, distraction isn't a good thing!  Tyres are so much better than they were, we were discussing this on a group ride today where I was also moaning about my luck!  When I started riding with this group twenty years ago, mostly lanes with a few paths and bridleways, there's be a puncture most weeks, now they're occasional enough to be memorable.

[PH]

PH, the bike looks like your 'new' Nomad. Aside from the puncture, how are you getting on with it? Do you find yourself using it more than the Mercury? How does it compare?
Kevin

Through the winter it's been my most used bike, I don't think I've ridden the Mercury since October, nothing to do with the bikes I just haven't done any of the sorts of rides the Mercury excels at.  Although I haven't toured on it yet, I've done a few 100+ km rides and a fair bit of load lugging. On paper it losses little to the Mercury, that shouldn't be surprising, it's the same tyre size and a couple of kg heavier, average speeds are in the same region.
The differences are in the feel, all that subjective stuff, the Nomad doesn't feel as sharp or as rewarding to ride, there feels little incentive to push a bit harder, neither does it have the same plush comfort, though it's far from uncomfortable... the payoff for that is that it's rock steady, maybe to the point of sometimes being a bit boring, though sometimes that's just what you want from a bike.
What it has done is free the Mercury from some of it's previous duties, which may allow me to tweak it to even better suit those rides I shall use it for, fast non camping touring and Audax.

[PH]

Punctures four and five - that's now more than in any year since 2019 and it's still January!
I'd noticed there's been a lot of hedge cutting on the ride two days ago, there seemed to have been a reasonable effort at clearing up and I slowed right down and took extra care, though it was dusk... I thought I'd got away with it.  Didn't touch the bike yesterday and when I went to use it today both flat! Took the Mercury out instead, it's nice to have a choice.  Fixed the tubes this evening, one thorn was so long I'm surprised it didn't go straight down, maybe it was part sealing it. Washed the tyres and picked out two other thorns and a shard of glass, so it could have been worse.
It's hard not to start doubting the tyres, though the same Almotions, in a different size, did 7,000+ miles on the Surly with two punctures, so I keep telling myself to keep the faith. I need to stock up on repair kits, had to open the fresh one I usually take out with me, maybe I should look out for someone selling in bulk!

[mickeg]

I do not know if they sell this in UK or not.
https://www.autozone.com/suspension-steering-tire-and-wheel/rubber-cement/p/slime-rubber-cement/487520_0_0

And I got a sheet of patches.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/314106329253

I get very few punctures, but I get tired of finding that the little tube in the patch kit dries out a few months after you use it once.  So, I was often getting one repair out of a patch kit.  Thus, bought the big can of glue.  I probably did not need the sheet of patches, had several from the kits that no longer had glue.

I only patched a couple tubes with it, but so far I can say that it appears to work as well as the patch kits.

I carry the self adhesive patches with my on the bike, but I do not trust them past a few months.  Later I peel them off and glue a patch on at home.

[geocycle]

Huge sympathy for the puncture cluster. It does sound like hedge season is the main issue.  Round here it tends to be November but there are some farmers still getting out before nesting season. It is probably still within the expected but it is easy t start doubting the tyres. Good luck!