Flat Tire Help

[John]

I've run into an unusual flat tire problem on my Ramboo. I've had
several flat front tires since I bought it a year ago, and all are
caused by a hole at the base of the stem. Consistent problem with
various brands and sizes of tubes. I've looked, unsuccessfully, for a
burr around the stem hole in the rim. I'm going to try adding a patch
around the stem as a preventive measure. Have any of you run into
this problem before? Any suggstions?

[Michael Hechmer]

Yikes, front tire flats are scary; I hope these were slow leaks.  Is the stem breaking away from the tube?  Are you using tubes with threaded stems and a locknut?  I know a lot of mechanics throw away that locknut, claiming its superfluous, but I believe it helps to keep the tube in position, at least during installation.  Do you have, or can you borrow a different front wheel and test your rim hypothesis?

michael

[Philip Williamson]

I had a string of tubes failing at the valve stem. I think it was
caused by the tube creeping when the tire pressure was too low.
Sometimes it was a hole, sometimes it was more like the valve attachem
started peeling up. Hard to patch a tube that close to the valve stem.

Do you see your valve stems cocked over at an angle? That's what I was
seeing on my mountain bike. I started being more careful about proper
inflation, and started using the dork nuts instead of keeping them for
M6 spacers. I haven't had that problem since.

Philip
Philip Williamson
www.biketinker.com

[Sean Whelan]

Several years ago, I was using a traditional brass Silca presta pump head (of the sort that you can buy from Harris Cyclery). It is a great pump head, but it has no locking mechanism, so it is full on secure with no release. In fact, it locked so tightly on to the threaded Presta valves that I often suffered flats at the seam where the valve joins the tube. Not necessarily at the time of inflation.

I switched pump heads to a less "tight" fit - including ones with a lever. (Serfas, SKS, etc.) and the flat problem went away.

When you pump up, is there a lot of friction to remove the pump head?

Thanks,
Sean

--- On Thu, 12/15/11, Philip Williamson <philip.w...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[dougP]

On my Atlantis, the original front flatted with unusual frequency.
The punctures were consistenty on the inside of the tube. Replacing
the rim strip took care of the problem. In your situation where the
problem is in the stem area, you might try a rubber washer in the stem
hole. The Mavic rims I now have on the Atlantis came with rubber
washers.

dougP

[Horace]

Are you tightening the nut lock all the way to the rim? If so, stop doing that.

[Allingham II, Thomas J]

Why is that not advisable?

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