Frequent Flat Tires

Got my 3rd flat tire - all FRONT - in 6 months. Not a whole lot of miles either and mostly street. Pressure is right. Last change was an HD tube.

Any explanations?

Any pattern to where the flats are happening?

Distance from valve stem? Specific spoke location?

Have you searched the inside of tire to make sure there's nothing small poking through that wears a whole in your tube over time?


What is the "right" pressure you're talking about?

Is there any consistent relationship you can think of between the flats you've been getting?

I would ride rocks all day with as low as 10 psi and never got a flat.
1 you could have something in the tire.
2 you pinch the tube when you mounted the tire and when you air it up it holes are for a lil bit. Best way to find out if you do pinch a tube is to only put 3 to 5 psi and let it sit over nite..
I had a friend do this. Put 30 psi in it and took it for a ride on the street the bike sat all week and was fine and the day he was going to ride it in the woods he would drop down to 13psi and by the time he got to the trails he had a flat The bike was in the back of his pickup..
3 you got really bad luck with getting flats...

I would check 1 and 2 first tho...

...and always question/replace the valve stem first. ....AND ALWAYS PUT A CAP ON IT ( debris can get into the stem and cause a stem malfunction ) !

Who's fixing the flats ? Do you examine the tire and tube looking for the flat mechanism ?

Each mechanism has a tell-tale sign (tire roll if to low pressure, tube pinches, spokes on the inside of the tube, external puncture ) all possess distinctively different visual symptoms.

Also, as MotoDude pointed out, pay attention to when you get them. People hostile to M/Cs travel in their quiet lil life will spill nails out and they may be lingering about randomly where you ride. ...and they don't always stay lodged in the tires.

Learn to visually detect the mechanisms so you can prevent future flats.

One thing I swear by when I run my tubes is ALWAYS use a metal valve cap! The ones I use have the valve core removal tool on the end, and an o-ring inside the cap. I was letting some air out of my tires when the valve core stuck open. I didn't have my air compressor on me so I quickly screwed on the cap. It held the air into the tube until I rode the last 35 miles home where I unscrewed it, and was able to pull the core out, clean the piece of tiny pebble, reinstall, re-inflate and ride again.

I've been riding for 30 years and I have never had a flat while riding. I've come out to the garage and seen the tire flat overnight, but never out on the trail or the road.

On my WR I use Ultra-Heavy-Duty tubes and I think I'll never need the tire repair kit I carry. However, if I didn't carry it, I'd surely get a flat...

Something's wrong with your wheel/tube/tire/technique...

GusinCA wrote:

I've been riding for 30 years and I have never had a flat while riding.

That's amazing in itself. Not to jinx myself, but I can pretty much count one of the seven bikes in the garage will get a flat within a year's time.

It's pretty rare we pinch a tube, but one good bang on a big rock will do it. After riding through the dozens of trails that eventually end-up in a pallet fire camp in the desert I'm surprised we don't get one every trip.

GusinCA wrote:

On my WR I use Ultra-Heavy-Duty tubes and I think I'll never need the tire repair kit I carry. However, if I didn't carry it, I'd surely get a flat...

Neither tires nor tubes will stop nails; Luck and Murphy's law will.

GusinCA wrote:

Something's wrong with your wheel/tube/tire/technique...

Maybe all he needs is a patch kit.