Latex tube - can't find puncture!

[pakora]

This is probably a dumb noob thing, but I have a Challenge latex tube I'm patching after a puncture and I can't find the puncture, even overfilling it and submerging it in clean water.

I know latex's self-sealing ability can make this difficult sometimes, but I have spent a half an hour and I still can't find it. I don't really want to give up on a $15 tube for this reason :)

It's small enough that I only discovered it after patching the last puncture, installing the wheel/tire, using it on Wednesday, and discovering it was flat when I grabbed it for a cross race two days later. My buddy pumped it up to 60psi and threw it in the pit while I used another wheel, and by the end of the day it was only down to about 35 or so.

It actually took me forever to find the last puncture as well. Definitely no thorns, glass etc stuck in the casing - at least not that I can see, or feel when I drag my fingers slow and hard around the inside of the tire.

[gospastic]

Have you checked the valve core?

[Lewis Moon]

This is probably a dumb noob thing, but I have a Challenge latex tube I'm patching after a puncture and I can't find the puncture, even overfilling it and submerging it in clean water.

I know latex's self-sealing ability can make this difficult sometimes, but I have spent a half an hour and I still can't find it. I don't really want to give up on a $15 tube for this reason :)

It's small enough that I only discovered it after patching the last puncture, installing the wheel/tire, using it on Wednesday, and discovering it was flat when I grabbed it for a cross race two days later. My buddy pumped it up to 60psi and threw it in the pit while I used another wheel, and by the end of the day it was only down to about 35 or so.

It actually took me forever to find the last puncture as well. Definitely no thorns, glass etc stuck in the casing - at least not that I can see, or feel when I drag my fingers slow and hard around the inside of the tire.

Throw it away and by a reasonably priced tube.

[pakora]

Have you checked the valve core?

In fact I have not, and it's removeable.

Thanks!

And Lewis_, I've considered just throwing the whole bike in the river, but I won't have time to get a new one set up for Saturday.

[Birddog]

Those tiny no see um holes can be responsible for the transmissions of STD's too. Be careful.

[cheshirecycle]

latex tubes go flat quick... even when in perfect shape...:banana:

[cheshirecycle]

don't listen to the haters!!! latex tubes are the shizzzzzz:no:

[pakora]

Have you checked the valve core?

It was in fact the valve core, gospastic. Wheel's been holding air for 3 days now.

Thanks, I wouldn't have thought to check that on a new tube (or an old one for that matter).

[54ny77]

Check back in about 9 months, you'll find something.

:p

[gospastic]

It was in fact the valve core, gospastic. Wheel's been holding air for 3 days now.

Thanks, I wouldn't have thought to check that on a new tube (or an old one for that matter).


:banana:

I usually check them on first install. I've had a few on Vredestein tubes that weren't totally tight. I also have a Lezyne pump with that screw-on chuck that can unscrew them sometimes.

[bcm119]

Those Challenge valve cores are finicky. I never have to remove them so I glue them in to prevent that kind of thing.

[ultraman6970]

Got a problem like that like 30 years ago in an argentinian made tubular, the most rounded tubular i ever seen, worked perfect, got a flat, found exactly where the small hole was... opened the tubular, we started to stretch the tube inside to find the god damm pinch and nothing. had to put a large ass patch around the area of the pinch, inflated it, still leaking... what we ended up doing was to patch it all the way around because we could not find the darn hole.

Even with that the thing was losing air quick. Trashed after like 1000 km.

[roguedog]

Check back in about 9 months, you'll find something.

:p


:p

[Louis]

Check back in about 9 months, you'll find something.

From Wikipedia for a related item:

The typical use "leak" rate among "latex tube" users varies depending on the population being studied, ranging from 10–18% per year.