Tire flats...

[RABikes2]

I had time for a very short ride yesterday. Just enough time to get out and feel the breeze and enjoy an hour in the sun riding; beautiful day. Two miles from home, I hit a dang bent nail with my rear wheel. :crap: :crap: It punctured my wheel, tube, and rim tape (and not in a spoke hole either) and just stuck there. No time for a repair, I had to flag down a pick-up truck to get me and my Legend home.

Nails, debris, glass, and crap on the side of the road. :no: :no: Grrrrr! :crap:

RA

[coylifut]

what was the rim made out of.

[RABikes2]

what was the rim made out of.

Wheelsmith rims w/ Wheelsmith spokes.

I took the wheel to the shop today and on the advice of my mechanic, I put a piece of rim tape over the hole that was made in the existing rim tape. (The rim appears okay.) I was ready to chuck the tire, but the guys said :no: , the tire still has good tread on it. I put the tires (Panaracer Pasela TourGuard Kevlar) on new in mid February for the 12 hour race in Sebring; there's close to 2,000 miles on them. So, I took another piece of rim tape and put it inside the tire patching the hole from the nail. New tube and ready to go.

I did practice changing the tire twice; I am sooo slow at changing a flat.

Slow Changing RA

[Sandy]

RA- You said that it " punctured my wheel......" Are you saying that it put a hole in the rim?


Slow Spinning Sandy

[William]

Sorry to hear that Cuz. But I'm glad you got home alright.

The nail went through the rim? That's quite a shot. If so, just keep an eye on that spot to make sure no cracking develops.

Happy safe riding Cuz!

William

[Sandy]

That is what I was wondering. Rims are normally cheap. If I had a hole in my rim, I would discard it. Why take a chance? Just get a new rim and have the wheel rebuilt.

Sandy

[William]

That is what I was wondering. Rims are normally cheap. If I had a hole in my rim, I would discard it. Why take a chance? Just get a new rim and have the wheel rebuilt.

Sandy

That is true Sandy. But since RA and her mechanic seemed to think it was useable....I just offered a suggestion to keep an eye on it.

William

[Sandy]

I clearly understood your post. When it comes to wheels and tires, I try not to take any chances.

Please don't get angry and punch a hole in my head!

Scared Serotta Sandy

[William]

I clearly understood your post. When it comes to wheels and tires, I try not to take any chances.

Please don't get angry and punch a hole in my head!

Scared Serotta Sandy

I LOVE YOU MAN!!! ( but I'm with BBDave, I'll be riding behind you ):D

William ;)

[RABikes2]

[QUOTE=Sandy]RA- You said that it " punctured my wheel......" Are you saying that it put a hole in the rim?

Sorry Sandy, my wording wasn't very clear. The nail went through my tire (I say "wheel"), tube, and the rim tape. I didn't take the rim tape off, but we checked the rim from the outside and couldn't see any damage. I took a small piece of rim tape and patched the hole in the rim tape and did the same thing to the inside of the tire. New tube.

Do you think I should have taken off the rim tape and checked if any damage was under it, but just not showing from the outside of the rim?

"Wait for me at the bottom of the hill" RA

[Kevin]

I LOVE YOU MAN!!! ( but I'm with BBDave, I'll be riding behind you ):D

William ;)


The rides at this year's open house are going to be slow.

Kevin

[CalfeeFly]

I would not risk anything with a tire or wheel especially if there are hills and high speed rides around you. I used to try to "save" a tire. One day I pointed out to my wife what an Open Corsa costs...she said my hospital stay would be a lot more expensive.

I have learned to ride well into the lane. The debris isn't there much. It gets you out into the vision line of cars...away from parked car doors...cars have to slow and go around rather than squeezing by. I had read this was the way to ride but I never had the guts for it for a long time. Two cut Open Corsa's two days in a row got me "out." I'd never go back again. I did 40 miles in Columbus, OH last night. I had a great ride and nobody bothered me at all.

Take care and ride safely.

[RABikes2]

I would not risk anything with a tire or wheel especially if there are hills
away from parked car doors...
Fortunately, where I live and ride is "in the country". Not many parked cars on the side of the road. As in riding anywhere, we do have the occasional yahoo mentality of "I'm a redneck/SUV/truck/car/semi and I belong on this road, not you". The road I was riding on was re-done a few years ago and has a great bike lane on it. I was riding just inside the white line of the bike lane when I hit the nail.

There's a hill, to the right of my driveway, that I go down at the start of every bike ride. (And climb at the finish of every bike ride. :D ) You can get up to 35+ mph on it quite easily. I'm going back to my original feelings Calfee, I'm chucking the repaired tire and putting one of my (good) used training tires back on. Thanks for the "common sense" reminder.

RA :beer:

[CalfeeFly]

Safe riding!

[Louis]

That's quite a shot.

I used to live in an apartment complex that had a 0.3 mile road which formed a loop. At the end of my rides I would do a few cool-down laps on that road. One day after my ride I'm relaxing, slowly going round a few times, not watching where I'm going quite as much as I should, and my front wheel rolls over a piece of mulch which then flips into the air (I see this as I look down) and lands at just the right angle (about 45 deg to the ground) to impale my rear tire as it comes along. I flat about 20 yards from my front door...

You could have then tried a million times to roll over that piece of wood and I doubt that you would have been able to duplicate my feat...

Louis

[RABikes2]

Okay, here's my question. Heck, I didn't see this and I changed the flat. Upon inspecting my rim, again and more closely, there are two "dots" where the nail end poked when it went through the rim tape, it didn't poke through at a spoke hole, this is in-between the spoke holes. And the "dots" are on the side of the rim, not the under side where the spokes come out of. It looks like if you took a soda can and poked something sharp from the inside out. Since these "dots" are showing in the rim, is this a bad thing? Should I be looking to get another rim?

RA :confused:

[Kevin]

I would replace the rim. They are cheap and you may be avoiding a disaster.

Kevin

[Bruce K]

I'd say new rim, RA.

Anything raised on the inside of the rim will rub and eventually cause another flat.

If the guys at your shop are any good at wheel building, this shouldn't be all that expensive.

BK

[RABikes2]

I'd say new rim, RA.

Anything raised on the inside of the rim will rub and eventually cause another flat.

BK
The "dots" are raised to the outside of the rim. The nail went throught the tire, tube, rim tape, and "poke, poke" in the rim. Replacing the rim is sounding better and better; As I was riding yesterday, my thoughts kept coming back to the safety of the rear wheel. :crap:

Hmmm...I noticed on Friday we received a few new demo rims at the shop. I think it's time I "employee" test one of these babies, don't you?! :D I worked only a few hours that day and was busy doing orders; didn't notice what brand the demo's were. Doesn't matter, it'll be a nice surprise to see what I'll be "testing" while a new rim is built, eh. :banana:

Now...about wheel building... :D :p