Is it my fault?

[Mussels]

I have been riding 40 miles a day on my Wisper for the last 7 days. In those 7 days I have had:
2 punctures caused by Slime puncture preventers.
1 sheared valve caused by low pressure due to above.
1 broken spoke caused by big pothole I didn't see.
1 failed rear tyre, the bead has split from the sidewall.
2 blowouts, 1 due to tyre split and other 200 yards later as my temporary boot failed.
So I have got through 2 inner tubes, 1 tyre and several patches.

Thing is, is it something under my control or am I just unlucky?
There is a fair amount of weight on the bike but I only ride up dropped kerbs and avoid potholes, I try not to stress the tyres too much but this seems a silly failure rate. Should I be doing more maintenance?

Luckily the big problems happened on the way home from work so I'm still enjoying the commute.

 

[flecc]

As the spoke was just accidental, it's just tyre and tube troubles, and that's the sort of reason why so many of us change to Western tyres. Chinese manufacturers have still not reached anything like Western tyre manufactirer standards, only Bridgestone (Japan) in the Orient being up to scratch.

So I wouldn't say it's all your fault, and a decent set of tyres and tubes should make life easier. Schwalbe Marathon Plus or Continental's Security Tyre give the highest possible puncture prevention, the latter at a lower price, but even other Schwalbe tyres are good in this respect too. Aldby uses the Continentals on his Wisper 905se and warmly recommends them.

Quality inner tubes like Schwalbe's low loss ones cost no more than any others but are trouble free.
.

 

[JohnInStockie]

Thing is, is it something under my control or am I just unlucky?

No M its not you. Flecc is bang on about the tyres though. I've had more than my fair share of bad luck and punctures, and that was with Marathon Plus's on and kevlar tape, the last one leading to my hub gears failing and the Twist is still at the bike shop 4/5 weeks later!!!

Luck definately plays a part

My new bike has Marathon Racers on, which I havent used before. They dont have the puncture protection of the Plus's, but they seem great, I am really impressed with them.

Has anyone else ever used Marathon Racers?

Although I am not a big fan of slime and sludge, I'm also trying some prefilled tubes for a bit of extra protection from here

Has anyone else ever used Nutrak Self Sealing Tubes?

John

 

[nikon201]

Sounds like bad luck Mussels

I've been doing 24 miles a day on my Synergie Mistral with my made-in-China Heng Shin Tires, going on-road, off-road, rocky tracks, towpaths and unadopted roads without any punctures yet.

..but that also sounds like the famous last words!

 

[flecc]

I'm really opposed to all so called self sealing tubes since when they fail to seal, the slime oozing makes repairing a puncture nigh on impossible because of the sticky mess. That means a new tube is the only practical repair on the road, and with a hub motor rear wheel like Mussel's bike, that can be quite a job on the roadside. Certainly for his rear wheel I think any self sealer should be avoided.
.

 

[JohnInStockie]

I must admit that is my one worry about them. Ideally I would go for those ended tubes that are like cigars, but they dont come in the 28" size

John

 

[ElephantsGerald]

Thing is, is it something under my control or am I just unlucky?

Hi Mussels,

Sounds like very bad luck to me; thats a lot of puncture action for 1 weeks riding.

I've done nearly 700 miles without incident on my 905SE with the factory supplied tyres and inners. My route takes me down a lot of poorly maintained country lanes, and to add to the fun theres been a lot of hedge cutting recently.

Its worth regularly checking the pressure and eye-balling the tyres for any damage.

People here seem to rate the Schwalbe's and the Continentals.

I expect fate will supply me with an instant puncture tomorrow morning for having said I've had no trouble so far

Regards,

Elephants

 

[flecc]

Luck certainly comes into it, I once had four punctures in a road trip years ago of less than six miles, but fitting good puncture resistant tyres is what's called "making your own luck".
.

 

[keithhazel]

I have been riding 40 miles a day on my Wisper for the last 7 days. In those 7 days I have had:
2 punctures caused by Slime puncture preventers.
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what are slime puncture preventers ?, i thought it was just the slime you put in the inner tube and if so how can that have caused the puncture ?

 

[JohnInStockie]

Its supposedly a type of tape between the tube and the tyre that stop a puncture I think. I understand that its quite hard the end can be stiff so pinch punctures are possible

 

[flecc]

Its supposedly a type of tape between the tube and the tyre that stop a puncture I think. I understand that its quite hard the end can be stiff so pinch punctures are possible

The plastic tape has a central filling of a small amount of slime. The plastic is far too soft to resist penetration, but the slime is supposed to ooze and seal the puncture. I think their worst product to date, and that's really saying something, given the failure rates of the others.
.

 

[JohnInStockie]

It is wierd though Flecc how this stuff DOES work for some. Is it the tubeless bikes it works for (I know it work on cars)?

 

[flecc]

Luck comes into it John, as with punctures. However, when we had a thread on this, the overwhelming majority of the many contributors reported slime didn't work, and from memory only two said it did for them.

Cars are a different case, and these slime type products were designed for their tubeless tyres, and it works then. It was transferring them to use with inner tubes that was a mistake, for there isn't the immediate contact of the slime with the external air. With the slime in the inner tube, if it doesn't seal instantly it gets between the tube and inside of the tyre, creating a sticky mess and making a normal puncture repair impossible. That's what it's done for me on every occasion I've tried the different makes, failing to set quickly enough.
.

 

[Mussels]

The plastic tape has a central filling of a small amount of slime. The plastic is far too soft to resist penetration, but the slime is supposed to ooze and seal the puncture. I think their worst product to date, and that's really saying something, given the failure rates of the others.
.

The plastic is quite strong and I think all it does is stop stuff getting through, it was covered in lubricant which rubbed off quickly. Where the ends overlapped it produced long scores in the inner tubes, the front had a tear about 3 inches long.
Anyway took all that out and started this morning with fresh inner tubes and no slime bands, all going well until at the bottom of my road I had another broken spoke and another puncture.
Seeing as the spokes are such an unusual size that they aren't stocked and spoke spanners don't fit I'm beginning to wonder if this is such a viable alternative to the train.
The retailer is sending a couple of spokes to me but at this rate I'm going to need a wheels worth, I just can't get hold of simple spares quick enough.

I found the liquid slime worked in motorbike tyres but it was only sold as a temporary measure that needed a proper plug, if that is the case I don't know what value it has.
Edit: In a really bad mood now realising I need to get the train tomorrow.

 

[flecc]

The plastic is quite strong and I think all it does is stop stuff getting through, it was covered in lubricant which rubbed off quickly.

The Slime band I bought wouldn't stop anything. I never used it once I saw how poor a product it was, but I did test it with drawing pin. It went through repeatedly like a hot knife through butter with virtually no pressure, so it wouldn't stop anything which was strong enough to penetrate the tyre rubber, but where I penetrated it, more slime oozed. The slimy coating you mentioned actually lubricated the drawing pin point, helping it to penetrate, so I saw it as an aid to punctures occurring!

What on earth these idiots were thinking of when they marketed this I cannot imagine.
.

 

[JohnInStockie]

I still havent discounted the solid rubber tyres yet!

John

 

[flecc]

You soon will if you try them John.
.

 

[Mussels]

I still havent discounted the solid rubber tyres yet!

John

I would have agreed before but my bike is showing signs of bad stress after 300 miles, I think I need to soften the rear tyre somewhat to prevent massive problems.

 

[bogmonster]

I would have agreed before but my bike is showing signs of bad stress after 300 miles, I think I need to soften the rear tyre somewhat to prevent massive problems.

What sort of stress other than the broken spoke and the punctures?

BM

 

[Mussels]

What sort of stress other than the broken spoke and the punctures?

BM

My luggage rack is bent, must have been a lot of force as I can't bend it by hand. The middle is OK but the ends are bent downwards, it looks like someone has stood on it and jumped up and down. I'm fairly sure nobody has jumped up and down on it but not 100%.
My throwover panniers put most of their weight over the front and back of the rack and I think repeated potholes and dropped kerbs (there's loads of both around here) have worked like a hammer action to bend the rack. I only carry about 5-6Kg in the bags so I'm a bit confused and worried about what else is going to fail. The rack could have been damaged at the same time as the wheel with the bad pothole strike, I hope that's all it is.
I work with an ex courier who thinks that the components are sub standard as he used to treat his bikes much worse than I do without this much trouble, I don't know how expensive his setup was though.