2nd flat in 2nd week

[MrsB]

Hubby and I were on our 25 mile ride tonight and at about the 17th mile I got my second flat. Now you think that since I wasnt prepared for the first flat that I would be for the this one. NOPE. Oh yeah, I have a spare tube but left it at home. Ive got to learn how to change a tire and either bring a pump with me or try one of those co2 cartridges. So anyways I had a nice walk for a couple miles until my son came to get me with the mini van. Oh yeah and another thing I had to walk bare foot cuz I had my cleats on. Oh well I'll be fixed back up by tomorrow. Hoping to try and do 50 miles tomorrow. I'll be sure to bring a spare tube and pump. Is it normal to have two flats in two weeks? I bought this used bike two weeks ago. Ive never had a flat with my mountain bike.

[RolliePollie]

In my experience, flats come in swarms.

Last season when I bought my bike, I got three flats within the first month. Then not another one until I got a brand new tire. Then two flats on my first two rides with that tire.

This season, not a single flat for 1,700 miles. Then I put on a new rear tire and joked that I'd probably get a flat. Guess what? I did. A goathead thorn got me. I'm expecting a flat every time I ride now.

This too shall pass...and in the meantime, you'll get lots of practice fixing flats!

[Mr. SR500]

I'm convinced flats are random. Ride On!

[Grog]

Flats do come in swarms. Sometimes for a reason, sometimes not.

Just last week I had two flats on my commuter bike. Totally unrelated events.

Before that I can't even remember when I had a flat tire last. I think it's the time I had a slow leak, my Dear Partner decided to change it (against my will), and he caused a big pinch that ripped the tube and exploded less than a foot from my ears. Ouch!!!

This being said sometimes there's a reason for multiple flats. When you change a flat you should thoroughly inspect your tire (sometimes little shards of glass hide in the rubber and you don't see them unless you really check closely), and if you keep getting them also have a look at your rims. Sometimes rim tape slides...

Good luck!! Do learn the skills (it's really empowering), but do not worry too much.

[salsabike]

My husband commutes to work 2-3 times a week. Last year, he had one week in which he got six flats. Three in one day.

It's good flat-fixing practice.

[Chicken Little]

Ugh, the goat heads are blooming in New Mexico. 4 flats last week. I gave up and bought the heavy duty tubes with the goo in them. They weigh like 5 lbs. each, but I just figure I will get stronger. I could loose 20 lbs and forget about it!

[ibcycling]

2 flats in 2 weeks is nothin'. I live in goathead country too and was getting frustrated with my constantly flat tires. I decided to get Bontragers with the Kevlar strip which came highly recommended to me by a fellow rider. Ummm, I got 4 (yes FOUR) flats on the first ride with them! I was not amused then but now can see the humor. Nothing is gonna stop a goathead so I decided to carry 2 extra tubes and a patch kit.

Oh, to live somewhere without goatheads. It would be bliss!

Lora

[vinbek]

I got three flats in one 62 mile ride. Turns out, it was the rim tape. It had pulled loose from a spoke hole and the rough edge was cutting through the tube. So check the inside of your rims, and along the tube.

[SouthernBelle]

ditto checking the rimtape. I kept getting flats and it was where the ends of the rim tape overlapped. I covered it with a spot of teflon tape.

[lph]

Indeed, flats come in swarms. I had a slow flat Monday afternoon ready to ride home from work. Had 3 spare tubes, all the wrong size... luckily a patch kit so I patched in a hurry and got home. Noticed my tires were looking pretty crappy, crackly and splitting, didn't find the actual culprit sharp thing in the tire though so the slow flat I had the next morning wasn't unexpected. Pumped it up, got to work, pumped it up again before leaving, got home. Pulled the elderly tire off again, *still* couldn't find the culprit, but oops, the patch was blowing in the wind... Redid the patch. All fine. Then yesterday I was out in the woods with a little less air in my tires. Flat on the *other* tire. Fix with spare tube, and on my way home I flat AGAIN on the original "slow flat tire".

Got home and threw my tires away.

[makbike]

Have you checked the inside of the tire? A close examination of the inside of the tire may provide some answers (small wire, glass, etc may have worked its way through to the tube).

When you put your new tube in line the valve stem up with the writing on the outside of the tire. This will help you orient the tube should future flats occur.

Best of luck!

[OakLeaf]

+1 to what everyone else has said.

Sometimes repeated flats are just a coincidence, sometimes they're a result of riding on really debris-filled roads, but sometimes they're a sign that your tires are due for replacement. (At least if both flats were in the same tire, which you didn't say, and most of us seem to be assuming.)

Since you bought the bike used, do you know how old the tires are? Are there any signs of dry rot? If it's a treaded or knobby tire, how much of the tread or knobs is left? If it's a slick or partial slick, when you had the tire off to change the tube, how thick/thin did the center part seem? Without air in the tire, did the center of the tire seem concave?

[lph]

Oh, and random piece of trivia: I changed my old, splitting tires for another set of the exact same type, only virtually unused, that I had on my other mtb. Just for kicks I weighed them both. Over 100 grams of rubber worn away!

[gingerale]

I had 3 flats in 2 weeks recently and was so frustrated. One was because of a piece of glass the size of a grain of kosher salt. Sliced right through my tire and into the tube. The girl at the bike store told me that some people would be thrilled to have only 3 flats on one ride. I actually carry 3 tubes with me now but I figure if I get 2 on one ride again then I'm heading home. lol