MTB flats every ride!

[caligurl]

ok ladies! help me out here, please!

i seem to get a flat EVERY time i ride my MTB! if not during the ride... it flats overnight from something getting into the tire (stickers?)

soooo what do you all do to help prevent a flat every time? so you use the slime tubes? do you use regular tubes with slime put into it? do you get an insert? if so.. which brand? (i found these at performance.. but they are $40!!!!! kevlar liners i also found slime ones: slime )

thanx!!!!!!

[CorsairMac]

the first thing I would recommed is: take off your tire and run your hand or a tire lever around on the inside of the tire - make sure there isn't something sticking through the tire that is puncturing the tube.

Here in New Mexico we have what is known as a "goat head" thorn - think of a goats head and you got it.....a 3 prong thorn that is very hard and very painful and Loves tires!!! On my MTB and commuter bike I run Slimed tubes. On the Peugeot I have kevlar tires (which they tell me won't work with goats heads but works great with glass) and Air-Loc tubes. On the Trek road bike I have a teflon strip on the inside of the tires and Air-Loc tubes. The only flat I've had so far was a pinch flat. I was also told by just about everyone that lives here, if you're running self-sealing tubes, leave the thorn in, the tube will seal itself around the thorn.

[caligurl]

ya... we have goat heads!

hubby actually changed the tire last time.. i'm sure he checked... and he checked when he got a flat yesterday!

we were close enough to home last night that we just aired up and i got home (it's flat this morning!)

i'm gonna change it to make sure i know how on the MTB!

will the bottle of slime work? since i just bought 3 regular innertubes? or should i just call it a bust and order the pre-filled slime tubes?

AND.... i notice that they only go up to 2.125 for the slime tubes.. and my tire is 2.2... will that be a problem? or do i need to use "regular" tubes with the bottle of slime cuz of my tire size?

[AutumnBreez]

purhaps the tube is getting twisted/turned inside when you put it in the tire, and/or pinched ??

[caligurl]

i don't think so.. i think it's the prickly stuff inherent to the desert but when we change it.. we can make sure it's in properly!

[CorsairMac]

ya... we have goat heads!

hubby actually changed the tire last time.. i'm sure he checked... and he checked when he got a flat yesterday!

we were close enough to home last night that we just aired up and i got home (it's flat this morning!)

i'm gonna change it to make sure i know how on the MTB!

will the bottle of slime work? since i just bought 3 regular innertubes? or should i just call it a bust and order the pre-filled slime tubes?

AND.... i notice that they only go up to 2.125 for the slime tubes.. and my tire is 2.2... will that be a problem? or do i need to use "regular" tubes with the bottle of slime cuz of my tire size?

The bottle of Slime should work just fine - although I prefer Air-Loc these days; it's the next generation Slime and it doesn't harden in the tire if left sitting too long. No matter what you have tho, the bottles (as far as I know to date) will only work with Schrader valves.

[caligurl]

air-loc... ok... i'll look for that!

we have shraeder valves.... i did plan to buy presta next time i bought tubes... but the bikes came with and i bought schraeder!

[han-grrl]

Take a look inside and OUTSIDE the tire.

one of my participants flatted all the time. and on very close inspection of her tire we found a tiny piece of glass puncturing through. you probably would have barely felt it inside, but looking through the treads, there it was...a piece of green glass...

[deeonwheels]

ok ladies! help me out here, please!

i seem to get a flat EVERY time i ride my MTB! if not during the ride... it flats overnight from something getting into the tire (stickers?)

my 5 cts worth...riding in western US, "goatheads" work their way into any tire. As someone said here before, "slime rules the desert!".
Goathead holes are small, so, slimed tubes seal the air leaks just fine.
Of course, be sure to check tires after every ride - small needle nose pliers are great for removing goatheads embedded in tires.

Just in case, for those frequent flats...put the leaky tube in the tub filled with water, if that's what it takes, to determine if the air leak is located on the outside or the inside of the tube. Just to rule out the rim as the culprit.

[MomOnBike]

Back when I lived in goat-head country, I had heavy-duty tubes, AND the fore-runner to Slime. It was a bit like using suspenders and a belt, but it worked for me. I was mostly flatless during those (commuting to college) years, too.

I'll put in a plug for heavy-duty tubes. They are heavy, so you aren't going to win any races on them, but if your tire gets a big gash and the tube peeks through, it's not a crisis. DH ran for WEEKS before I got him to change out that gashed tire. (He's not real big on preventive maintenance) The tube is still going strong, thank you all the same.