changing tires?

[Embellina]

I had two flats this weekend and am left wondering whether I should replace my tires. I have about 1,500 miles on them.

I am proud that I fixed the first flat completely on my own! (Took me about 45 minutes, but I still did it! ) I don't know what caused it, but it was my first flat in 1,500 miles, so it was probably time. Then, on my next ride, I noticed a slow leak. On that one, I found the cause: a thorn in my tire that had clearly punctured both tire and tube. But because I had already used my spare tube replacing the first flat, I couldn't fix it. So I made the call of shame and my dear BF picked me up. (And then cooked me a delicious dinner of smoked scallops over a bed of spinach with a citrus vinaigrette and corn on the cob. YUM!)

So my question is, when I go to my LBS to pick up some new tubes, should I also see about replacing the tires?

Your collective wisdom is much appreciated.

[Melody]

Embellina, how's the tread on the tires? Do they look worn? When you pull the tire from the wheel, check it visually for cracks and sharp objects. If there are no sharp objects (glass for instance) run your finger on the inside of the tire. Is there any place that seems worn? Are there any tears in the sidewall or the tread pattern?

If none of these are true you probably don't need to change the tire itself. But sometimes, from a mental standpoint, you may have more confidence knowing that you have new tires.

Mel

[mary9761]

sounds like you at least got a delish dinner. BTW congrats, my first tire change took over 2 hours indoors after I walked my bike to the nearest bus stop and then home.
I would consider at least picking up tubes but possibly have the LBS check your tires. Did you find any significant holes when you changed the tubes?
I ended up putting a kevlar vermin on my bike after flatting 2 weekends in a row on the same tire. 3rd flat on that tire with a total of 2100 miles on it.
Good luck
Mary

[MomOnBike]

Hmmm, when do I replace tires? The mental checklist goes something like this:

Are there visible holes, gaps or gashes in the tire? Enough to see the tube? (Change)

Am I getting a bad rash of flats on that tire? Do I know each little nick by name? Nickname? (change)

Is there any tread left? How much? Am I running on the last layer of belting threads? (change)

Does the white wall (DH's bike) look grey and yucky and old from being in the sun while he is inside at work? (buy replacement tire for when it goes - he's not good at replacing things like that)

Are the sidewalls sort of "hairy" looking from the belting breaking and breaking out? (change)

Is there a honkin' big lump in the tire that goes thumpity-thump as I ride and is going to give way with a loud bang? (change before it happens - really, that loud bang can give a girl a heart attack - or a busted bone at speed)

Did I just succumb to advertising for some tires that are lightning fast, ride like a marshmallow, will remove 20 lbs from both bike (even a 17 lb. bike) and hips, take sharp corners at 90mph, sparkle like a little girl's princess fantasy, and last for 5 million miles? (change those puppies NOW!)

Generally, I wait until it's pretty obvious that the tire is worn out before I do anything drastic. I'm not convinced that pure mileage has much to do with it, there are so many wear factors, like sun and road quality, that I generally just keep an eye on wear, etc., and change when it seems like a good idea.

[SnappyPix]

Welcome to the wonderful world of flats!
They're like buses - you wait forever and then 3 come at once!
To add to the already excellent advice given - you don't specify whether the flat was on the same wheel or not.
The one thing to watch with flats is tyre pressure. Under-inflating the tyre will make you prone to more flats - especially pinch flats (often called "snakebites") - where the squidgy inner tube becomes nipped between the tyre and the rim. A friend of mine suffered from this on a ride, after having just mended a puncture minutes before! It's difficult with road tyres because of the high pressure needed - you often can't get so high on a small, transportable pump - but you should definitely check the pressure when you get home and get it up-to-speed with a track pump.
You're doing pretty well to go 1,500 without a flat!
As Melody says, always run your finger along the inside of the tyre when fixing a flat - even if you think you've got out the pesky glass or thorn that caused it - it's amazing how little shards can stay invisibly embedded and will give you another p*ncture once you get going again! The touch test is much more telling than eyeballing a tyre.

[Grog]

Another test when you can't find the bugger is to 1) wear wraparound glasses or googles and 2) run an inflated balloon along the tire (and even along the inside of the tire if you can manage to flip it inside out). When the balloon explodes... well now you know where to look (and your eyes are protected).

Another thing I do if I have time on my hands (i.e. I'm not in the freezing rain) is get most of the tube out of the tire but leave the valve in, then inflate the tube just a bit. Then I look for the source of the little pssst! sound I hear, which gives me a hint of where to look for a shard or something in the tire.

Unless you've really beaten it, or it was really a bad quality tire, 1500 miles is not a lot for a tire. And even after there has been flats, it can be patched if there's a slash in it. (Depending on where the slash is and how it looks like, though, sometimes it can't be patched.) Don't overwear it, but 3000 miles would be a more decent range, and even more.

BONUS tip to avoid pinch flats: put some talc (baby) powder in your hands and run along the new tube before you insert it to make it slip more easily into place. And learn how to put your tire back on without using tire levers. There was a great thread on this board about how to best change tires (esp. without levers) and it has helped me tremendously, but I can't find it anymore. Anyone remember?

Grog, who just had four flats over the past month because the street shoulders are so full of grit and evil shards of everything

[Nanci]

Hi Embellina,

I carry a patch kit as well as two tubes. It's easier to patch, and you never know if the stem on the new tire is going to hold. I've had _three_ blow there, as soon as installed, and am now riding with a double -patched tube that has well over 2000 miles on it! So they _can_ last nicely.

On my spare bike, which was BF's old bike, it's a GT mountain bike with road tires on it, which he used for several years of triathlon, which I then got and put about 500 road miles on (before getting my own bike)- I just changed the tires a few weeks ago. They met most of the conditions on momonbike's checklist- worn _flat_, no tread at all, gray sidewall with wires sticking out, large nicks, a huge bumpity place on one of them- but they were still going strong. Now that I've changed them, I can't get the brakes adjusted for the new wider tires and can't ride the bike at all until I get it in the shop.

So they _can_ last a long time. But maybe if you're having problems with thorns, you might want to try Gatorskins or Armadillos or something.

Nanci

[DebW]

Hmmm, when do I replace tires? The mental checklist goes something like this:

Am I getting a bad rash of flats on that tire? Do I know each little nick by name? Nickname? (change)

Is there a honkin' big lump in the tire that goes thumpity-thump as I ride and is going to give way with a loud bang? (change before it happens - really, that loud bang can give a girl a heart attack - or a busted bone at speed)

Nickname? LMAO. You must really know your nicks, MOB.

Exploding tires... I've heard enough of those to last me a lifetime. When I worked in the bike shop in the 70s, we had a compressor that inflated tires too fast and frequently blew them off the rim. Sometimes we blew so many in a week that whenever someone walked toward the compressor, everyone else ran the other way. It was really embarassing if a customer brought in a bike asking for air, we wheeled it into the back, and then they heard the bang. Of course they got a new tube. When you install a new tire, check that the bead seats evenly around the rim. If some of the bead doesn't rise enough, deflate and put some liquid soap on that section of the bead. If the bead rises too high, deflate and try to set it better to avoid blowing it out.

Good advise on proper inflation to avoid pinch flats. If you have a tube leak on the side of the tire (or frequently 2 leaks close together) it's probably a pinch flat. If a leak on the inner surface of the tube, check for spokes protruding through the rim strip or sharp spots on the rim. Gaping holes in a tire can be successfully patched with a double-edged razor blade. Tape it to the inside of the tire to keep the tube from bulging through while you finish your ride.

[makbike]

It also helps to place the label on the side of the tire even with the valve stem. This gives you an idea of where the puncture occurred and saves you a bit of time in trying to track down the problem.

I would also suggest you run your finger in both directions when trying to see if something is stuck in the tire itself. I recently had a flat, ran my fingers in one direction, patched the tire and soon discovered the tire was losing air again. When I ran my fingers in the opposite direction I discovered two very thin pieces of wire had punctured my tire and were basically laying flat against the inside wall. When I ran my finger over them in one direction I could not feel them but when I reversed the direction they also stuck me.

Hope this helps.

[Pedal Wench]

This may be obvious, but you need to GENTLY run your fingers inside the tire - you don't want to slice your finger on the same piece of glass that started this whole mess.

I love the idea of leaving the stem in place while fixing the flat. Much quicker, and much easier to know exactly where to check the tire for the culprit. I second the idea of lining up the label with the stem valve, but this is fool-proof.

Finally, practice, practice, practice. I have a bike that I rarely ride, but I have one tire for the road, and another for the trainer, so I change it often and I've gotten MUCH better at it. Even did it for the first time last week without levers. Can't figure out why I was so proud of that, but I was!

[Aint Doody]

So what's the deal about changing the tire without levers? Is that better? I don't see how it can even be done! 'Splain, please........

[Pedal Wench]

So what's the deal about changing the tire without levers? Is that better? I don't see how it can even be done! 'Splain, please........

http://www.teamestrogen.com/articles/asa_levers.asp

It CAN be done!

[Grog]

Not only it CAN be done, but I never did otherwise.

I admit to sometimes using a lever (if I am at home, because I don't carry one on the road, except for the built-in lever that's on my Alien tool) to take the tire off. I don't like using the tip of my fingers too much (I often twist my nails and hate that). But to put the tire back on the wheel, NEVER would I use a lever, and I just can't imagine what I would do with one. And as I said earlier, talc powder is certainly a plus here, also.

[Embellina]

Thanks everyone for all the advice.

The flat happened on the same wheel, which is why I thought I might be due for new tires. Of course, I was also feeling a little bit of MomOnBike's thoughts:

Did I just succumb to advertising for some tires that are lightning fast, ride like a marshmallow, will remove 20 lbs from both bike (even a 17 lb. bike) and hips, take sharp corners at 90mph, sparkle like a little girl's princess fantasy, and last for 5 million miles? (change those puppies NOW!)

The tread on the tires looked good, and I ran my hands over the inside. I ended up finding another thorn, and I think (hope) I got most of it out. Otherwise, the tire had no significant holes or tears. I went for a 22-mile ride today on a new tube and everything felt great, so my tube change seems to be working for now!

[SpinSis]

Awesome advice on this thread, and I used the TE tire changing link when I had my first flat. BF not only road home and drove back to pick me up after watching me curse my head off (and his), he responded to my yell from the garage, "Hey. Go to Teamestrogen.com and find the tire changing page....paa-lease."

My first flat was at only 200 mile on the tires, and it left a gash on the road surface of the tire, but not so deep that I could see the tube. I related my experience to my peddling dad, and he said, "Well, put nailpolish on it." So I did. The gash hasn't changed any in size after 600 additional miles--I added nailpolish every week or so! I suppose I should read up on other "patching" techniques for tires (and invest in some back up tires in the winter sales) but until it really blows, I'm sticking to Sally Hansen Hard as Nails.

-s