Tag: puncture

March 30th – At Tesco, a reminder in the bike rack that there’s always someone having a worse day than you.

An odd bike was locked there – a Raleigh Jamtland ‘Special edition’ which is a very old-school, low end mountain bike. If the colour scheme rings a bell, that’s because they were designed and made to given as a gift by Ikea to many of their employees in the UK, I believe around Christmas 2010. They were not ideal commuting bikes, with poor gears, awful tyres and no mudguards, and many to this day end up being sold on eBay and the like.

Considering they were an act of largesse by a company known for radical design, they were just awful, cheap bike shaped objects, to be perfectly honest.

This one was in good condition, with little sign of wear,  other than a peculiarly worn front tyre, which I suspect had been swapped for the rear at some point. There was little or no rust, and the frame was barley scratched – but there was a slight problem. A puncture.

It was raining hard, the bike would not be a light push and no tools or repair kit were in evidence. I hung back a little to offer assistance if the owner appeared, but they didn’t.

My sympathies to the rider…

April 2nd – The dying art of repairing a puncture. For years, I scarcely bothered, after all I have mercilessly few incidents with the Marathon Plus tyres and road tubes were quite cheap. I just carried a spare or two as I always did. But with a change of tyres, I needed to be more ready to do spot repairs. I’ve tried puncture resistant liners with moderate benefit, and have also gone over to sealant filled tubes. But even those fail, and out on the road this morning, I was slain by a metal clipping that spiked my rubber – the sealant tried bravely, but failed. 

There’s no way I’m chucking an £8 tube in the bin, so I bundled it up in a bag, popped in the spare and repaired it when I got home. They do work, as when I took it out, there were three piercing hawthorn spikes as well as the catastrophic failure. 

The modern self-adhesive patches are OK, but I don’t trust them like a good, old fashioned kit. My favoured one is Rema Tip Top – good quality patches, and a well-sealed tube of cement that doesn’t dry up in the saddlebag. 10 minutes, job done, and back in the tyre.

Metal clippings on the roads in Darlaston are a pain in the arse – watch out if you’re around the Darlaston Green or Heath Road areas. They fall from the scrap wagons that thunder through there, and unlike puncture repairing, sheeting loose loads seems like a dying art…

January 8th – This is a bit of cycle geekery. I have accumulated over the years some new cyclocross tyres. They’re cross country tyres for road-style bikes. They’re ideal for winter conditions, but tend to puncture easily; being designed for competition, they have great tread but are designed for lightness. Since my beloved Schwalbe Marathon Plus are wearing thin, I thought I’d try out the spares. Instead of putting up with the pictures, I’m going to try this Panaracer ‘Flat Away’ tyre liner, and see if it makes them a bit more of an attractive option.

The tape is soft fabric on a kevlar skin, which is lightly self-adhesive. You just stick it around the inside of the tyre before fitting, and it is purported to stop thorns and other nasties cutting through to the tube. 

I’ll admit, I’m sceptical, but it’s hedge flailing season, and I’ll give it a go and see – after all, this stuff is a third of the price of a new tyre and will help me use up some of the perfectly serviceable spares I’ve got hanging around.

Flat Away comes in 26, 700c and 29 versions. Because cross tyres are fatter than 700c, I’ve gone for that for maximum width of coverage. 

I shall report back on the experiment. I may live to regret this…

November 4th – Only one set of photos today, as my others went badly wrong, such was the theme of the day. A day of missed connections, late arrivals, things not working and bad chances. I got a puncture on the way to work, and cursed. I had a mechanical issue on the way home.

Still, it was a pleasant enough day weather-wise, and on my way I took the cycle path from Pelsall to Goscote. Pelsall looked great from the Mill Lane Bridge, as it always does this time of year, and the Goscote Valley was equally pastoral. I can think of far worse journeys to cycle.

Here’s a thing, though, if a shard of glass embeds itself in your tyre and pierces your innertube, why is it always coloured glass and not plain clear? Is coloured glass harder or something?

August 3rd – I’d been poring over maps most of the day and was tired and bleary when I headed out early evening. I cycled along the canal, and it looked like I was just too late to catch the best of what looked a beautiful sunset. I guess that part of the season is approaching again.

It was still nice though, over Home Farm, where the clouds caught the reflected light from the west; Chasewater’s sunsets are now a bit more tricky due to the wake lines and towers.

Sadly, I blew a puncture on the way back, and without a spare, I walked home dejected and annoyed. Never leave home without your tool kit…

March 3rd – This is what happens when you ignore your gut feelings. This clumsy photo is my gloved had, turning a bike tyre inside out to show a hawthorn spine pushed right through it. Miraculously, it hadn’t yet caused a flat. I was very lucky.

I’ve been fettling the bike a lot lately, and fitted new tyres I bought last year. I thought them to be my favourite tyre – Schwalbe Marathon Plus. They are tough as old boots, and very resistant to thorns and other nasties. When I unwrapped the tyres, they were just normal Marathons – a lighter weight tyre without the tough protection. Not wanting to waste the purchase, I fitted the skinnier tyres. I rode them for a week, thinking they were OK.

Yesterday, I had two rear-wheel punctures on the canal towpath near Hopwas, both caused by Hawthorn, the curse of towpath cycling. As I came home, I developed a third slow puncture, and resolved to change back to a pair of Marathon Plus tyres when I could next day. 

As I came to do the swap tonight, I found the front tyre – which had been OK – had a 7mm thorn through, waiting to pop the inner tube. 

Schwalbe Marathon Plus are excellent. Marathons are a good tyre, but they’re just not up to towpath use, as I knew when I fitted them. Sometimes it’s best to listen to your instincts.

March 15th – No tyres are completely puncture proof (well, that anyone would want to ride) and today, I flatted. Just on Meerash Hill, near the abandoned farm at Hammerwich, as it happened. My tyres of choice are Schwalbe Marathon Plus and they’re damned fine rubber, with all kinds of protection inside. However, hawthorn spines are the work of the devil (or rather a master of evolution) and very, very tough. This one pushed clean through a 4mm band of rubber, kevlar and anti-thorn braid. Such is life.
Time for a pro-tip. I always carry disposable gloves in the toolkit. Weigh nothing, can be used several times, and stop the bars getting grubby from the oily fingers post-repair. They’re also excellent for picking up sharps inside the tyre; they snag on anything foreign, without hurting your fingers.  A quick patch up and I was on my way in no time.

February 25th – Another public service announcement. The hedge clipping season continues – this time, British Waterways have flailed the hawthorn Hedge beside the canal through Catshill in Brownhills, from the Anchor Bridge to Ogley Junction. This hasn’t been done for a while and the towpath is covered with thorns. If you don’t have thornproof tyres, my advice is to avoid that bit of canal if possible for a week or two.

February 2nd – If you’re a cyclist, Green Lane between The Black Cock pub, Walsall Wood and Shelfied School is best avoided, at least until the next heavy rains. Today, as I went to work, the hedges were being flailed. This happens every few years, either in the autumn or winter. Cutting the roadside hedges back is essential, and must be done when birds aren’t nesting, but it showers the road with debris, in this case, Hawthorn clippings. These short bits of twig bear sharp, tough thorns whose specialist skill is puncturing bicycle tyres – particularly cheap, thin ones. I’d say that in rural areas, 90% of my punctures have been caused by Hawthorn spikes. I don’t blame the farmer, the job has to be done. But until rains come and float the debris away, the route is best avoided.