A Deflating Experience

After years of riding my Schwinn Sierra with its 1.95 inch wide knobby tires, I don't remember ever having a flat tire. I'd been warned by friends that I might have a few more when I switched to a road bike with those little skinny tires. I got a Motobecane cyclocross, and it had a skinnier tire than I was used to, but still not super narrow. It came with Kenda Kwick 28mm cross tires. A little bit of knobbiness, a little bit of width. But pretty soft. I started having thorns and glass and rocks go right through them. And I wore them out pretty fast.

So I looked at some forums and talked to some friends and settled on a new tire: Maxxis ReFuse training tires in 700x25. They, I learned, ReFuse to get a flat. For weeks, I further discovered.

After a few flats I decided it was time to get even more serious. More seriouser, I'm telling you! I added a set of tire liners. They come with a guarantee: if you ever get a puncture flat they will replace your tube and your tire liner! How could I lose? Even had my LBS install them for me.

Four miles into my first ride I had a pinch flat. That was me on the side of the road, as usual, fixing a flat. I decided not to spend all day trying to get the tube liner back in, put in another tube and pumped it up as much as I could and hit the road. I also decided not to let it ruin my day. And even though it was a bit soft I had a good ride.

Another nice feature we have along the Madison County Illinois trail system is a rest stop near Collinsville which has a compressor. I stopped and used  it, but couldn't get past around 75 psi. Still, I had a nice ride, got in around 30 miles, and most importantly, did not let it ruin my day.

I also did something a bit daring for me: I decided to fix that flat on the roadside with a patched tube. I don't normally have good luck with patched tubes, but this one has held up well. I think it's partly a matter of getting more experience patching them. I think I have to remember to totally deflate the tube before applying the patch. I hear people say that they patch them while they're inflated so they can see (or feel) the hole better. But that is not working out for me. Tell me I'm wrong, I'd love to hear it. My last tube was $7.00, though, so I'm going to use these things as much as I can!

So I don't know what my next step is. Planning to ride in an hour or two from now. I've put the tube liner back in, and I hope it isn't creating more problems than it's designed to solve. If this fails, I'm looking at a set of Continental Gatorskins 700Cx28mm.

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UPDATE: My tire was flat when I got home. Took it all apart and found another hole. I patched it and reassembled and headed out. Almost 10 miles out I noticed a slight sidewall bulge. I stopped, deflated the tire, then carefully pumped it back up. Rode the remaining six miles home. We'll see (when my parents said "we'll see" it was never good).