Evening All,
Three events this year cause me to ask a few questions about having a tyre blow out or lose pressure rapidly.
I had an incident this summer on my Rapide when the rear tyre lost pressure rapidly and caused the bike to become pretty uncontrollable at about 40 mph - the tyre rolling off either side of the rim and me snaking along the road on opposite lock like a speedway rider - and pretty frightening it was too. The culprit was some form of alloy stake that had been picked up from the road, gone into the tread and out the sidewall of the tyre - two puncture wounds.
Then Bill Bewley and his wife were spat off their Rapide in France, they subsequently found what they think was the cause - a rear valve pulled out.
Third, a friend of mine had a similar incident with the front wheel on his Rapide the other day and ended up in a hedge with broken ribs. He suspects the valve may have pulled out.
Now, I've had punctures on modern bikes in the past and never had such a frightening experience - I really thought I was going to throw the bike down the road.
I'm keen to hear of the sorts of precautions that VOC members take and what they have found, over the miles, work.
So far I have:
1 - Good quality tubes
Made sure I buy and fit a good quality tube.
2 - Right sized tubes and tyres
Tubes and tyres are the right size for the wheel.
3 - Rim tapes which are in good order
Fitted and in good repair, no spoke ends in sight.
4 - Good quality tyres
Made sure I buy and fit a good quality tyre from a reputable source - no old stock.
5 - Pressure set right
Run 22 front and 18-20 depending in the back.
6 - Nipped the locknuts
Nipped the two valve locknuts up on each other with a couple of threads showing through the rim to watch early if I am getting any tube/tyre creep that may pull the valve out.
7 - Got Tyre tread left
Make sure that I have a decent tread left and don't run the tyre to the end.
I haven't fitted security bolts and would be interested to hear the pro's and con's of this.
Any other thoughts and comments - not sure I'd like to contemplate this happening closer to 70 mph thank you very much?
Regards
Stuart
Three events this year cause me to ask a few questions about having a tyre blow out or lose pressure rapidly.
I had an incident this summer on my Rapide when the rear tyre lost pressure rapidly and caused the bike to become pretty uncontrollable at about 40 mph - the tyre rolling off either side of the rim and me snaking along the road on opposite lock like a speedway rider - and pretty frightening it was too. The culprit was some form of alloy stake that had been picked up from the road, gone into the tread and out the sidewall of the tyre - two puncture wounds.
Then Bill Bewley and his wife were spat off their Rapide in France, they subsequently found what they think was the cause - a rear valve pulled out.
Third, a friend of mine had a similar incident with the front wheel on his Rapide the other day and ended up in a hedge with broken ribs. He suspects the valve may have pulled out.
Now, I've had punctures on modern bikes in the past and never had such a frightening experience - I really thought I was going to throw the bike down the road.
I'm keen to hear of the sorts of precautions that VOC members take and what they have found, over the miles, work.
So far I have:
1 - Good quality tubes
Made sure I buy and fit a good quality tube.
2 - Right sized tubes and tyres
Tubes and tyres are the right size for the wheel.
3 - Rim tapes which are in good order
Fitted and in good repair, no spoke ends in sight.
4 - Good quality tyres
Made sure I buy and fit a good quality tyre from a reputable source - no old stock.
5 - Pressure set right
Run 22 front and 18-20 depending in the back.
6 - Nipped the locknuts
Nipped the two valve locknuts up on each other with a couple of threads showing through the rim to watch early if I am getting any tube/tyre creep that may pull the valve out.
7 - Got Tyre tread left
Make sure that I have a decent tread left and don't run the tyre to the end.
I haven't fitted security bolts and would be interested to hear the pro's and con's of this.
Any other thoughts and comments - not sure I'd like to contemplate this happening closer to 70 mph thank you very much?
Regards
Stuart