Topic: I swear I'm 'effing cursed!!! (ANOTHER flat!)

[IndyFour]

Well, today marks the THIRD flat tire due to a nail puncture in the last year.  I swear I don't know where these nails are coming from.  I'm not riding through junk yards or construction sites....I ride wherever I would drive my car.  I haven't had a flat tire in a car for years!

Earlier this spring, I took the bike out for it's first ride of the season, only to have a rear tire flat while in motion.  After that frightening experience, I vowed to be more vigilant about tire pressure and have been checking it religiously and looking at the tires every time I stop.  I even had the rear tire changed out to this dunlop from a more "nubby" tread tire thinking it would be less likely to pick nails up off the road.

I took the bike out last night to fuel up so that I'd be able to ride to work this morning.....I go out and pull it off the center stand and know right away it's flat.  After inspection, this is what I find....



a two-inch nail right through my tire!  Was this nail sticking straight up from the road when I hit it?  GEESH! 

I'm beginning to get very paranoid about these flat tires and my ultimate fear is having a tire go flat while I'm riding again.....like when I'm riding at highway speed.  At least I wasn't going very fast last time.... 

Someone boost me up here.  Are the gods trying to tell me something??  My paranoia is getting the best of me.... 

Chris

[Steve F]

Did you piss off your neighbor and he goes and throws a handful of nails in your driveway every other day? 

[Hush]

What part of the road are you riding on?
I used to get lots of flats when I was a newer more timid rider which saw me riding on the shoulder where all the #$%*/stones/nails etc collected.
Now I own the road, I ride just a fraction under halfway onto the lane, I allow a fraction for idiots who don't see me and end up on my side of the road.

[IndyFour]

What part of the road are you riding on?
I used to get lots of flats when I was a newer more timid rider which saw me riding on the shoulder where all the #$%*/stones/nails etc collected.
Now I own the road, I ride just a fraction under halfway onto the lane, I allow a fraction for idiots who don't see me and end up on my side of the road.

I normally don't ride in the shoulder or anything.  I'm right where other traffic drives.  Either center of the lane to where the car tires would run on either side of the center, depending on where I can be seen the best.

I do have to drive about 200 feet down an alley to my garage.  I'm thinking that may be where all of these are coming from.  It's paved, but some of them may be hiding back there I suppose.  I need to go get one of those rolling magnets and run it down the alley a few times.

[andy750]

Ah Chris welcome to my world! I am a magnet for flat tires  I know that twitchy feeling in the front end only too well...the lack of steering in the corners...the soft and unresponsive back end....the high speed wobble/head shale at 70mph  . Ive had my fair share of punctures and like you check my tire pressure all the time, check the tire before getting on the bike (almost anytime)...it has become a habit now. I thought about getting a tire pressure monitor but they are pretty expensive so i take my chances.

How is this for luck - riding the same stretch of highway - I-59 though Mississippi and getting a front tire puncture (2001) and then rear tire puncture (2004) - within 5 miles of each other!!! Ill never ride that highway again

Good luck and keep feeling for that heavy front end

Andy

[dave500]

well thats your three,your out,should be all good from here on,hey hush,always ride a bike in the position on the road you would be sitting in a car,your in the rearview of the car in front,stay off the centre where oil leaks most likely are.

[Gordon]

Talk about overkill!  That's quite a nail.

I just got a flat on the rear of my 550 a couple of weeks ago, but it was just a large staple.  I ride right by a lumber yard on my way to work, and that's where it happened, so I'm sure that's where it came from. 

I think how it usually happens is that you run over the nail, staple, etc with the front wheel which kicks it up off the road, and if your rear tire hits it at just the right angle it goes straight in. 

It's been recommended here by a few members that using a natural rubber inner tube will slow the loss of air when it's punctured, so the loss of air pressure isn't quite as abrupt.