Visited By The Puncture Fairy AGAIN
I went for pretty much six months without a single flat. Then the post-Christmas weather sent everyone’s recycling bins blowing along our back alley (not a euphemism), scattering broken glass everywhere. In the last two weeks I’ve had five flats, including this morning…
…A puncture in my Pashley’s Schwalbe Marathon Plus rear tyre
I’ve had this bike three years, and probably ridden about 4,000 miles on it without a single puncture. What sort of sabot could pierce these tyres?
Well it wasn’t going to fix itself, and I wasn’t going anywhere, so I decided to find out. As it was the back wheel, I didn’t bother taking the wheel off the bike You wouldn’t believe how much of a faff this is on the Pashley - full chain case to remove, hub brakes to disconnect, hub gears to disconnect and then have to re-adjust after putting the wheel back on. Life is just too short.
The technique is to turn the bike upside down, put a bit of air into the tyre, and then see if the offending item is still in place to help locate the leak. Then prise the tyre off just for six inches or so each side of the problem, remove the offending item (in this case a thorn), yank out enough of the inner tube to fit a patch, and put the whole thing back together.
Sounds simple. Except those Marathon Plus tyres are a right sod to get back on.
Thankfully Twitter had the answer, along with this very helpful video from Spa Cycles:
Just one more reason to always carry a pair of leather straps with you.
I’ve just got a marathon plus for my rear wheel. I’m dreading a puncture cos it’s going to take my thumbs off to put that tyre on.
Oddly, the best tyres I’ve had for p* resistance so far have been a pair of Continental City Contact (now renamed “Comfort Contact”). £15 the pair, off eBay. I’ve done about 3,000 miles, with one unplanned deflation (due to a honking great nail).
Finally a reason for having rat trap on your bike
I first saw this video about a year ago and, although I agreed with most of it, I couldn’t see the reason for using the straps. After wearing my thumbs out changing about 4 tyres in the week, I decided to give using the straps a try: It works a f@&king treat!