Oh for a return to solid rubber tyres

[guest24]

Pneumatic is great, until you get a puncture. Looks like something has had a chew at my rear tyre as it lost 15psi overnight! Ho hum, whip the wheel out tomorrow and off to the tyre shop for a fix of exotic rubber smells, hissing tyre removal machines and exciting out-of-date wall calendars....oh and a puncture repair!! 

[guest7]

Look at the bright side, it's only flat at the bottom!

Ithankyou!

Talking of calendars I briefly owned an original copy of the 1968 Pirelli Calender. It's worth a fortune, but the guy who gave it to me wanted it back and i said ok. Doh!

GC

[guest24]

Not true. When I move the wheel so the bottom is at the top, it is no longer flat, but what was the top has become flat...so does that mean the puncture is moving around the rim 

[guest7]

Try moving it a quarter of a turn, it will do your head in 

GC

[002]

You need some bottom air !

The top air is OK,as it is lighter and stays at the top.
Bottom air is more dense so sinks to the bottom.


Jethro

[Richard]

Oddly enough my bottom air tends to rise in the room when released.

Smells terrible too.

Richard

[guest7]

I do hope it doesn't smell of rubber...

GC

[guest7]

Pneumatic is great, until you get a puncture.

Oh how we all laughed when I found a puncture just prior to the TC touring party leaving the ferry in Le Havre... oh the japes... oh the grimacing looks 

Perhaps those Ruski sidecar lads have got the right idea, same wheel all round and one spare on the sidecar boot.

GC

[Simon#83]

Slime is the answer! Simply fit and forget!

Can be used on both tubed and tubeless tyres. Just remove the tyre valve and pour it in. I gather tyre fitters aren't do keen on it because of the mess, but as I usually fit my own tyres it's not a problem.

The main downside (apart from being about a tenner a bottle) is that you may not be aware that you've picked up a puncture. Although if tyres are checked regular I'd have thought the pressure would have dropped a few PSI before the slime seals the hole.


Simon

[guest24]

Well I indulged in my rubber sniffing today and got nowhere. We cant find the puncture.... and it still goes down at the rate of 4psi in 2 hrs ?!

So we took the tyre off and checked it internally and found nothing and then refitted it.

Then checked the valve, checked the small slit on the surface again for any escaping air  - nothing. So I took it back home and put it in the bath to look for bubbles, but absolutely nothing.  

Now it's having an overnight stay in the tyre shop inflated to 60psi to see what it looks like in the morning.

The only thought is maybe it wasn't seating properly on the rim and removing/refitting may have cured it? Who knows. If it has goes down by the morning then I'll probably have to buy a new one as we cant find the puncture...  

[guest24]

Rather late update. Wednesday evening, after the overnight lock-in, it had lost only the minuscule amount that is lost by checking the pressure... So, drop to correct pressure and took the wheel home and put it in the back garden ready for fitting. Finally fitted it Saturday morning and it was still at the correct 33psi.

So I conclude it must have been a badly fitted valve or small leak on the rim.

Tomorrow, captain paranoia says check it again before trundling off to work. He also says to take my AA card.