Flats almost every day

[kodexof731]

So, I've been getting a flat tire about every other day, for almost two weeks now. Seven consecutive tires (including today), with the tear all in the same location: right at where the valve stem is patched into the tube, and is ahead of the valve stem in the direction of motion. I run Surly Extraterrestrials, 26x2.5, same dimensions as the stock tires. The bike has about 2700 miles on it, the tires about a thousand.

I've tried wider tubes, tubes with lock nuts. I've replaced the rim tape, cleaned the rim and the inside of the tire, and it still keeps happening. I talked to my LBS and they mentioned that it might have to do with the torque of the motor (65Nm); maybe the tube is being gripped by the tire and pulling the valve stem against the rim. I ride a normal commute on asphalt and I'm not rough on my tires. I've gotten flats with the stock tires but they were always a puncture, not this. Maybe it's a problem with surly tires, but any help would be appreciated, thank you! Kodi tutuapp

 

[lnanek]

I've definitely had rims I rode on while flat, then they popped anything put in them after. I just replace the rim when that happens. In your case maybe you can use a Dremel to polish the edges of the hole the valve stem goes through. Some people use old popped tubes as padding material between the rim and the new tube too.

I've been using these extra thick slime tubes on my 26" wheel tandem lately:

Amazon.com

Tough to pedal, though.

 

[99t4]

What pressure do you run? Schrader or presta? Was it always like this since day one?

 

[neptronix]

The answer is to probably run very high tire pressure.

 

[amberwolf]

This has happened to me when I have run low tire pressure.

Once I had trouble with a wierd tire bead shape that didn't seat on my rims.

Two options are run higher pressure, or glue the tires to the rims (there's lots of products made just for this) so they can't spin on the rims and drag the tube with them.

 

[calab]

Kenda Thorn Proof tubes might be an option for you or anyone else reading this.

 

[richj8990]

Sometimes it's simply a worn tire too. Especially if it's wire bead. Those for some reason really like to flat more than folding tires. I like to put worn tires on again for casual riding with a tube just to finish wearing them out, but usually do it on the front and not the rear exactly because of the increased flat chance issue. Last flat I got out on the trail (with a normal bike) was a rear wire-bead at dusk, tried to ride to pavement, took a wrong turn, and that was a 45 minute nightmare with one flashlight in complete darkness. Lesson: don't ride rear tubed if you can help it (I know most rear hub drive rims may not be able to take tubeless setups and that just plain sucks; they need to start putting rear hub drives on modern rims). Not like a modern rim is 10x more expensive or anything...it's not.

I assume it's just the rear and not the front, correct? I would for sure get a new rear tire. With a lot of tread. I know they still make Maxxis DHRII and Hi-Roller II in 26x2.5 form. Those climb really good and are not a bad e-bike tire at all.

 

[bedesign]

So, I've been getting a flat tire about every other day ..

I fixed a 'similar' problem with daily flats -
All the rim nuts had been turned at the factory with so much force from inside the rim,
that the soft nut metal deformed into sharp edges under the rim tape.

I grinded them all on both wheels, taking care not to weaken them too much,
and added an extra tape layer.

Think about it: the rim side is the inner virtual road.
If it is smooth, it should also result in less rolling resistance.

 

[2old]

The only other thing that might work is to put baby powder into the tire with a new tube ot prevent the torque from the motor from "ripping" the stem from the tube.

 

[e-beach]

I have had that problem in the past, flats every couple of days where the inner tube has shifted and the valve stem cut. As AW mentioned earlier in the thread: High pressure in the tube. Max out the tire pressure to what ever the manufacture spec are. They are on the side of your tire if they are still legible.

At some point the stem hole in one of my rims got damaged due to the tube slippage so I drilled it out and put a rubber grommet into the hole and it worked great.

Yescomusa Valve Hole Mystery Damage

Or at lease it is a mystery to me on how this happened. I got a flat last night and had to nurse her home from about 6/10 of a mile away from my house. Went to change the tube (a extra think mountain bike tube) and I found the cause of the flat was that the valve stem had been pulled from the...

endless-sphere.com

 

[999zip999]

I had a XTR rim brake front rim with XTR rim brakes. I had a slime heavy duty extra thick tune with E50 rated tires.
A guy cut a right hand turn in front of me I was only going 18 miles an hour I hit the brakes and woke up an hour and a half later in the hospital.
The rim brakes grab the rim and the valve stem split and let the slime out greasing between the rim and tire the XTR brakes held the rim the tire spun around the rim with the slime greasing the movement of the tire on the Frozen rim. I woke up in the house for an hour and a half later. Broken collarbone concussion and a broken River two.
It was a new slime tube extra thick as I look at the tube itself the rubber the tube is made out of is granular the rubber is chunkier inside. And I've had other extra thick slime tubes crack at the base of the stem I've had glued my tire to the rim. With glue for sew up tires but I would think you can use any type of rubber cement. My bike normally stops well enough but it has a mix of 3000 and a 72 volt 24 amp hour battery. So it weighs some pounds.

 

[amberwolf]

I tried quite a few things to protect valve stems before I found the real problem(s) and fixed them, including heatshrink on the stems, grommets on the rim's valve hole, etc.

Oh, and if you have the right size rim for it, like on my 20" rear wheels of SB Cruiser, you can use moped / mc tubes that have full-metal threaded stems that actually lock down to your rim, and these have much more reinforcement around the join to the tube. I use 2.25" x 16" moped tires, and thick-wall 16" moped/mc tubes with the TR-4 stem.

Those along with powdering the tire inside so it can't drag the tube along for the ride would probably stop any valve stem damage, but the powder may make it next to impossible to do a roadside patch job in the event of a flat, necessitating carrying whole spare tubes instead. (same with using slime/etc inside the tubes).

But beads taht seat correctly to the rim, and that are soft enough rubber to grip the rim, and/or gluing the beads to the rim,as well as making sure you're using the right size tubes for the tires at a high enough pressure (so the tubes aren't stretched too much and will correctly fill the tire to push it onto the rim), should be enough.