It might save me on patches as I have many of both lying around the place, tubes and tyres that is. Also can anyone suggest some cranks that can handle abuse? I have ruined three sets, now on my DiamondBack, I have the good original right hand crank and a good left crank, this one came off a bike with a bockety right crank, this left one is about 1.5cm shorter than the right one , this is why I need three sets of cranks. I don't want to talk about my Raleigh, the wound is too fresh.
Puncture Avoidance
- Thread starter Fladdem
- Start date
what sort of "abuse" do you give your cranks/bike? there are heavier duty downhill cranksets available, if it's the square taper that is causing issues then why not look at changing to a different fitment like Octalink or Isis?
tbh your crank issue sounds like it may well be down to user error.
and what's wrong with your Raleigh? :?
tbh your crank issue sounds like it may well be down to user error.
and what's wrong with your Raleigh? :?
Going back to the tubes issue, I ride a lot of towpath that has been trimmed and there are LOADS of thorns etc lying around - and I was suffering 5 plus punctures a ride.
I picked up some SlimeLite inner tubes off ebay - and haven't had an issue since.
I did a 100mile ride on there in the middle of April - with no issues - and when swapping tyres this weekend - found several thorns in the tyre - but no loss of air pressure.
Worth the small amount of weight (200g per tube) to save all the faff of punctures!
I picked up some SlimeLite inner tubes off ebay - and haven't had an issue since.
I did a 100mile ride on there in the middle of April - with no issues - and when swapping tyres this weekend - found several thorns in the tyre - but no loss of air pressure.
Worth the small amount of weight (200g per tube) to save all the faff of punctures!
It's normally hard to trash the tapers of cranks - they need to be done up TIGHT, and then retightened after about 100 miles. If you don't do that the left one inevitably works a little loose. Once it's even the tiniest bit loose it will mangle itself and be impossible ever to keep tight.
Try some sealant in your innertubes, i managed to get home with 3 thorns sticking out my rear a few weeks back after a day out on a club ride, lost a little pressure.
I use Specialized Airlock sealant, 1 bottle does 2 tubes, works out £2.50 per wheel.
It will not fix everything, a few weeks back i rode over a smashed bottle while distracted, the front tyre was flat in under half a second as it had a 1" tear across the tread :shock:
The rear sealed itself back up while having a massive shard of glass poking out from it
I use Specialized Airlock sealant, 1 bottle does 2 tubes, works out £2.50 per wheel.
It will not fix everything, a few weeks back i rode over a smashed bottle while distracted, the front tyre was flat in under half a second as it had a 1" tear across the tread :shock:
The rear sealed itself back up while having a massive shard of glass poking out from it
if you are going to mess around with sealant in tubes, why not get rid of the tubes and go tubeless?
I don't use the slime filled inner tubes but know somone who does and I still am asked to fix punctures hence in my epxperience don't bother. (I cut off the side parts of an old tyre and stuffed that in and that seemed to have worked far better than the sealant)..... and yes, the tuff strip stuff was tried .....
I don't use the slime filled inner tubes but know somone who does and I still am asked to fix punctures hence in my epxperience don't bother. (I cut off the side parts of an old tyre and stuffed that in and that seemed to have worked far better than the sealant)..... and yes, the tuff strip stuff was tried .....
- Feedback
- View
Thick tyres, puncture resistant tapes or the treads from old tyres and Kevlar armored tyres....
These will all increase the rolling resistance and so slow the bike down. They will also increase rotational inertia which will make the bike accelerate slower.
Tubles tyres with puncture sealant sounds good as with large inner tubes the hole will remain sealed by its thorn. But tubeless will be very messy when you take the tyres off. Also tubles tyres are hard work to remove and reseat properly which you would need to do if you got a puncture that was too large for the sealant to cope with.
Narrow tubes in fat tyres will leak much more air than tubes that are the same size (un-inflated) as their tyres.
These will all increase the rolling resistance and so slow the bike down. They will also increase rotational inertia which will make the bike accelerate slower.
Tubles tyres with puncture sealant sounds good as with large inner tubes the hole will remain sealed by its thorn. But tubeless will be very messy when you take the tyres off. Also tubles tyres are hard work to remove and reseat properly which you would need to do if you got a puncture that was too large for the sealant to cope with.
Narrow tubes in fat tyres will leak much more air than tubes that are the same size (un-inflated) as their tyres.
I don't care too much about the weight of the bike, I'll use an old 26 x 1 & 3/8 and put them inbetween the tube and tyre. I mostly ride to school and work and then down canal towpaths or similar surfaces at the weekend so I shan't worry too much about rolling resistance and all that. I have two sets of wheels for the diamondback anyway, one with a skinny tyre on ,not sure what size, and the other with a 2.25, skinny for school, knobblies for the weekend.
On the Diamondback Topanga I rounded off the taper in the pedal, this was my fault, on the left crank. On the nameless black MTB I used to take it to the bmx track with my mates and I bent the right crank out to about 30 degrees from straight, so the left crank was donated to the Diamondback, which is checked every friday after school. The Raleigh Marauder, I was coming home one day and I stood up to get up a hill and the one piece crank snapped on the right side and I went flying forwards catching my bits on the stem, the wound was too fresh to talk about previously. ON my old triumph and raleigh superbe they have cotter pin cranks, is that right? They look sturdy might look into them.
