Flat tire solutions for schwalbe big apple

[brycer1968]

I have a KH 700c rim with a new big apple tire and A-19 Aschwalbe tire
with less than 10 miles on it. I do most of my riding in the urban
area at night (exercising the dog) and the night riding may be part of
the problem I'm having with flats. I have had three so far and have
been patching the tube each time, but getting tired of the whole thing.
Since the Big Apple has so little tread depth, it seems especially
prone to flats. (broken glass and wire bits mainly)
Any ideas?
-I dumped in some green slime after the first one, but it hasn't
helped.
-I thought of trying those tuffy liner plastic strips that go between
the tube and tire. any one tried these with this tire? Are they even
made in long enough lengths to go all the way around the 29" tire??
Would they leave a noticeable bump in the outside of the tire tread
where the liner ends meet or overlap a bit?
Any ideas?


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[tholub]

brycer1968 wrote:
> I have a KH 700c rim with a new big apple tire and A-19 Aschwalbe tire
> with less than 10 miles on it. I do most of my riding in the urban
> area at night (exercising the dog) and the night riding may be part of
> the problem I'm having with flats. I have had three so far and have
> been patching the tube each time, but getting tired of the whole thing.
> Since the Big Apple has so little tread depth, it seems especially
> prone to flats. (broken glass and wire bits mainly)
> Any ideas?
> -I dumped in some green slime after the first one, but it hasn't
> helped.
> -I thought of trying those tuffy liner plastic strips that go between
> the tube and tire. any one tried these with this tire? Are they even
> made in long enough lengths to go all the way around the 29" tire??
> Would they leave a noticeable bump in the outside of the tire tread
> where the liner ends meet or overlap a bit?
> Any ideas?



I've never gotten a flat on my Big Apples; I don't think the tire is
particularly prone to flats.
Anti-flat rim strips will definitely change the feel of the ride in a
negative way; they do that even on bikes.

My bet would be, if you have less than 10 miles on the tire and have
gotten three flats, that there's a problem with the tire seating or the
rim strip. If your rim strip doesn't fully cover the spoke holes,
you'll get flats on that side of the tube. Or maybe there's a burr on
the rim itself.


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[DarkTom]

I put old car seat belts into my bike tyres. When I moved to Glasgow I
got punctures all the time cos of all the glass lying around. But old
seat-belts (from old cars in scrap yards) have solved the problem.

I haven't ever noticed a difference on my bike's handling with seat
belts in the tyre, but you might on a unicycle.

Gotta be worth a try tho, and far cheaper than those liner things. I
saw kevlar ones once that cost £30 each!! The seat-belts cost nothing
cos they can't be sold on or used again.

T.


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[joemarshall]

brycer1968 wrote:
> I have a KH 700c rim with a new big apple tire and A-19 Aschwalbe tire
> with less than 10 miles on it. I do most of my riding in the urban
> area at night (exercising the dog) and the night riding may be part of
> the problem I'm having with flats. I have had three so far and have
> been patching the tube each time, but getting tired of the whole thing.
> Since the Big Apple has so little tread depth, it seems especially
> prone to flats. (broken glass and wire bits mainly)
> Any ideas?
>



I've had 1 flat on my big apple, over > 1000 miles of London riding.
About the same as the gazz + downhill tube on my muni, so I'd not say
it's prone to flats.

Firstly, are the flats all happening in the same place? If so, are you
sure you've got whatever caused it out of the tyre.

Secondly, what pressure are you running on it? If you're running it
super low, then it'll puncture much easier. I think I run mine at about
70psi, most people use about 55-60. If you don't have access to a pump
with a pressure gauge, that's somewhere between very firm and very very
firm, and is a whole lot of hassle to pump up unless you've got a track
pump.

Thirdly, where are you riding it, if you're riding it through loads of
broken glass every day, maybe pick a different route, even the
gazzaloddi punctures when riding over broken glass pretty quickly.

Joe


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