Questions about Tubes...

[David White]

While working on my wife's bike today, I have again had problems with tubes.
The one in her (normally flat from lack of use) front tire simply would not
inflate. Turns out it had a big slice or cut in it. I have no idea how it got
there. When I pulled out her spare tube, it was pretty much disintegrating
along the edges of the rolled-up tube and would not hold air either.

So I pulled a tube out of the bag on one of my bikes. It wouldn't hold air
either - had a small slit in it. I have patched it and it is holding air now.
The others were only for the trash bin. I just don't understand this. I am not
sure of the brand on these tubes but all seemed different. Will tubes just get
old and fall apart/rot sitting around?

This is not the first time I have had groups of tube failures like this. In one
seat bag on a ride I found three Specialized tubes all failed on a "seam" or
line on the exterior surface while looking for a tube to fix a flat. I assumed
that I had gotten a number of tubes from a defective batch from Specialized.
But now I am starting to wonder.

I have several bikes, each of which has its own seat pack with spare tubes and
rag. Since the bikes get ridden in rotation, the bikes simply hand in my
furnace room in the basement most of the time. But this room is not overly hot
or cold. Any ideas on what is happening?

Thanks.

[Zog The Undeniable]

David White wrote:

> While working on my wife's bike today, I have again had problems with
> tubes. The one in her (normally flat from lack of use) front tire simply
> would not inflate. Turns out it had a big slice or cut in it. I have no
> idea how it got there. When I pulled out her spare tube, it was pretty
> much disintegrating along the edges of the rolled-up tube and would not
> hold air either.
>
> So I pulled a tube out of the bag on one of my bikes. It wouldn't hold
> air either - had a small slit in it. I have patched it and it is holding
> air now. The others were only for the trash bin. I just don't understand
> this. I am not sure of the brand on these tubes but all seemed
> different. Will tubes just get old and fall apart/rot sitting around?

A big slice normally means the tyre popped off the rim at some time.
Yes, they do rot - as I found the other week when a tube I'd had hanging
around for years shredded itself round the valve as I pumped up the
tyre. It was perished.

[Werehatrack]

On Sun, 30 May 2004 00:35:27 GMT, David White
> may have said:

>Will tubes just get
>old and fall apart/rot sitting around?

Yes, particularly if there is a lot of ozone in the environment, or if
their surfaces have been contaminated with any number of things that
can degrade the butyl.

>I have several bikes, each of which has its own seat pack with spare tubes and
>rag. Since the bikes get ridden in rotation, the bikes simply hand in my
>furnace room in the basement most of the time. But this room is not overly hot
>or cold. Any ideas on what is happening?

Cloth bags, I'll bet, and the furnace blower motor is producing ozone
as the brushes spark. If you have nowhere else to park the bikes, try
putting each of the tubes inside a heavy, sealed polyethylene bag to
reduce the failure rate. You'll probably notice that rubber bands on
things in the furnace room also don't last. There's not much you can
do to reduce the ozone level other than suction ventilate the motor
cavity to the outdoors, and that's probably not an option.

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