What's up with bicycle tubes? Eventually, they all seem to go flat!

[vincev]

Key word is China ! The tubes even smell bad when opened.

 

[vincev]

Is there a good brand name you can order on Amazon ?

 

[2jakes]

I had a pair of pre-war red tires from Coker.
Several years later they disintegrated.
I've also had a pair from Memory Lane.
They are still working fine.
Both were made overseas.

 

[mr.cycleplane]

what could be more scary than to be 10 miles from home on a 65 pound bike with a flat tire and no tools-pump-patch kit-tube! since I was a kid I have been running the thick 'thorn proof' tubes for peace of mind. but even these get punctures. just a small shard of glass and its a roadside adventure. I have switched over to tubes filled with 'slime'-a sealant that claims to fill up to 2mm punctures. that is a hole about the size of a no.2 pencil lead. you can buy the tubes filled with 'slime' or buy the slime and add it to your tube-its a messy procedure. this might get you home-then replace it-don't patch it. buying a quality puncture proof tube-probably not going to happen these days.

 

[Duchess]

A lot of tubes seem to be sold as patching practice equipment. I seem to get about a 40% failure rate out of the box no matter the brand, but they've all been OK if they held air initially. Some of it's cheap production, but I think some of it is the weight weenies looking to buy lighter tubes which, of course, are thinner and weaker. What I try to do that I think helps is pick a tube to fit a tire at the low end of the stated size range on the box so that the rubber isn't as stretched when inflated. And I also noticed that they're useless to patch, but I don't know if it's the patch kits or the tubes. When I was a kid, I had a patch kit that I believe was intended for car tubes as it had a picture of a car tire on it. I don't know if it was standard procedure, but I was taught to glue around the edges of the patch and light it on fire, letting it burn for a moment before blowing it out, and it would be ready to inflate right away. I had tubes with four or five patches on them (Nobody was buying me new tubes. Post-purchase maintenance was frowned upon to the point where I would choose toys that didn't use batteries because once they were dead, that feature was done.). The animal they probably made that glue from must have ended up on the endangered species list as the newer stuff doesn't like the burn technique (might also be a different rubber composition).

 

[mr.cycleplane]

duchess said...."patching practice equipment"......

how true-that is hysterical!

 

[mazdaflyer]

Slime tubes are great until the finally clog up the valve so you can’t add air. At that point you need to add a new valve and hope it seats and seals. I like he Goodyear tubes also.

 

[bikemonkey]

Back in the day, our shop sold Mr. Tuffy tire liners. There was a big problem with sand spurs on the coast of SC and this product did the trick. It is now sold by the Slime people.

I would never, ever, never put that Slime goop inside inner tubes! Not even as a last resort - I would walk barefoot first.

 

[GenuineRides]

On every tube I put in my bikes I pull the valve stem core, no matter whether new or old and make sure to look closely at it so that I know it works correctly. Then I also apply just a touch of silicone grease on the threads and on the rubber plunger, plus then do a water submerge test on the valve stem. You can imagine what I see, many brand new valves are even bent. Many leaks can be attributed to poor valve core seating.

 

[Barto]

On every tube I put in my bikes I pull the valve stem core, no matter whether new or old and make sure to look closely at it so that I know it works correctly. Then I also apply just a touch of silicone grease on the threads and on the rubber plunger, plus then do a water submerge test on the valve stem. You can imagine what I see, many brand new valves are even bent. Many leaks can be attributed to poor valve core seating.

That’s what I was kind of thinking. I recently finished my Son-in-laws bike and installed the tires last. Pumped them up and took the bike off the stand. Bike looked great with those nice bright WW tires. Went to test drive it the next day and was greeted with a flat in the back. Maybe I’ll dig that tube out and check out the valve.
Bart