Two Wheel Blogs

This makes two!

Flat tires while riding on rollers, that is. I have been asked by more than one person how in the hell this can happen, and my responses have been to share theories. I say "theories" because that is the best I have to offer.

I have repaired a few tires in my day. Actually, I could justify claims that I know more than the average person when it comes to tires, but this time I am left with only guesses.

Last night I began my third consecutive day of roller rides (that is to say, the bike has been ridden on rollers and nothing else for the last 3 rides). The only other use these tires have seen in the past week were to support the weight of the bike as it rolled across my living room floor as I pushed it to the rollers from the storage rack and back. After only a few minutes of riding on the rollers last night, the back tire went flat.

Upon very thorough inspection, I found a hole in the tire that corresponds to the abrasion site in the tube, but there was nothing in the hole.

My theory is that the edges of this tire hole cut/abraded the tube until it ruptured. It seems plausible to me that the cut edges of the ply fabric would be sharp (these edges would exist inside the hole of the tire where a sharp evidently cut through the casing long ago and probably resulted in a flat at that time).

This hole in the tire was no more than a mm in length and most would conclude that it was not a deal breaker for the tire. However, extended use on a small diameter roller drum (Kreitler Dynomite) perhaps flexed the casing enough to allow these edges to "saw" through the tube.

I could not capture a decent image of the puncture in the tube, but it was not what I would call a "clean" cut. It had lots of abrasion as if a wire brush scrubbed a very small area around the hole.

That is my theory and I am sticking to it.....Or may be I am full of beans?

Two things are certain to me: I need to get some new tires now, and I can write an entire page about a flat tire. Not everyone can do that you know;)