How To Prevent a Flat Tyre
A few tricks you can try to keep your tyres rolling longer
As they say: prevention is better than cure. So how do you prevent that nasty pointy thing from going into your tyre and ruining your entire riding experience? Unfortunately, flats are part of riding and bound to happen to everyone at some point—but there are precautions you can take to reduce their likelihood. Follow these simple steps to prevent punctures.
If you have been cycling for a reasonable amount of time then the odds are fairly good that you have encountered a flat tyre or two in your time. In many cases you can usually repair the tyre with a decent puncture repair kit, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t still an annoyance that most cyclists would be more than happy to do without.
While some flat tyres are unavoidable, there are measures that you can take to ensure that there is less chance of one occurring when you are out on a ride. Here we look at a few ways to prevent such a situation.
Proper Tyre Pressure
First and foremost, the proper tyre pressure is the key to making sure you do not get a flat. Over inflating is just as big of a problem as under inflating.
Over Inflation – Many people are guilty of pumping their tyres too much thinking that hard tyres are going to make them faster. What can end up happening is as the day heats up it will make the air in the tyres expand and literally burst.
Under Inflation – Pinch flats are one of the leading causes of flat tyres. If you get something that looks like a snake bite in your tube it was likely caused by a pinch flat. This occurs because the rim hits the tyre and pinches the tube in between.
Pro Tip: Pump your tyres to the ideal psi before each and every ride.
Talcum Powder
While many flat tyres are caused by something on the road, general wear and tear on the tyre itself can also become an issue over time. In particular, friction between the inner tube and the tyre can lead to a hole being created that will cause the tyre to deflate over time.
To prevent this, you should aim to make the rubber of the inner tube a little slippery so that the effects of that friction are reduced. Whenever you get a new inner tube, be sure to dust it with a healthy coating of talcum powder so that you can reduce the effects of friction and mitigate the issue. This keeps the tyre and tube from sticking to each other and reduces friction that can possibly wear a hole in the tube.
Careful Riding
In many cases your tyre won’t immediately puncture when it has picked up a piece of debris on the road. Sometimes, said debris simply gets caught in the tyre and keeps rotating with it until the weight placed upon it leads it to penetrating and causing a flat tyre.
This means that, with a little careful riding, you can prevent the sorts of punctures that sneak up on your like this. If you have just cycled through an area that had a less than optimal surface, be sure to take a little bit of time to check your wheels. Simply hop off the bike and slowly rotate each one of your wheels. If you notice any debris there get rid of it and check the area to make sure that it hasn’t punctured the tyre. If you’re lucky there will be no problem, but if there is a puncture you will have at least caught it early enough for you to repair it without any issues.
Unfortunately for this guy, it's too late to even apologise.
Go Tubeless
It can be a bit more expensive than some other options, but buying a tubeless conversion kit or switching to Universal System Tubeless (UST) tyres altogether can be very effective ways to bring down your number of flats and improve a bike’s overall control. With no tubes, pinch flats become non-issues, and less air pressure is required for inflation, allowing for better shock absorption on rough terrain.
If you can’t bring yourself to get rid of your tubes, try using a sealant. When looking for a sealant, be sure to check if the inner tube requires a certain type, and how long it lasts before it needs to be replaced. Tyres and tubes can be purchased with sealant already in them—Slime brand products are marketed this way—but are more expensive and are typically heavier than those without it.
Rim Strips and Tyre Liners
Both rim strips and tyre liners guard the sides of the tube from its neighbors, the rim and the tire. As the name implies, rim strips protect the tube from the holes in the rim, and the ends of the spokes. These are as simple as a rubber strip or a cloth tape, and fit inside the rim bed. Tyre liners are similar to rim strips in their function, but protect from objects attempting to penetrate from the outside. Both are inexpensive to purchase, making them cheap insurance against flats. Experts say you should pay close attention to the overlap of the liner when it is installed, otherwise it can prove ineffective and may cause more flats than it prevents.
Take care during installation that the tyre liner stays center relative to the tire’s tread. This way you can end up with a really protected sidewall and little help under the tread.
Tyre Wipers
Tyre wipers are becoming increasingly rare in the modern cycling environment, but if you look hard enough you should still be able to find them around.
These nifty little devices will connect to your brakes or fenders and will work to get rid of any debris that has attached itself to the tyre while you ride. It does this through the use of a rubber coated metal bar, which brushes against the tyre as it rotates and knocks off any debris. This should mean that the debris doesn’t have the chance to penetrate into the tyre during the next wheel rotation, reducing the risk of a puncture.
Choose Your Route Carefully
If you are simply cycling for the sake of fitness and aren’t interested in mountain biking or going off-road, a little bit of route planning will ensure that you avoid areas that present a potential danger to your tyres, thus allowing you to avoid causing issues.
In most cases riding on tarmac or asphalt is much safer for your tyres than going off road, so try to stick to good surfaces as much as possible. Of course, this doesn’t mean you can get careless, so always have your eyes open when you are riding so that you can avoid any hazards.
