Armadillo leads to split valve mystery



E

Erich

Guest
I got fed up with hawthorn punctures and ordered some Armadillo tires
from Wiggle ("Specialized Fast Trak LK Armadillo Elite Folding Tyre" -
£25 each). These were sized at 26x2.0, while the old tires were
26x1.95. The Wiggle salespeople said that would be fine as long as the
tire fit between the brake calipers. It fit, though the tire is
noticeably larger, and takes more air than the old one.

On the first ride with the new tires, the rear one got a flat after
about 45 min of riding. It was a strange sort of flat - a vertical
tear in the unpatchable neck of the inner tube. This was an old
patched-up tube, so I replaced it with a new one. Same thing happened
45 min later. And again after that! Three inner tubes dead in the same
way.

I cannot feel or see any burrs in the rim hole. Running the neck of an
inner tube roughly through the hole does not abrade it. Anyway,
everything was fine with that wheel before the Armadillos.

And the front tire, also with a new Armadillo, has been fine.

Can anyone suggest what might be wrong? Wiggle merely supposed that
the tube might not be fitting squarely. I suppose the next step is to
put the old tire back on and see what happens.

Pictures here:
http://www.schlaikjer.net/bike/

Thanks!
 
Erich wrote:
> [punctures]
>It fit, though the tire is
> noticeably larger, and takes more air than the old one.


I suspect you need larger inner tubers.
e.g. if your current ones are 26*1.9 you need 26*2.5 or something.

Martin.
 
"Erich" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
Can anyone suggest what might be wrong? Wiggle merely supposed that
the tube might not be fitting squarely. I suppose the next step is to
put the old tire back on and see what happens.

Pictures here:
http://www.schlaikjer.net/bike/

Thanks!

It could be your tyre fitting procedure at fault:

Do you push the valve into the tyre, seat the beads around the valve and
then work your way around the rim away from the valve after putting a bit of
air in the tube to keep it in the tyre casing as you fit the reaminder of
the tyre? That should help to avoid interference between the tyre beads and
the valve and tube.

Do you also check that the tyre has not rotated whilst fitting it and that
the valve has not pulled round at an angle before fully inflating the tyre.


It could also be a duff batch of tubes. I've had the unfortunate experience
of having three consecutive tubes fail before I got as far as riding my
bike - all three with tube/valve interface failures. They were cheap
unbranded tubes.

HTH

-=V=-
 
Erich <[email protected]> whizzed past me shouting
>
>On the first ride with the new tires, the rear one got a flat after
>about 45 min of riding. It was a strange sort of flat - a vertical
>tear in the unpatchable neck of the inner tube. This was an old
>patched-up tube, so I replaced it with a new one. Same thing happened
>45 min later. And again after that! Three inner tubes dead in the same
>way.
>


Try putting a Presta tube in it.

--
Sue ]:(:)

Why aren't we demandng regular retests for motorists?
It'd probably work better than hanging or castrating them
and certainly be cheaper than life imprisonment.
 
in message <[email protected]>, Erich
('[email protected]') wrote:

> Can anyone suggest what might be wrong? Wiggle merely supposed that
> the tube might not be fitting squarely. I suppose the next step is to
> put the old tire back on and see what happens.
>
> Pictures here:
> http://www.schlaikjer.net/bike/


That's a Schraeder valve. Is it possible that your rims are drilled for
Presta valves, which are smaller diameter? Have you tried a Presta valve
tube?

In any case I'd be in inclined to take some fine abrasive and just clean up
that valve hole - I can see some slight burrs on it in the photo.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; 99% of browsers can't run ActiveX controls. Unfortunately
;; 99% of users are using the 1% of browsers that can...
[seen on /. 08:04:02]
 
Erich <[email protected]> wrote:

> I got fed up with hawthorn punctures and ordered some Armadillo tires
> from Wiggle ("Specialized Fast Trak LK Armadillo Elite Folding Tyre" -
> £25 each). These were sized at 26x2.0, while the old tires were
> 26x1.95. The Wiggle salespeople said that would be fine as long as the
> tire fit between the brake calipers. It fit, though the tire is
> noticeably larger, and takes more air than the old one.
>
> On the first ride with the new tires, the rear one got a flat after
> about 45 min of riding. It was a strange sort of flat - a vertical
> tear in the unpatchable neck of the inner tube. This was an old
> patched-up tube, so I replaced it with a new one. Same thing happened
> 45 min later. And again after that! Three inner tubes dead in the same
> way.
>
> I cannot feel or see any burrs in the rim hole. Running the neck of an
> inner tube roughly through the hole does not abrade it. Anyway,
> everything was fine with that wheel before the Armadillos.
>
> And the front tire, also with a new Armadillo, has been fine.
>
> Can anyone suggest what might be wrong? Wiggle merely supposed that
> the tube might not be fitting squarely. I suppose the next step is to
> put the old tire back on and see what happens.
>
> Pictures here:
> http://www.schlaikjer.net/bike/
>
> Thanks!


that looks like the valve is being put under pressure. do the valves
look like they are moving? ie the inner tube moving.

as others have said try some bigger tubes, or higher pressure.

roger
 
After serious thinking Erich wrote :
> I got fed up with hawthorn punctures and ordered some Armadillo tires
> from Wiggle ("Specialized Fast Trak LK Armadillo Elite Folding Tyre" -
> £25 each). These were sized at 26x2.0, while the old tires were
> 26x1.95. The Wiggle salespeople said that would be fine as long as the
> tire fit between the brake calipers. It fit, though the tire is
> noticeably larger, and takes more air than the old one.
>
> On the first ride with the new tires, the rear one got a flat after
> about 45 min of riding. It was a strange sort of flat - a vertical
> tear in the unpatchable neck of the inner tube. This was an old
> patched-up tube, so I replaced it with a new one. Same thing happened
> 45 min later. And again after that! Three inner tubes dead in the same
> way.
>
> I cannot feel or see any burrs in the rim hole. Running the neck of an
> inner tube roughly through the hole does not abrade it. Anyway,
> everything was fine with that wheel before the Armadillos.
>
> And the front tire, also with a new Armadillo, has been fine.
>
> Can anyone suggest what might be wrong? Wiggle merely supposed that
> the tube might not be fitting squarely. I suppose the next step is to
> put the old tire back on and see what happens.
>
> Pictures here:
> http://www.schlaikjer.net/bike/
>
> Thanks!


Well, I'm not at all sure, but I'm posting because I'm very dubious
about some of the (well-intentioned) replies to your post.

I think the most likely culprit it the combination of valve hole / rim
tape. You may have got away with this with your old tyres because their
casing / bead was positioning the tube slightly differently.

I'd use a Velox (adhesive cotton) rim tape if I were you. If it's
difficult to obtain this quickly, try putting about three firmly-fixed
layers of insulating tape over the valve hole (beneath your original
tape) and perhaps 5cm to either side. (Punch a hole for the valve,
obviously!)

With respect to the other posters, I certainly don't think your rim was
intended for Presta valves, or that wider tubes would help (in this
case).

--
Simon
 
Erich wrote:

>I got fed up with hawthorn punctures and ordered some Armadillo tires
>from Wiggle ("Specialized Fast Trak LK Armadillo Elite Folding Tyre" -
>£25 each).


>On the first ride with the new tires, the rear one got a flat after
>about 45 min of riding. It was a strange sort of flat - a vertical
>tear in the unpatchable neck of the inner tube. This was an old
>patched-up tube, so I replaced it with a new one. Same thing happened
>45 min later. And again after that! Three inner tubes dead in the same
>way.
>
>I cannot feel or see any burrs in the rim hole. Running the neck of an
>inner tube roughly through the hole does not abrade it. Anyway,
>everything was fine with that wheel before the Armadillos.


>Pictures here:
>http://www.schlaikjer.net/bike/


It looks like they are puncturing at the side of the valve stem. I
also see from the pictures you have what looks like a rubber rim tape
which appears not to be fitting properly. Perhaps there is some
interaction between the new tyres and the rim tape causing the
puncture.

I would suggest some adhesive cloth rim tape. Velox is usually
recommended.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"
 
On 18 Mar, 08:33, Martin Dann <[email protected]> wrote:
> Erich wrote:
>
> > [punctures]

>
> >It fit, though the tire is
> > noticeably larger, and takes more air than the old one.

>
> I suspect you need larger inner tubers.
> e.g. if your current ones are 26*1.9 you need 26*2.5 or something.
>
> Martin.


The tubes (also from Wiggle, same order) say "1 of Geax Tubes MTB
Inner Tube - Pack Of 5 Schraeder 26 x 1.50-2.25", which looks like a
pretty big size range.
Dunno what the reputation of these tubes may be, though. Pity Wiggle
doesn't have Amazon-style customer reviews.