Hey guys!

I was riding around town tonight and I got another flat rear tire AGAIN!
I've just found out that what is puncturing the tubes is a tire ply. It's gotta be!

Before I took the rear tire off the rim I marked the position of the tire on the rim and another marking in direction to the valve stem so i could see where exactly was the problem...

There are no nails nor anything stuck on the tire.
I took out the "new tube" from the tire , and completely removed the tire from the rim.
I inflated that "new tube" and the previous older tube to properly see the holes.


I then put the "new tube" back on the tire (off the rim!!!) and aligned the valve stem to the marking for the valve stem I'd just previously made.. and Inflated it...

By aligning the "new tube" with the marking for the valve stem, on the location of the puncture hole I found an extremely, very tinny, "imperfection" on the outside of the tire... I tried using a thin pliers to try and grabbing that "imperfection" and it didn't grab on to anything..


I then grabbed a nice clean new nail and a hammer, inflated the "new tube" again and hammered the nail on the place I found that little "imperfection" until I made another hole on the "new tube"....

Guess what.. the hole from the nail was dead on the hole that was already there... ok...probablyabout 0.5mm away from it but you get the picture..

Then I remembered to align the hole on the older tube with the hole on the "new tube" and I found out that the hole is in the very same angle...


My question is.... WHAT THE FK SHOULD I DO NOW???
I'm really pisd of right now!


Later today after I wake up (it's almost 6:30 am over here) I'ma get one of those big thick patches to repair the inside of tubeless tires and see if I can get this permanently fixed!

But first I'll try to grab or try to press the damn ply from the inside of the tire with a larger nail so it'll stick out and not inwards...

See if that works because it's really pisg me off!

Should it work???


Vando

Well.. went to buy the parts to repair the tire and my two rear tubes...

tire patch and tube patches: ImageShack Album - 2 images


Will do it now and report back later afternoon.. damn, I gotta sleep


Vando

Hi Vando, Would a patch onto the tyre over the "imperfection" take up the amount sticking out from the tyre? or would it (imperfection) still work its way through that aswell?
Are you saying that the fault might lie with the tyre in manufacture? or something may have worked its way in to the wall of the tyre?
How long/miles on the tyre from new?
If I recall you are not easily close to seller so a lot of hassel to replace I guess, but sometimes a photograph of the problem might get them (seller)to see a way of replacement should it come to that (fingers crossed not)

Socks

I've had a wedge of hardened glass in a tyre, almost invisible. It gets pushed in from the outside and becomes invisible from the outside. And hardly detectable from the inside.

In the area of the tyre where the problem is, push hard from the outside with, say, the end of a 6 to 8mm bolt, or similar piece of metal rod or T bar. Press your finger hard up against that spot on the inside of the tyre. Maybe you'll feel something sharp. (I think you will)

If there's glass in there, sticking a patch in the inside of the tyre won't help long term.
And if you use pliers to grab it from the outside, the pliers will just crush the glass where they've gripped onto, and do nothing.

In my case, I felt something sharp on the inside and poked vigorously with a screwdriver from the outside. Inside, tiny pieces of glass appeared as the original wedge of glass broke up. Poke around with the screwdriver until all the glass has come out.
Or it may be more effective to push the glass out by pushing with a screwdriver from the inside of the tyre, if you can see exactly where it is.
Be careful in all this that your screwdriver isn't so big or sharp it damages the tyre!

Good luck!

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TTR250 - London to Cape Town