How to deal with 700X23c cycling road tires that go flat often and break even steel tire levers?

Question

How to deal with 700X23c cycling road tires that go flat often and break even steel tire levers?

Answer 1

700x 23c tyres are very prone to "pinch punctures"- moreso than 700x 28c so a simple expedient would be to use bigger tyres. I use 700x 20c and I find them impossible to fix using conventional patches. I use the rubber strips and cut them to about two inches square and that fixes most punctures. The bottom line is you're using 700x 23c in the first place because it gives you increased performance and the price you pay for that is increased risk of pinch punctures. With my 700x 20c tyres I just accept that lots of punctures are inevitable but I'm willing to put up with that in order to have the marginal increase in efficiency. As regards the tyre levers when I'm taking the tyres off I don't just put the lever under one rim of the tyre I push it right under both rims and lever the full tyre off in one go as this removes the risk of pinching the tube when you try and take the tyre off one rim at a time as you would with a conventional bike.

Answer 2

Are your tires going flat without having a puncture? That's common for high-performance tubes. The solution is simple - get a normal tube made of butyl rubber. If you keep getting punctures, then you'll have to note where the punctures are happening and carefully search for what's causing them. When you get holes along the rim side of the tube, then suspect a spoke hole not being fully protected. If they're on the tread side, run a cotton ball along the inside of the tire to find the culprit. Never use your finger, unless you have too much blood and need to get rid of some.

Sometimes tires just fit tightly, sometimes you can do things to make the situation better. Installing a tire requires fitting the bead down into the middle of the rim. Some rims are deeper than others, and how deep they are makes a difference on how easily you can mount tires. Make sure you only have one layer of rim tape. If that doesn't help, you can  get velo plugs, which plug the individual spoke holes instead of having a layer of cloth all round the inside of the rim. If that doesn't work, then maybe that tire/rim combination just fits too tightly to work.

Answer 3

First, breaking levers suggests the tire is really a bit undersize for the rim (or poor lever technique or both). If a wire bead tire it won't improve so you would be best to try a different brand of tire. If a kevlar bead (folding tire) it may stretch slightly with use, but probably you would still be better with a different brand of tire.

Now, the flats. When wheels get frequent flats it usually means one of three things:

- the tread is worn and they are at the end of their lifetime. New tires rarely get flats from other than mechanical puncture, like a nail or tack that hits "just right".

- there is something internal causing the flats. For example, something poking through the tire (e.g. small piece of glass, tack, bit of wire) or from the inside (e.g. the rim tape has failed allowing the tube to rub against a spoke nipple ... maybe with the end of the spoke protruding, or simply to bulg into a spoke hole).

- The tires are underinflated, and you are getting snakebite flats (twin holes 2-4 mm apart) from hitting stones, sharp edges of sidewalk, etc.

The type and location of the pucture holes should give a clue as to the problem.

Note that some problems can be hard to find. I had a bike once where the rear wheel kept going flat. It was driving me crazy since there appeared to be no reason for it. But after about 4 flats over a one week period I finally realized a spoke protruded slightly past the end of a nipple and there was a small crack in the rim tape just at that point. Off the bike the problem wasn't evident, but once assembled the tube expanded through the crack and would slowly develop a hole by the spoke end wearing through the tube. I finally figured it out (duh!) by noting the hole was always at the same location.

Hope that helps.

Answer 4

I am often astounded by the frequency some riders experience punctures!  Here are a few pointers.

1. Do not ride with under-inflated tyres.

2. Avoid riding on cruddy bits of road. (that includes being within half a meter from the kerbside)

The above two reasons appear to be the primary cause of most roadie punctures.

Additionally, when fixing a puncture ALWAYS check the inside of the tyre and rim for little sharp bits (if they caused the flat in the first place, they will cause another).

Very tight tyres and rims could be down to two possibilities.

Sometimes, rims and the tyre bead are seemingly incompatible and they are really tight, changing brand of tyre helps.  Secondly, a tyre that has a steel wire bead can often be very difficult to remove/apply try a folding tyre instead!

Best of luck mate.

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Answer 5

Two great answers !

Seems something is not fitting very well. Something is getting to tight. I guess you will probably a different tyre brand, one that will adjust/ adapt better and is not as tight-

ASk around at a good bike shop.

Kevlar tyres could be a solution too. But still if something is to tight or because something is to big/ large, (rim?) and thus causing the tightness you might lessen the problem, but not solve it.

So once again, ask around and I would guess a different kind of tyre or tyre brand would be your best option.

Answer 6

There's a couple of things you could do.  First of all, are you replacing the inner tube after each flat? Patches often leak causing another flat.  Secondly, when you change your tube, are you checking on the inside of the tire to be sure you have all debris out of the inside of the tire?  Often times things will be stuck in the tire and cause repeated flats.  Also, be sure that the tires are pumped up to pressure.  A 700x23 tire should proably be around 100 psi.  Keeping them up to pressure will help stop pinch flats (you can tell if you have a pinch flat because the holes in the inner tube will look like a snake bite).  

The broken tire levers makes it sound like you have a tight fitting tire.  Some brands are worse than others, but I can't say I've ever broken a steel tire lever.  If you've done everything above, I'd recommend replacing the tires with something with a kevlar belt or similar that's puncture resistant.  I had a pair of Specialized Armadillos that worked great for my commutes.  Hope this helps.