What is wrong with my bike tube?

Question

my bike tube keeps on getting flat, and i just inspected it but there is no sign of a hole anywhere. what can i do to be able to find the hole, if there is one? i asked a question that has the whole story about the tube in this link: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/;_ylc=X3oDMTE1bHFobXNyBF9TAzIxMTU1MjExMTgEc2VjA2Fuc19ub3QEc2xrA3N1YmplY3Q-;_ylv=3?qid=20080707234956AAAK3wQ

Answer 1

buy a new bike! your beat

first fill with air, then

spay with soapy water and look for air bubbles! if no leak then your tire or the rim itself is damaged.

Answer 2

Ideally you should buy a new tube and check your wheels rims and tyre for anything that may be causing the puncture. If you do want to try and fix the old tube you pump it up and put it in a basin of water to see where the air bubbles are coming from.

Answer 3

In your case, with all the weight you had on your bike with your 2 friends, you almost certainly cut the tube when you ran over any sort of hard object, usually into a pothole or something.  It's called a rim cut since the tire is overburdened with weight and gets pinched between a hard object you ran over and the wheel rim.  The rim actually cuts the tube inside the tire.

However, in general, there are 2 areas that are possible problems with a bicycle tube.  One is a hole in the tube.  The other is either a bad or loose valve in the stem.  

If your tube's valve stem looks like a car's valve stem, it may be leaking.  Pump up the tube while it's in the tire to the recommended pressure.  Don't put the cover on the valve yet.  Put some spit on your finger and smear it over the end of the valve so that it covers the valve.  If there's a leak there the spit will form a bubble.  Of course you can also spray the valve with soapy water, but spit is always available and easy to use.  

If the valve is good, you have a leak somewhere else on the tube.  Take the tube out of the tire and pump it up to just a little more pressure than it needs to hold it's round shape.  Take it to a sink, tub, bucket, or anything you can fill with water.  Hold all of the tube, or parts at a time, under the water.  Bubbles will leak out and be easily seen if there is a hole.

If there's a hole in the tube, patch it or replace it.  If there's a leak from the valve, you can find a tool to tighten the valve.  You can also find a replacement valve to use if tightening doesn't work.  However, it's simplest in all regards just to replace the tube.  Tubes aren't that expensive!  :-)

Good luck to you.  Be safe.

Answer 4

1. Take the inner tube out of the tire.

2. Fill up your tub 1/4 of the way with water.

3. Fill the innter tube with air.

4. Put a portion of the tube in the water until you start to see bubbles.

5. Dry the inner tube off, and repair hole, slow leaks are difficult to see with the naked eye and a bit difficult to hear.

6. Double check your tires to ensure you don't have a sharp object in them either.

Answer 5

If you want to find the hole place the tube in a pool or underwater and squeeze it you should see air bubbles coming from one spot and that is where the whole is, but it is easier to get the tube replaced.

Answer 6

It isn't easy to spot a hole in the tube by just looking at it.  

First, get a bucket and fill it with a couple of inches of water.

Next, fill the tube with air, then plunge the it into the bucket.  Most of the time, the bucket is too small to hold the whole tube.  That's OK.  You can do this in sections, if needed.  Hold the tube under the water for 5-10 seconds and see if there are any air bubbles coming out.  Turn the tube around a bit to make sure you're inspecting the whole thing.  When you see an air bubble, mark the spot.

After the tube has dried, you can patch the spots where the air bubbles came out.  I've done this plenty of times and was able to find holes that weren't obvious with other techniques.

Answer 7

change ur actual tire, if its worn or damaged on the outside where the treads are, that wil do it, think of it this way, the tire is ur tubes protection, if its worn it cant do its job as well so ur get flats alot so i wud say check ur tire and if its notr worn, then like u said, too much weight or ur putting the new tube in wrong, it but be a few things