So, just built up my eBay Anthem, found some excellent forest trails just a few miles from where I live and I’m out having a real blast. A couple of hours in and woosh the rear deflates. Ah, no bother, get the new tube out and… no levers, shit, oops, multitool screw driver then. The crappy tool bends and falls apart and the nobby nic is not for bulging.

An hours walk later I find my way out of the most deserted woods I’ve ever seen and bump into a bunch of kids doing a ride for the Duke of Edinburgh award. I manage to borrow levers and a patch and got things back together – sorted. Then… woosh, it deflates again! This time its a split on the brand new tube, **** it.

The new tube is useless, the old tube has a snake bite, a split and a thorn hole, the kids are getting cold and want to get going so, no choice, I give up on the tyre and end up jogging the (luckily only) two miles to get home.

Thanks anyway to the very helpful bunch of kids that gave up their lunch break to help an old codger that should know better.

Good time to go tubeless 🙂

Thanks for the warning. I had to google tube and puncture to find out what you were on about!

Last time I was out I chucked a bmx tube in my bag by accident, didn’t realise till I punctured.

Lucky tubes are so stretchy, still in there now. Felt like a right idiot though, would have been worse still if i’d had to walk.

After three snakebites followed by a looong walk down a beautiful descent, I went tubeless the next day. No punctures since….(i´ve just gone and jinxed meself haven´t i).

tubeless failure the other day, rummaged around in the camelbak, **** no pump. An 8 mile walk home, the most disappointing thing passed by many many cyclists not one asked if I needed any help. 2 tubeless punctures today requiring the pump. First one made my jacket look like it had a starring role in a porno.

Klunk are you really tubeless or doing one of those daft weight weenie botch ups? What tyres are you on? You have had more punctures this week than I have in 4 years.

Stan’s kit – bought.
I did try this a good few years ago when the rim strip was a plasticky affair, but the syringe popped and sprayed latex over my work trousers and made them look like Ron Jeremy’s pajamas.

I’ll give it another go.

6 P’s 😉

6 P’s

P,P,P,P Pickup a Penguin???

Noob question here- do tubes gradually lose pressure over time and on big rides or am I just going mental?

Klunk are you really tubeless or doing one of those daft weight weenie botch ups? What tyres are you on? You have had more punctures this week than I have in 4 years.

+1

I’ll give it another go.

Can definitely recommend the ghetto tubeless inflator. Never failed to seat a tyre with one of these.

do tubes gradually lose pressure over time

Yes. Some of the air can sneak out, at like a molecular level or something

Noob question here- do tubes gradually lose pressure over time and on big rides or am I just going mental?

You do need to top them up (maybe once a fortnight, depends on the tube) But needing topped up during a ride sounds like a slow puncture to me