Anybody else have similar problems to me? I've had my Charge Duster for a little while now and absolutely love it. Because I have a lot more faith in it than my old budget bike it encourages me to ride faster and harder.

However, the new shiny bike has highlighted a problem, me. I'm quite heavy (about 15st), and yesterday I picked up yet another pinch puncture on the rear. I got 3 at llandegla earlier in the year, and a couple more elsewhere, including one yesterday. They are always on rocky downhill sections, going fairly fast, and always rear tyre. I run the rear tyre at 45 or 50 psi, want to go tubeless on my ZTR flow rims, but don't want to buckle them. I'm aware people suggest 'floating' over things, but what does this mean in terms of body position, or do you pump then unload the bike over the rough stuff, then what do you if It's continuous?

I will be booking a skills day shortly to try and solve this and other problems, just this tainted an otherwise brilliant all day ride yesterday.

Why do you think going tubeless would make you more likely to buckle the rims ?

Go tubeless, it's great and won't buckle your rims.

Try Dh tubes or go tubeless with proper UST tyres (or dual ply tyres), if you pinch flat a lot (especially at 45psi) you'll shred normal tyres run tubeless.

I also tend to pinch puncture on my HT, usually whizzing along something fairly smooth and not seeing a random rock and clonk the rear wheel into it – Pfffffff! If I see the rock then I'm either going slower, or round it, or unweight a bit.

I think the secret to this unweighting is actually weighting, but just before the thing you are trying to get over, and then pushing up and away with your feet and loosening up to let the bike lightly bobble over. I'm not able to do a bunny hop tho 🙁 I tend to overbalance and crash horribly if I try them.

I'm not convinced that high inflation helps as it makes the handling pingy and difficult to control. I recently changed my rear tyre to one with a stiff wire bead, which may be helping. I guess a larger volume tyre or one with stiffer sidewalls might also help.

Imagine your running down the trail, you see a rock, you compress your legs the stride before the rock and spring up over it.

Just do the same on your bike. Ride towards it at speed, throw your weight foreward onto the forks, then back and kick with your legs to push the bike forewards (thus lifting the forks), thats a manual, then push the bars forewards and raise your knees up towards you to bring the rear up.

Its easier to do it than say it though.

I usualy just let the bike do its thing and act as a passenger in rough sections. 14st, on on 456 with maxxis 2.35 high rollers at 25-30psi and rarely get flats.

Poss too much weight on the rear and landing to hard – maybe try and keep weight ditribution a little more even "riding light terminology". Crashing though is not too good.

or do you pump then unload the bike over the rough stuff, then what do you if It's continuous?

If you can't jump it all, then hold on tight 🙂 You can only unweight for short sections.

i bet you drag the rear brake

i bet you drag the rear brake

Why would that matter? (genuinely interested) I can see it stiffening rear suspension but on a hardtail? Yes braking over rough stuff is generally a bad thing and you end up with less grip/control but contributing to punctures?

if you drag the rear it doesnt rotate over stuff and pinches happen

brake on = cant roll over things so clatters into them …

its a technique thing rather than a weight issue – my mates 15 stone like your self and rides a 23lb XC race hardtail with no issues – and ive ridden some stuff with him on my 29er(which is pretty heavy duty for my bikes) that ive though – no way hes gonna get down there intact !

it's harder to pump, manual or go light over rough ground while dragging the rear brake, on a hardtail you need to pick the flowyest lines through rocks planning, spotting lines and jumping to place the wheels precicely is the smoothest way through the roughest parts. riding a hardtail well in rough downhills is very very physically demanding.

dunno if that was what Jedi was aluding to or the other matter that a rolling tyre with a centralised rider will take a much less harsh hit than a locked up one with a rider hanging off the back.

<EDIT> Ah.. I type too slow 🙄

Try making a real point of bending your knees – like to the point of being silly and see how that goes – made a big difference to me and I realised then that I was tending to ride out of the saddle with pretty much locked/straight legs.

I wouldn't recommend ghetto tubeless to anyone with a heavy riding style, BTW.

"i bet you drag the rear brake"

yeah, when I get scared. You're dead right about the rear wheel slamming into stuff when the brake is on. Brakes are dangerous!

yep, I do drag the rear brake. say there's a really long steep downhill straight rocky path, should you pulse the brakes on flat bits, drag the front or goon down it and pre book the ambulance?

apart from a skills day and this forum, are there any good resources for learning about technique?

It's far better to brake on smoother bits and release over the rough sections, even if that means a slight divert from your intended line, IMO. Dragging brakes really doesn't do you any favours. Smoother bits may be only a bike-length long but will allow you to jam in some good decel to knock speed back to a manageable level, you might have to brake with one brake as one wheel enters a smooth section, then release and transfer braking to the rear, to get the level of braking you need in the space.

Uh!! ?? there's hardly ever pinch flatting rocks on really steep descents, and certainly not at any trail centres.

I think your idea of steep may be different from mine but just plan where to brake a little more sensibly, keeping it locked all the way down is not necessarily slowing you down anyway.

coffeeking – Member
I wouldn't recommend ghetto tubeless to anyone with a heavy riding style, BTW.

why? i've run ghetto tubless for ages and seen no particular issues. im probably not the heaviest of riders but do ride pretty hard.

No you don't! or you'd know exactly why 😛

😆

GWs seen me ride albe it back in my DH days but not much has changed – no mincing goes on ! – ghetto with UST tires lasted about oh – 10k 😉

Real tubeless on the other hand with stans 355s and non tubeless tires has been great since !

Four posts till this descends into name calling.

Any other bets?

😉

Terry, I'm running 823 on the front of my Sunday but I still burp it at 30psi on rocky tracks – and I'm way smoother (but slower) than I was when you last raced DH.

clubber – Member
Four posts till this descends into name calling.

Any other bets?

****!

What do I win?

tsk, that's just cheating 😉

"No you don't! or you'd know exactly why"

Well, I don't know why. Maybe you've got a different idea of "riding pretty hard" to me.
100kg and top third solo at Hit the North, Bristol & Cheddar Bike Fests, Set2Rise, several Merida marathons etc. on a hard tail, so I don't think my wheels and tyres have got the easiest of lives.
Ghetto tubeless and no punctures and no buckled wheels.

85kg and dont know the difference between downhill tracks and Xc ones 😉

and forget im not on 10 inches of travel !

ghetto with UST tires lasted about oh – 10k
Real tubeless on the other hand with stans 355s and non tubeless tires has been great since !

Having trouble with this, how can a flimsier non UST tyre stand up to abuse better than a UST which has a tougher casing? or was it the ghetto/seal bit you had trouble with?

keeping it seated in the rim – when ghettoed it just wanted to roll off the rim using DT x1900s and mavic x719s

stans rimlock seems to do the business – the ust tires worked fine on the stans rim also – but curiousity /weight weenie in me decided to try folders on it and they worked fine.

i tried ghetto several times with small tubes cut up , with stans rim strips , with schwalbe and kenda and specialized tires (all of which work fine on my stans.

ah right, OPs using flows (which I've just switched to) so should be OK, just need to decide on whether to bother with rimstrip or just use yellow tape.

i use yellow tape/valves with zero issues

even when i forgot to take my valves from my parents to my house i managed to get them to work with the valves with lock rings cut out of old tubes

are there any good resources for learning about technique?

this

I'm quite heavy (about 15st),

I dream of the day i could be as light as 15st 😉

Im in the 18st+ category and I find i can ride with 40 – 45psi ok with occasional pinch flats. Line choice is improtant but more important IMO is tyre choice and trying to relax and absorb the bumps. Maxxis HR's, Ardent, Advantage, minions rarely pinch flat with me, but recently I got a new bike and the OE mountain kings pinched flat nearly every ride and occasionally twice a ride.

I recently did a skills course and Clive was a keen advocate of keeping the your heels relatively low so that your legs and ankles can absorb the vibration and knocks.

Linking bits of trail together might help as well, don't see it as that rock then that dip then that rock. See it as a whole section and use one rock as a launch to jump over a really rocky section then land on a smooth bit, obviously this rarely works for me but when it does it's pretty cool and smooth.

there can be many subtle things that are causing it. set up, body position etc…