OP, sounds like pinch flats or a burred rim – sidewalls or spoke holes. I’ve seen it on OE rims where the finishing hasn’t been up to standard – check the inside of the rim with the tape removed and sand down any rough areas. If there aren’t any it may be that the rim tape itself is causing the slits or moving to the sides exposing the spoke holes, try some cloth (Velox) tape if so.

cuts on the side could be a sharp rim edge

I’ve been through some repaired inner tubes and I reckon they’re pretty much all on the side.

So, I’ll check for the sharp rim edge.

Cheers. 😀

Could this possibly be caused by a wheel that’s too wide for the tube?

Or a big piece of glass in the tyre – sometimes it can be inbedded in the rubber and only pertrudes into the tube when pressure is exerted from the road – check the outside of the tyre for this as you may not feel it on the inside with the tyre off.

Could this possibly be caused by a wheel that’s too wide for the tube

I doubt its this

On my mtb I often run skinny tubes in high volume tyres with no ill efects.

If you are getting thorns/glass/flint etc. are you checking your tyres regularly? It’s common that something will get embedded in the tread but not puncture through the protection belt but after lots more riding will gradually work it’s way through the protection belt. I can usually pick out one of two bit’s of potential puncturing debris after a 50+ mile ride.

Yup, it’s worth deflating the tubes from time to time and having a really good look at the tyres for bits of glass or flints.

Cheers guys!

It’s been really helpful – I’m off to conduct a thorough, Stalinesque examination of the suspect wheel.

slits sound like spoke hole cuts or pinches. Duck tape your rims and start pumping your tyres up proper hard, rear wheel only would support both of these aswell, I always get more pinches on rear wheel.

Schwalbe durano worked well for me, decent grip, bit of a faff to get on, bit heavy but on the whole ok. conti gators still punctured, right faff to get on and bloody lethal in the wet.

Only downside is after 3 yrs the wearing surface seems to de-laminate from the case.

CST czars that I used for a while were cheap, light and good puncture resistance but delaminated after about 3months 🙁

made the switch to CX commuting this winter, now that’s puncture-tastic.

Compare your old tubes to see if the punctures are in the same place. If so, then it’s something sticking in it, either rim or foreign object in the tyre.

Aligning tyre labels to valves etc sounds anal but it can help in showing where a puncturing object may be in the tyre.

From your description of 2-3mm, I’d suspect pinch flats, especially if you are using a hand pump. They will be generally on the inside edge of the tube, in line with the rim.

I run 35mm Marathon Greenguards at max pressure of 85 psi on my commuter. 25 miles each way on/off road, fully laden with panniers etc, and not a puncture in sight. Previously used Michelin Tracker, same result, but eventually split the tyre after 3 years abuse.

Marathons are tough, a bit slow and lifeless in 35mm flavour.

But as above, get some pressure in there on your current tyres!

I only replaced my gatorskins when they had worn square too….!!

DrP

I’ve checked the wheel and the tyre and can’t find an obvious culprit. The rim tape seems to be fine. It’s the plastic variety; the spoke holders are lumpy, but not sharp. I’ve checked the rims and filed off a couple of tiny imperfections. Again, nothing I reckon that would cause an issue. The tyre is fine.

So, can it really be just a pressure issue?

I have gatorskins, got them on my Genesis day-one 2 months ago.

I have had 5 punctures in 1600 km or so. Tyre has barely lost the central ridge, but is absolutely shredded.

I put it down to poorly maintained and swept roads and using panniers.

I think im going to try the armadillos, I’m fed up of changing tubes.

Dont, whatever you do, try and use the Slime tyre strips. They caused more punctures than the glass, through rubbing holes in the tubes.

If your using a hand pump your only going to be getting about 40 PSI max I would have thought – even though it feels like your pumping really hard – sorry about that one 😉 – your supposed to put about 110 PSI in road tyres and some people go higher.

So your only running about a third of the recommended pressure

So basically yes – buy a track pump.

even though it feels like your pumping really hard

You’re right – I do like to pump hard. 😉

I’ll be getting a track pump then. Ta!

+1 for putting some stans latex in a tube with a removable valve core.

Been doing this for a couple of years, still had a couple of punctures that wouldn’t seal, due to the pressures being so high in a road tyre. Funnily enough, both times I punctured, I gave it a couple of minutes, rotating the tyre whilst flat to let the stans coat the tyre and pumped the tyre back up and hey-presto, puncture fixed.

If you are worried that your rim/tyre combination is wrong rhen the internet is your friend.

http://www.schwalbe.com/gbl/en/technik_info/reifenmasse/index.php5?flash=0&gesamt=27&ID_Land=38&ID_Sprache=2&ID_Seite=141&tn_mainPoint=Technik&tn_subPoint=%5Bvideo%5Dhttp://%5B/video%5D

I’ve only been riding road bikes for about 3 years, but I’ve yet to have a puncture (obviously I’ll have 8 next time I go out now). Seems strange to me that you have so many.

Seems strange to me that you have so many.

It is strange. From late summer to December 2012 I probably had three punctures – using the same wheel/tyre/tube combo – and the same hand pump!

This year, something’s not right – I’m puncturing so often it can’t just be bad luck.