Inner tubes tearing around the valve

Apologies for the dullness of this post!

I’ve had the problem of inner tubes tearing around the valve once before and cured it by replacing the rim-tape. It looked to me like the rim-tape had slipped, exposing the pointy metal valve-hole to make a mess of my tubes.

Now it’s happening again (twice within about a mile) and I can’t figure out why. The valve-hole looks fine to me, but I bodged a solution with my last tube and the remainder of a busted one: cut out a section of dead tube, poke a hole in it with knife, feed the valve from new tube through this to protect the valve area. That held up for a further 4 hours of riding. There must be a better answer and a reason for it happening rather than just treating the symptoms… Any ideas?

Oh, yeah… presta tubes, Mavic 717 rims, Conti Gravity 2.3 tyres, around 35 psi

i find its usualy the pumping that does it, got though a few expensive 50g bes before it twigged 🙁

Only reliable solution ive foud was to use a trackpump at home and if i get a flat on a ride replace the tube with something tougher that can withstand the wobbling from a hand pump.

tube sticking to tyre?
add talc.

Put some talc inside your tyre, then the tube will be able to move freely, which will help with pinch flats too. And run a small file or a bit of emery paper round the valve hole, to get rid of any sharp edges.

I had this. Under braking the tyre (panaracer cinder) was sliding on the rim, dragging the inner tube with it and ripping the valve off.

In the end i just bought some new tyres as i was feeling rich in lazy (pre credit-crunch)

Put talc in new tyres. Makes them smell nice too 🙂

My mates En321 do the same thing. He got through around 8 tubes in a month. 🙂 New rim tape and a DH tube worked for the rear one. And I see You are running 2.3 tires. Hes got 2.3 front/back as well. Interesting thing is that he never had that problem when he was running tires up to 2.0.

Could it be rubbish tubes too? I had a spate of it last year where the valve looked as though it hadn’t been glued/fixed in properly and noticed it was the same cheap, buy as a bulk pack of 5 or 10, tubes – since buying bonty (trek or whatever they are) tubes from my lbs I’ve not had it happen again?

swap your tyres with a mate or something…its the tyres….

A friend had this and it was old tyres that were a underinflated so buy some new ones or pump up your tyres to road pressures 🙂

Hmm… thanks for the suggestions folks.

The tyre is a little old but has plenty of tread left. I’ll maybe try talc first, then if that fails swap in another tyre.

Fit some thicker rim tape. velox rim tape is the best. two layers of this and it will be solved.

I guarantee Velox will work btw

I had a similar problem last year – I thought reinforcing the valve area with old tube would solve it, but sadly it didn’t. In the end, I had to replace my tyres, as nothing seemed to be working (talc, tape, reinforcing tubes). Bought some Bonty tyres and voila – haven’t had the problem since. It’s a right pain in the jacksy though. 🙁

I 2nd the pump theory. A mate of mine had the same problem, always pumped his tyres with a mini pump and always tearing tubes around the valve. Changed the pump and no probs since, mind you he hasnt ridden his bike for a year!

I use Velox rim tape already! And I only use a mini pump in the field, the rest of the time is with a track pump.

Grrr… I really can’t afford to be getting new tyres 🙁 But if it’s that or no riding…

It is definately the tyre slipping on the rim and pulling the tube round with it. Note the position of the logo , ride and recheck, it will have moved. Talc can prevent the valves ripping by allowing the tyre to slip without pulling the tube. If that does not work and you don’t want to change tyres then a few spots of superglue on one side of the tyre/rim interface can prevent the rotation, just remember which side you glue for when you have to remove the tube in the event of a normal flat!