Do the flats tend to occur on the same side of the tube -- are they under the tread, near the rim, or somewhere in between?
In my experience, the most maddening runs of flats are away from the tread. But when I've had problems like that, they've usually been caused by aging equipment -- rusting rims, beat-up tires, deteriorating rim strips, etc. I don't know what could go wrong on an almost brand-new bike, but presumably there's something. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dipesh Navsaria" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 2:23:17 PM Subject: [Bikies] Repeated flats Good afternoon. Wondering if folx had any advice on a situation of repeating flats on my 10-year-old son's bicycle. We bought a new Trek 7.1 for him last year (outgrew previous bike). About a week or two after purchase, he had a flat on the rear tire. We took it back to Budget, the mechanics looked it over and replaced the tube. Another week…another flat. This happened four times last fall, all in the space of about 2-2.5 months. Keep in mind he was riding it about 10 miles once a week, maybe a shorter distance on the weekend once, but certainly nothing major. The third/fourth time, I pointed out how frequently it was happening -- they looked over the wheel and all, but didn't see anything obvious. I'm trying to remember if they changed out the tyre itself -- I think they did. A couple of times they found a small piece of metal or the like that got embedded in there. Today, after the winter, we were getting ready to go to school. He hasn't ridden this bike all winter until the last week or two, both times just a few blocks. Guess what? Rear tyre, flat. (i.e. you pump it up and you can hear hissing.) Each time, the Budget mechanics (who have always done right by me on the many other things I've brought them -- virtually never had a problem) have chalked it up to a run of bad luck. Still: we never had a flat on his bike previously (granted, they were kid "mountain bikes" with thicker tires, but these aren't exactly racing slicks), and it's always the rear wheel. He doesn't ride his bike particularly "rough", and if there's roadside debris he's biking through…I'm usually with him and biking through the same stuff, without any issues. I'm considering contacting the owner (anyone have an e-mail address for Roger Charly?) this time, but before I do -- any thoughts about what could be causing this? Five flats with only 1-2 weeks of effective cycling since the previous flat, all on the same wheel? That sounds statistically improbable. And I'm getting sick of this… Would appreciate any advice or thoughts. Thanks! Peace and Prosperity, Dipesh _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
