# How does a tire go flat just sitting there?



## tarwheel2 (Jul 7, 2005)

I had a rear wheel trued/retensioned at a local shop this week, and after I brought it home, I put it back on my bike and pumped it up. I haven't ridden that bike all week, yet when I went to get it ready for tomorrow's ride, I notice that the rear tire is flat. I tried to just pump it back up, but it wouldn't hold any air. The valve appears to be shot.

How does this happen to a bike just sitting in the garage, not being ridden? This seems to happen to my bikes several times a year. Sometimes it's a slow leak that showed up after I got home, but that's not the case this time. I haven't ridden that bike since last week, and the tire was holding air just fine when I took it to the shop and picked it up. Weird.


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Forces*



tarwheel2 said:


> I had a rear wheel trued/retensioned at a local shop this week, and after I brought it home, I put it back on my bike and pumped it up. I haven't ridden that bike all week, yet when I went to get it ready for tomorrow's ride, I notice that the rear tire is flat. I tried to just pump it back up, but it wouldn't hold any air. The valve appears to be shot.
> 
> How does this happen to a bike just sitting in the garage, not being ridden? This seems to happen to my bikes several times a year. Sometimes it's a slow leak that showed up after I got home, but that's not the case this time. I haven't ridden that bike since last week, and the tire was holding air just fine when I took it to the shop and picked it up. Weird.


Until you know where (in the tube) the flat happened, you will have to chalk it up to "cosmic forces beyond the comprehension of man."


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## SilverStar (Jan 21, 2008)

It means you're not riding your bike enough...and the tubes are dry-rotting from lack of attention!


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## jpdigital (Dec 1, 2006)

*spoke side flats?*

I've had issues w/ spokes protruding through the rim-tape. For me it seemed to especially happen w/ nylon rim-tape. When checking where the punchrue occured, try to verify if it's happening on the inside (facing the spokes) of the inner tube. If that's the case, replace the tape w/ cloth tape.


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## tarwheel2 (Jul 7, 2005)

Actually, I just replaced the tube and it had a hole right at one of the eyelets. I felt the rim tape and couldn't feel anything protruding through, tho, and it's Velox cloth tape.


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## rubbersoul (Mar 1, 2010)

Its called Brownian motion. Molecules in an area of high concentration (pressure) move to an area of lower concentration. That said, I have so new Michelin tubes which go flat much faster than my old Continental tubes. Chalk one up for the German technology!
________
Bondage Cams


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## Mr. Versatile (Nov 24, 2005)

Kerry Irons said:


> Until you know where (in the tube) the flat happened, you will have to chalk it up to "cosmic forces beyond the comprehension of man."


Kerry, I'm sorry but I just cannot buy that explanation. IMO it's clearly a personality conflict between the OP and the tire tube combination. I suppose you've never heard of Karma either. n


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## jpdigital (Dec 1, 2006)

*replace the tape.*



tarwheel2 said:


> Actually, I just replaced the tube and it had a hole right at one of the eyelets. I felt the rim tape and couldn't feel anything protruding through, tho, and it's Velox cloth tape.


Once you start to inflate the tire up to pressure, the force can press the tape againt a protuding spoke. Try replacing the tape, and upon inspection see of some the spoke where the puncture occured is protuding. Consider filing down some of the spoke or put some kind of additional barrier against that spoke.


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## Spanky_88007 (Aug 28, 2008)

I was having this problem with some brand new Bontrager CX tubes, one after another. Finally got around to doing the ol' soapy water bit. All four of them had microsopic holes in them that were a pain in the arse to find. They'd hold air for 3 or 4 days or for the duration of a ride. Rather than take em back and trade em in for others, I just patched them and they're good to go now. I figured I'd trade them and end up with the same problem. My point is this, maybe you've got a shady quality tube...


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## cydswipe (Mar 7, 2002)

Take a cotton ball around the rim tape. See if it snags anywhere. It could be burrs from the spoke-hole area. File them down, re-tape the rim. Ride happy.


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## Kuma601 (Jan 22, 2004)

I had a similar scenario a couple months back. A bike I have that is infrequently ridden, the rear wheel was completely flat where the front wasn't. Pumped it up and in two days it was flat again. Since it had not been ridden, it wasn't like it picked up glass-thorn or such. 

Took the tube out and there was a very small round burr at the valve stem drilling. It wasn't sharp but over time, it had worn a thin spot. Pumped the tube up...sure enough, it was leaking. Funny in some ways...that rim has been ridden many thousands of miles but this particular tube has been in it the longest.


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Rim type?*



tarwheel2 said:


> Actually, I just replaced the tube and it had a hole right at one of the eyelets. I felt the rim tape and couldn't feel anything protruding through, tho, and it's Velox cloth tape.


What kind of rim do you have? If it's a box section rim, then even the slightest (nearly invisible) gap between the rim tape and the edge of the spoke hole can result in punctures. My wife had a wheel once that was too narrow for the 16mm Velox tape but too wide for the 10 mm tape. After a series of flats with the narrow rim tape (the tape was just a fraction too narrow to fully cover the spoke holes), I put in the wider tape and trimmed just a bit off the edge. Problem totally solved.


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## Touch0Gray (May 29, 2003)

at the beginning of the season this year, I pumped up my tires and rode 40 some miles, I hung the bike back on the hooks and 3 days later the rear tire was totally flat. I pumped it up and it hasn't seriously lost any air in 3 months now....I never did figure out what happened. So I chalked it up to.....

"cosmic forces beyond the comprehension of man."


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## jmlapoint (Sep 4, 2008)

The AIR escapes from the TUBE by the easiest route.


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