Puncture Fairy may be HIV positive! Beware.

[Davidc]

Although this has been aired before it's worth a reminder.

I had a puncture this morning - unremarkable.

The offending sharp object was a broken off hypodermic needle.

Fortunately I saw it easily and (before identification) pulled it out with long nosed pliers. Very obvious what it was under a magnifier. I'd found the hole in the tube and matched its position up on the tyre.

That's the second time that's happened to me, and emphasises the need to be very careful when finding the causes of punctures, avoiding using fingers if possible.

The offending object is now in the local pharmacy's sharps bin, and there's a Park Tools glueless patch on the tube.

 

[dellzeqq]

wowser! You really do walk the waterfront down in Zummerzet.

point taken, tho'

IGMC.........

 

[Melonfish]

Yikes! seriously scary unscheduled tyre deflation there!

 

[Strick]

Hadnt thought about that side of it before. Thanks for the warning!

 

[Paulus]

The HIV risk is probably minimal as the virus doesn't live for very long outside of the body, But other serious viruses like Hepititus could still linger in or on the syringe or needle, but your point is still very valid and serious.

 

[Mozzy]

David; absolutely fair play to you for ensuring it ended up in a sharps bin.

Mozzy

 

[akb]

Excellent advice, something that I have never considered before.
Cheers for the warning.

 

[Fnaar]

Yes, good advice (I was going to say good point, but...

)

 

[cloggsy]

That is disgusting!

 

[Cycletrax]

Thanks for the info, its something that I have never really thought about. Will be aware, next time the puncture fairy pays me a visit.

 

[Night Train]

Good 'heads up' on that, cheers.

Good thing you spotted it before running fingers around the tyre.

 

[Davidc]

Good 'heads up' on that, cheers.

Good thing you spotted it before running fingers around the tyre.

I try not to - the scar from a piece of glass when I was in my 20s has just about gone now.

What I do is take the tube out, put some air in to find the hole (the side of my cheek usually detects the air, if not a wetted hand does it). I then put the valve by the rim hole and work out where on the tyre the puncture hole should be. It's very rare not to find the sharp thing. If it has gone then the hole is still clean so can be seen up to light (sky or bike light)

What disgusts me though is that instead of my tyre that needle could have gone into a child, or if I ran over it in one of the parks I cut across, someone playing sport on one of the pitches. Presumably if it can go into my tyre it could go through some shoes?

 

[Mozzy]

In an earlier life I had Hep AB & C jections because I was helping out cleaning toilets at a very large ( I mean very) distribution depot; my job was chief bog cleaner (not nice) and I got punctured several times by needle. The killer was waiting for the test results. (Well known high St catalogue type retailer).

Happens everywhere; very bad news indeed.

 

[Batmancaver]

Makes me glad I use Slime!!

Mostly round here the puncture fairy uses hawthorn or blackthorn thorns, however, thanks for posting as I'll bare this in mind next time I do get a puncture.

 

[Melonfish]

don't get me started on blackthorn, a little while back one of the farmers chain flailed his hedge, the road was littered with small caltrops of blackthorn, got off my bike and walked the 200 yards and STILL ended up with 4 large thorns in the front tyre.

had to take the long route round until the rain washed most away.