What is a slow puncture?

[Racing roadkill]

Leaky valves and tiny little holes in the tube usually cause the slow punctures. If it’s the former, eventually the valve will fail spectacularly, and you’ll get a fast deflation, the small holes will eventually get bigger and do the same.

 

[summerdays]

[QUOTE 5061065, member: 9609"]could just be a bit of dirt, let a few blasts of air out might dislodge it. try a drop of cooking oil (veg) in the top of the valve and a quick pump to get it into the valves rubber could give a better seal. (don't use mineral oil as that rots rubber)


Do you know for certain it is the valve ? you need to stand it in some water deep enough to cover the valve and see if there is an occasional bubble escaping.[/QUOTE]
I'm hoping it will survive tomorrow's commute as I'm working from home Friday and could deal with it then. So no I haven't really investigated it yet.

 

[summerdays]

I managed the commute on Thursday after pumping it up in the morning, ... it lasted the day but it was soft in the evening and I meant to look at it today but I forgot... and it's totally flat after two days.... so definitely a slowish puncture which I must fix tomorrow.

 

[snorri]

Will I able to find where the air is escaping and fix it, or is it just easier to put in a new tube?

I just keep noticing the tyre as soft .

... far nicer if I can delay it

I assume if it's the valve then that's definitely a new tube time.

. having learnt in the past that it's much harder to find if you have to search the entire tyre.

Could you explain that one? .

Tempted to leave until tomorrow...

I'm working from home Friday and could deal with it then..

.. it lasted the day but it was soft in the evening and I meant to look at it today but I forgot...

I like your style.
Can't stand the sort of person who just leaps in without considering all the angles..

 

[xzenonuk]

I just keep noticing the tyre as soft and I pumped it up with the track pump yesterday... (did I release too much air as I removed the head of the pump? Not sure, I didn't check), but today I noticed it as soft in comparison to the front tyre again. So pumped it up with the hand pump... but it has reminded me I need to pump it up again now I'm home...

my front tyre on my mtb kept going down slowly when stored but ok when riding, my back one would be nearly full pressure and front one at 1 3rd every time,

it was the valve on the inner tube letting air out extremly slowly and not a puncture, meh changed tubes recently and both hold the same pressure now

my first puncture on my road bike was a slow one, i could feel it getting a bit worse on steering, stopped and had a rest got back on and my tyre was flat, thanks to the wet weather i could see a bubble formation on my tyre so found it straight way lol, looked like a pebble or something had nicked my 120 psi 23 mm tyre and slighty damaged the tube.

same tube is holding its pressure so win didn't have to use a spare one after my road side repair

 

[summerdays]

I'm just annoyed with myself that I completely forgot about it other than a quick ... "I'll do that later", and writing it on my To Do list which I didn't glance at for the rest of the day

 

[summerdays]

Took ages to get the tyre off as it was so cold and stiff!

I think I found it, just by feeling so worried in case that wasn't the actual puncture (I assumed as it was slow it would be hard to find). And although it lined up with a mark in the tyre I couldn't find anything in the hole.

Tyre back on but need to take it for a ride.

 

[andrew_s]

I had a slow puncture on Tuesday night, or I assume I did.

20 km down the road, there's this "bzzzt bzzzt" noise from the vicinity of the front mudguard. Sure enough, there's a 3 inch lump of hedge flailing attached to the tyre. It doesn't want to come off, and the tyre is reasonably firm, so I pick off what seems loose, and carry on
5 km later, I stop for a review: the lump of hedge is smaller, but equally firmly attached, and the tyre is still firm, so I continue to the pub (50 km total), spend a couple of hours slurping beer, and ride home (79 km total).
At this point, the lump of hedge is hardly visible, and the tyre pressure is down to 49 psi (vs 65 initially). I've pumped back to 62.5 psi, and I'm waiting to see what happens.
Still perfectly rideable tonight.

One time before, I had a slow puncture that only needed pumping once a week. After about 3 months, the rate of leakage had increased to twice a week pumping, and I decided to do something about it, at which point I found 3/4 inches of thorn through the tyre and tube. They make pretty good plugs if the inner tube isn't stretched too much.

 

[summerdays]

The tyre has stayed up since then.... but I'm surprised you managed to travel so far on a soft tyre!

 

[confusedcyclist]

I like your style.
Can't stand the sort of person who just leaps in without considering all the angles..

It's termed analysis paralysis, and I'm a sufferer too! Except when I've done things once or twice and get overly confident and fark things up. The term for the latter condition is 'knowing enough to be dangerous'.

 

[byegad]

I'd have had the damn thing off and changed after the second low reading. In my experience to not do so invites a flat on a dark rainy night bloody miles away from any artificial light!

 

[andrew_s]

The tyre has stayed up since then.... but I'm surprised you managed to travel so far on a soft tyre!

It's a Conti Top Contact Winter 700x35 (actually only about 32 mm). I only pump them to 65-70 with the track pump at home, so down to 50 isn't all that soft. I'd originally just intended to carry on the the next convenient lit place to change the tube, but it seemed to be doing so well there that I just carried on without changing. I checked again at the pub, before & after.

Bearing in mind my previous experience with a thorn plugging its hole, I'm now in experimental mode.
The previous occasion was 700x28 gatorskins at 100 psi, pumping when they got down to 60 or so.

 

[andrew_s]

Down to 26 this morning (Sunday), so I pumped back to 48 (lower than normal, in view of the snow)

 

[PpPete]

Leaky valves and tiny little holes in the tube usually cause the slow punctures. If it’s the former, eventually the valve will fail spectacularly, and you’ll get a fast deflation, the small holes will eventually get bigger and do the same.

Sometimes the holes get bigger very suddenly.
I was trying to find slow puncture in this tube, pumped it up for about the third tim..........

The dog has yet to forgive me !

 

[summerdays]

Well I checked my bike tyre last night after not riding for 4 days and it's down again at the front. So busing it today (icy/team Christmas meal), and then try to fix it after that.