Après Vélo 2011 Black Cat Awards (Flat Tyres)

[twizzle]

In the tradition of every other year, rules are basically stolen from last year.

1. You can only claim one puncture if you have not ridden the bike before discovering the next puncture. That is, breaking the valve stem off whilst pumping doesn't mean two flats. However, a double flat (both front and rear tyres at the same time) can be counted as two.
2. It has to be a flat to your bike, fixing someone else's flat doesn't count, and it must be on a bike. No car, pram, soccer ball, or blow-up doll flats please.
3. Flat must of occurred between January 1st 2011 and December 31st 2011 inclusive
4. To have punctures listed in this competition, your must be a forum member or an immediate family member who has been the subject of amusing/scary/blonde moment stories on this forum. Or have slipped me a $50.
5. No post whoring, let's try and keep chatter to a minimum.
6. Dumb newbie questions re. punctures and prevention should be directed to The Shed. But I'll give you a freebie for how to avoid punctures - if you don't ride your bike, you don't get punctures.
7. When you post your puncture, include a little story if you wish, but I want your running total listed - otherwise I make mistakes. Maths isn't my strong point.
8. All other contentious points that aren't addressed by these rules will be decided by me. If you don't like my ruling, read the last sentence of Rule #4 and ask me again.

I will try and update the running total each Sunday.

Glossary
Fairy Pube : Piece of tyre reinforcing wire.
Caltrop, Goat Head : Tribulus terrestris.

Announcement - 2011 Prize Sponsor
We are pleased to announce that Après Vélo are sponsoring this thread and the winner at the end of the year will get a wonderful gift pack of cycling wear from Aprés Vélo values at ca. $100. Details on the prize pack here.




2010 Results.
30 - Kev365428, twizzle
29 - Mikebytes, Fletcher
24 - mrgolf
22 - goneriding
20 - Boognoss
18 - sblack
17 - Biffidus
15 - Fred Nurk
14 - CoffsGal
13 - thekovac, simonn
12 - Strawburger, Aushiker
10 - brokenbus, proudy1032
9 - Burt, turbus, liamw
8 - leximack, WorkingClassHero, Comedian
7 - FXST01, Jules21, Max
6 - Scuba23, ve safari, the_clydesdale, lethoso, Robdog
5 - Pain Train, flashgaza, hannos, cavebear2, cuttsnake, sturmey archer,LG
4 - nimm, drubie, gdl_gdl, s-s-a, brit_in_oz, chanderotti, WombatK, baldy, Mulger Bill, williamsf1, ft_critical
3 - lukas, snark, Killerheadwind, martinjs, Pax, otfc42, PiCO, jasimon, grt046, jensen, McPete, Baalzamon, soc, Danton, brycerider
2 - jojo1977, planner, Missy24, jangari, Romper, davidk, limetang, norbs, Gusbuster, roller, Christine Tham, d3funct, reykavik, frank2112
1 - Piotrs, anthy73, leojvs, gauchoracer, velocopedant, matth, Marty Moose, dodgiebros, rockviewau, smileNnod, smileNnod's dad, Pavlova, rdp_au, westab, leighthebee, BoardRider, trailgumby, steve-waters, Jerry68, Axel Brawn, humpy125, familyguy, Kalgrm, GaryFM, duds2u



Link to Last Years comp.
Link to The 2009 comp.
Link to The 2008 comp.

[twizzle]

+1, fairy pube through the rear tyre. Strangely, it was at about the 420km mark for the year, so completely bloody average for me.

[simonn]

+1

Bit of glass like plastic in rear. Schwalbe Durano Plus.

[mrgolf]

+1 for me on the roadie at 7kms for the year... First ride, done! Base of Mt Majura. Nothing in the tyre, not even a slash or cut.

1 Conti GP4000s

[ajh003]

oK - Looks like I'm in the game this year
+1 for me
5th Jan only 5 kms from home Braking hard down a hill and pulling off to the side of the road my front tyre went BANG !
Never ever happened to me before like this
Replaced the tube as it looked like either an old patch had given way or an embedded piece of glass caught the right place but it also blew out the side of the tyre
Had to limp home with a bulge in the side of the tyre
Thank goodness my ribble supplies had come in

[breezer1]

+1 today, still can't find what caused it, a bit of tyre bead wire?, checked all inside tyre nothin! god i hate that, now i can only hope the new tube i put in doesn't punture from what caused the first, the tube had a pin like hole and you had to squeeze the tube in a bucket of water before the hole could be seen! , oh yeah it's a gatorskin tyre, but that's the first since i have had them.

[GaryFM]

+ 1 for me today - Maxxis Columbier Rear.

Ran over a piece of metal Northern Rd Bringelly. I must have been asleep or had drifted off. It was 100mm x 50mm and was painted orange which really stood out against the road and still I didnt see it !

Gary.

[toolonglegs]

+3 for me.
First was a pulled valve stem on the front...first time it has been pumped up since August!.
2nd was a mystery flat in the rain this morning.
3rd was maybe a dodgy tube or I didn't find the cause for the 2nd.

The only issue was...having not ridden a bike for so long all my CO2 canisters that were sitting in their holders were flat...and I forgot my pump...10 kms from home on very deserted small roads...having just said goodbye to the club ride with support car as I couldn't keep the 28km av pace ...and didn't have a phone....so rode home the last 10kms standing up the whole way leaning over the front wheel.Probably trashed the tyre but I was going to bin it anyway...beats walking and trashing shoes / cleats...luckily we are having a January heat wave at the moment!!!...must have been at least 8 degrees which is rather special at this time of year...I was in jeans and a T-shirt yesterday for frogs sake!.

[hannos]

+2
Total = 2

Puncture last week on the SLC01 on the way to work. Tiny sliver of metal.
Puncture this morning on the Wheeler Route 51 on the way to work. Massive chunks of glass I couldn't avoid!

[Christine Tham]

Massive chunks of glass I couldn't avoid!

I find that if you encounter a situation like that, best not to jump around trying to avoid them. Pick a path with the least amount of debris, and just coast through the whole lot. And after that, inspect the wheels to make sure nothing is caught.

I rode through quite a lot of glass (the green variety from beer and wine bottles, as well as the clear ones) several occasions on New Year's Day and the day after. Luckily, nothing happened.

[hannos]

I wasnt so lucky, I could hear the air escaping straight away

Nothing stuck in the tyre though...

[Aushiker]

Hi

Plus one for me - rear Continental GP 4000s - glass. First for 2011.

Andrew

[bryan19]

sadly im a member of this club now...
5kms into my planned 20km ride on Millers rd in Altona I ran over a staple, yes a staple on a bike path. I noticed straight away that my bike felt odd so I pulled over and yes my tyre was flat I found the offending staple 30 seconds later
I then had the indignity of having to walk home, but kudos to the friendly cyclist on Millers rd about 7-7:30ish who asked me was I ok on the long walk home

[goneriding]

+2 (gatorskin) this morning. Large chunk of glass through the front tyre followed by a pinch flat (I think).

Gave up and went home and spent 15 minutes de-glassing my tyre. Unbelievable how much glass came out! Nearly time for a new one as the Gator has done >8,000 km's and is looking a bit worse for wear.

[sloth]

First of the year for me - Conti Gatorskin

Wasn't paying attention and hit a concrete edge at speed - result was one explosive pinch flat.

[pompom1]

Decided that I need to join this thread this year since I have been so prone to punctures since I started riding in Sept.

+3 for me today
1st on Kariong Hill
2nd at the stadium at Gosford
3rd at erina.

I dont think I have had a genuine puncture yet ie a nail or glass. Mine have all been nips and I've had heaps.... Not happy anyone know the cause of this???

[Max]

"nips"? Do you mean pinch flats? If so, you're probably not pumping your tyres up enough.

Max

[pompom1]

Thanks Max for getting back, yeah I meant pinch.

I think I need to invest in a floor pump for sure haha, the hand pump cant do it alone I guess.

Thanks again.

[Kev365428]

Thanks to Twizzle for taking the baton and running with it this year.

Looks like the puncture fairy has been fairly active for the first 2 weeks of the year already.....and she also paid me a visit.

+1 - Shard of sheet metal into the rear tyre on the way home last week. That is definitely the last time I ride the M5. It sucks.

Kev.

[brokenbus]

One for me- A thorn, at least it wasnt glass for a change
Nicko

[Fletcher]

3 flats for me this morning. First one had to be fixed before leaving home. The second one went 'bang'. I was fixing it roadside when an old work colleague rode past, stopping to chat. I was putting a tiny bit of co2 in new tube before putting it in the tyre while chatting away. "YOu still on the blah blah account?" "Yeh, you?" "Yeh, beeng going pretty good they sent..." and Kaboom!! Oops, I accidentally opened the valve on the CO2 dispenser instead of closing it. Shredded tube. I put in my second tube, reinflated using second CO2 bottle and trundled off, covering another 3km before it went flat again from another puncture. I used a self adhesive patch from Park Tools(they're pretty good), and had another brain fart when screwing in my last CO2 bottle as I had left the valve open. All the CO2 hissed out when I screwed it in to the dispenser. That went well, I thought. It was my last gas, so I had to endure the indignity of waiting by the roadside until another bike rider passed and lent me his pump. Note to self.sometimes carrying 3 tubes/CO2 and dispenser is not enough. Carry a pump too.

0 + 3 = 3

[Biffidus]

1. Slow leak from a glass chip in the rear tyre, only my third commute for the year! The Specialised Nimbus (26x1.5) are getting worse as they wear down, can't wait for my new sports contacts to arrive.

ps. what's a fairy pube?

[twizzle]

1. Slow leak from a glass chip in the rear tyre, only my third commute for the year! The Specialised Nimbus (26x1.5) are getting worse as they wear down, can't wait for my new sports contacts to arrive.

ps. what's a fairy pube?

Wire. As in 'steel belted radials' and similar.

[Robdog]

Gimmie +1 please. Small chunk of glass hiding in a big patch of gravel by the lake.
Schwalbe Lugano

[Kev365428]

Ho hum.............+ 1 for me.

Riding past a construction site for the new South West rail link at Padstow yesterday, and POW!!!
Rear tyre goes flat in 10 seconds.

Walk back to find a triangular piece of steel about 50mm long lying on the road. The hole in the tyre suggests that this was culprit.

Glad to see things haven't changed from last year.

Total flats for 2011 - 2
Total km for 2011 - 745km
Flats p/km 2011 - 372

Kev.