2013 Black Cats Award

[Ozkaban]

OK, got sick of waiting for the thread to show up, so I created it...

Shamelessly copied from last years thread...


1. Only people who have registered a puncture or interest in the competition prior to July 01 2013 will be counted. This is in case this competition gets sponsored again - I don't want people suddenly popping up and saying on Nov 1. "I've had 37 punctures this year".
2. Every puncture must be listed individually or with some substantiation - "Five punctures on my 16km ride today, three from thorns and two from glass" is barely acceptable, but "I had five punctures last week" won't be counted.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Flat must have occurred between January 1st 2013 and December 31st 2013 inclusive.
6. 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.
7. No post whoring, let's try and keep chatter to a minimum.
8. 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.
9. When you post your puncture, include a little story, but I want your running total listed - otherwise I make mistakes. Maths isn't my strong point.
10. 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 when I get a puncture myself. Based on past history, this will be every couple of weeks.

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

Link to Last Years comp.

I'm not big on going through everyone's posts and updating the totals - please keep a running total of your flats in your posts

Best of luck in the comp for 2013. I'm not sure if that means more flats or less...

[Ozkaban]

OK, I get to kick off.

2 for the year.

First one on New Years day - dunno what caused it, possibly heat. Rear tyre suddenly deflated for no apparent reason. Didn't have my toolkit with me which made it more fun.

Second one was yesterday riding repeats of North Rocks Rd. 4th climb, just near the top hit some metal thingy and could feel the pressure of the air blowing out on my legs as the rear tyre rolled around.

Running Total: 2 (@102km per flat...)

[Warnesy]

I've scored two so far, one New Years and another two days later, which was a slow leak. I hope this is the last time I post here...

[jcjordan]

First one for me. Bloody began droppings here in Canberra.

Looking forward to a glass free visit to Adelaide for the TDU

[clydesmcdale]

1 for me on the morning on the first commute for the year

[familyguy]

Previous tally: 0

Glass +1

Current tally: 1

Jim

[twizzle]

Gee, and was just in the process of creating it about five minutes ago when I realised someone had already done it.

Happy birthday to me, 44 today. +1, 1.
Front tyre after heat from braking on a 14% descent softened the plastic rim tape and the tube pushed the tape through a spoke hole. The tube popped and dumped all the air in about two seconds. Luckily, at this point, I was already off the hill and rolling along a shared path about 30 seconds after finishing the descent otherwise I would be in hospital or the morgue. And it's really lucky that I'd pulled the plug on the second ascent so was only descending for 1km instead of 2km.

[Ozkaban]

Gee, and was just in the process of creating it about five minutes ago when I realised someone had already done it.

Happy birthday to me, 44 today. +1, 1.
Front tyre after heat from braking on a 14% descent softened the plastic rim tape and the tube pushed the tape through a spoke hole. The tube popped and dumped all the air in about two seconds. Luckily, at this point, I was already off the hill and rolling along a shared path about 30 seconds after finishing the descent otherwise I would be in hospital or the morgue. And it's really lucky that I'd pulled the plug on the second ascent so was only descending for 1km instead of 2km.

Impatience is a virtue or something like that

I read about your flat on the other thread. Very lucky indeed...

[Mulger bill]

I'm in and hope to be a distant last.

A nil total to date is probably the best way to poke the puncture fairy

[Warnesy]

Two more on this mornings ride and now the damn patch won't hold pressure. I'm hoping its the fact these tyres have had 1500 and are done that is leading to all these recent punctures...

Tally 4

[jasonc]

I'm in and hope to be a distant last.

+1

[lump_a_charcoal]

Registering for interest.

Still no punctures...

[jcjordan]

+1 3km from my last ride before heading to Adelaide for the TDU. Yes I did just mention the trip to rub it in t o twizzel who will be stuck at' work.

Total 2

[twizzle]

+1 3km from my last ride before heading to Adelaide for the TDU. Yes I did just mention the trip to rub it in t o twizzel who will be stuck at' work.

Total 2

Oh well...

[Saturnstarzz]

+1 Front Valve failure on Footscray Rd almost went over the handlebars.

Total 1

[Warnesy]

Another one today, cause yet to be determined but it was a slow one. New tyres can't get here soon enough.

Tally now 5.

[Cruiserman]

Better register interest here, no flats this year ATM. Not really expecting that to change much given the performance of the intensives and sealant last year. I have had to clean a lot of potential punctures off the rear triangle though.

[g-boaf]

1 puncture - shard of glass through the rear tyre.

And then somehow managed to pinch another tube replacing it (and the tyre). And on the same day, a crash!

Not a great start to the year.

Total 2.

[jcjordan]

+2 for me. First was a strange on. Mate on a ride managed to hit some sort of small seed pod and hit the deck right in front of me. Although I managed yo not fall off I hit his chaining and kill the tire as well.

Second one wad on the same ride. Hit some glass and got a slow puncture.

Total 4

[gururug]

I've had about 8 this year, Sydney sun popped my rear yesterday! Those damn veloplugs deteriorate over time....where is that sandpaper!

[twizzle]

+1, 2. I noticed the rear had got soft about 4 k's from the end of my ride, but didn't seem to be getting any worse so I kept going. I must admit, sprinting at 50+kph in traffic with a soft tyre wasn't confidence inspiring! I got to work, pulled the wheel off and used the bike lock to hold the bike up off the ground, and took the wheel to the desk and repaired it in the comfort of my office chain. A reasonable sized pin-hole that was easy to find in the tube, but I can't see any sign of it in the tyre. The tyre is very close to end-of-life (~1800k's), there's almost no rubber left and it's just about at the point of stripping off and exposing the carcass. Considering this tyre went on the week before Christmas, it has done really well, it's the first puncture it's had - and the amount of glass that appeared on the lanes over the weekend was incredible! I swear someone smashed a vase or one of those glass ashtrays at one point, there were huge chunks of glass in the middle of the road for the cars to dodge - it gave me a warm fuzzy feeling that I wasn't the only type of road user inconvenienced.

[Ozkaban]

Can count the 1 from Sunday

I've had about 8 this year, Sydney sun popped my rear yesterday! Those damn veloplugs deteriorate over time....where is that sandpaper!

but the 8 can't be, see rule 2:

2. Every puncture must be listed individually or with some substantiation - "Five punctures on my 16km ride today, three from thorns and two from glass" is barely acceptable, but "I had five punctures last week" won't be counted.

[rangersac]

Registering interest. Hope not to be troubling this thread too much, most of my riding is pushing marathons around, although the roadie has some softer rubber

[Shred931]

#1 - January 2nd - I was 3 km's from home after a 117km ride and I had a sudden deflation. Spent the next few minutes picking glass of various colours from the tyre.

#2 - January 17th - 30km's out and the front wheel feels sloppy whilst climbing. Glass again.

[__PG__]

First today on the commute home. Not too happy about it either. Complete destruction of a Michelin Pro Race 4 Endurance with about 600 km on it. A small piece of tambark actually entered all the way past the tire and was swallowed by the tube. That's neve r happened before.

Not sure whether to try and glue/patch the tire or bin it. I'll post pics in The Shed.