Fixing a puncture properly

We see the same thing constantly. Somebody punctures, fits a new tube by the roadside, rides off, and punctures again within a mile. They conclude the new tube was faulty. It almost never is.

What has happened is that whatever caused the first puncture is still in the tyre, and it has gone straight through the second tube as well.

Everything below is the standard tube change with one extra step that most people skip.

Get the wheel and tyre off

Let out any remaining air, then push the tyre bead towards the centre of the rim all the way round. The rim is deeper in the middle, and this slack is what makes the rest easy. Skip it and you will fight the tyre and probably pinch the new tube.

Hook one lever under the bead and clip it to a spoke, put the second in a few centimetres along, and run it round. One side off is enough. Leave the other bead on the rim.

Find the hole before you throw the tube away

This is the step that matters and the one everybody skips.

Pump a little air into the old tube and listen, or pass it near your lips where you will feel the air. Find the hole.

Now line the tube up with the wheel the way it sat, using the valve hole as your reference point. Whatever made that hole is at the matching spot on the tyre. Go straight to that part of the tyre and look at it, inside and out.

Nine times out of ten there is a shard of glass or a thorn still embedded, small enough that it does not look like it could possibly be the culprit. Get it out.

Read the hole itself

The shape of the hole tells you what happened.

• One small round hole, something sharp went through the tread. Find it in the tyre.
• Two small holes side by side, a pinch flat. The tyre hit something hard and squashed the tube against the rim. That is a pressure problem, not a sharp object. Put more air in.
• A hole on the inner face, towards the rim, means the rim tape has slipped or failed and a spoke hole is chewing the tube. Fix the tape or it will happen again immediately. New tape is fitted as standard whenever we build or true a wheel.
• A split along the valve, usually the tube was pinched during fitting, or ridden at very low pressure.

Feel round the whole tyre anyway

Run a finger carefully round the entire inside of the tyre. Carefully, because if there is glass in there you will find it with your fingertip. It is worth doing the whole circumference even after you have found one thing, because a road that gave you one shard often gave you two.

Fitting the new tube

Put just enough air in the new tube to give it shape. A limp tube folds over and gets pinched under the bead, which is how people put a hole in a brand new tube.

Valve in first and straight, then feed the tube all the way round, then work the bead back on with your thumbs starting opposite the valve and finishing at it. Use levers only if you truly have to, and if you do, be certain the tube is not under the bead.

Before you inflate fully, push the tyre sideways all the way round on both sides and check the tube is not peeping out anywhere. Then inflate to about half, check the bead line sits evenly all the way round, and finish inflating.

Pressure is the thing that prevents the next one

Most punctures we see are preventable, and most of those are pinch flats from riding soft. Check your pressure weekly. Tyres lose air on their own even with no hole in them, and they lose it faster in the cold, which is one of the things winter maintenance covers.

If you are getting punctures repeatedly on a route, the answer is usually a tyre with a puncture belt rather than better technique. Choosing tyres for mixed roads goes through what is actually worth paying for.