Beating Flats

Here are some basic tips to beat the puncture problem.

• The easiest and cheapest thing to do is to keep your tyres well pumped up, so that less tread surface touches the road, and to avoid ‘pinch-punctures’ if you hit a big bump in the road.
• If your tyre has worn tread, this means less protection: so fit a new tyre quickly. Check that the tyre sits evenly on the rim, with no bulges or damage to the side of the tyre. Your brake blocks should grab the rim-wall and not the tyre-wall. Check tyres for bits of glass, stones or thorns which could eventually work their way further in. If the puncture has already happened, and you have taken the tyre off, check the inside of the tyre - whatever caused the puncture, glass or thorn, may still be sticking through, and give you another puncture.
• If you are going a long way, take a spare inner tube. You can fix the punctured tube later. Most inner tubes are made of butyl and require vulcanising solution and patches.
• Fit good tyres if you can afford it, possibly with anti-puncture reinforcement. Some have Kevlar inside. You can also fit anti-puncture tape between tyre and inner tube, but it needs to sit just right. Fit the best inner tubes. Good ones are more resistant. Anti-puncture sealant, squirted into the inner tube through the valve, seals small holes from the inside.

Mending a puncture yourself takes practice. Ask someone to show you how it is done. Once you have done it a few times yourself you will find that it takes just 15 minutes or so.