Sportchek Fuck You🖕 aggggghhhhdjdjfjnf
I bought 29" tubes maybe about 2-3 months ago as my rear tire blewout on a nail back then. After replacing both I thought both felt kinda flimsy but thought eh maybe this is how it always was/maybe this is fine.
OH HELL NAW!~ smh.
I should’ve figured better. And before anyone asks:
- yes I made sure the rims were free of debris and any rough edges.
- no; there was no glass or nails that punctured the tires.
- yes it was filled to the recommended 35 PSI.
Anyways I def learned my lesson on buying cheap ass fucking tubes and also forgetting my allen key set. If I go half assed and buy cheap shit again well that’s on me and I probably have dementia at that point.
I’m still seething by how much time I spent having to trek back.
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i have bike freak friends and ive heard countless stories of why they dont go fucking anywhere without tools and spares
sounds like you also now have one
Also for additional context I’m pissed at Sportchek not because the tubes didn’t last as long as expected but that they fucking blew when I was on pavement.
I wasn’t even out on any rough terrain or any of the local trails. Goddamn it dude
Apparently sportchek just recently told locations to stop selling one of their inner tube brands and is in the process of sending stores new ones.
Also, if the bike/wheel was recently purchased from sportchek, check the rim itself, certain american brands have been leaving the surface rough in spots you wouldn’t normally tape.
It happens bro. I’ve had it happen with expensive speciality bike store tubes. Hell I had it happen on a carbon wheel, at 2am in my basement. I thought the Russians were invading, holy hell. I would have shit my pants, if I wasn’t too busy having a heart attack. Sounded like a bomb went off lol.
Most of my bicycle wheels are tubeless now. My dirtbike is still tubed, and will be until I get off my ass and convert it too.
Why are you running 35psi tires on pavement?
35psi tires (if not on a kids bike) are almost always offroad tires. They are super inefficient on pavement and also very easy to puncture.
The low pressure (often combined with a heavy thread) really help every piece of debris to poke holes into the tire. Also, the low pressure makes it much more likely to get a snakebite puncture. That happens if you e.g. jump a curb (which you really shouldn’t do anyway) and the tire compresses down so far that the rim punctures the tube.
When riding on the road, get tires made for riding on the road. You know, road bike tires.
If you do light offroading sometimes (e.g. use dirt tracks for normal riding) get semi-slicks.
Offroad tires are only useful if you frequently ride through actual, wet mud, up steep mountain paths or on snow.
Last one: I hope you have rim tape on your rim. If not, that will likely destroy your tube without jumping or debris.
I have a steel frame cheap city bike that I ride in winter beacuse salt. The side wall says ~30psi.
It’s not really about the bike, it’s about what tires you put on. You can put oversized mountain bike tires on a racing bike, and you can put skinny racing tires on a heavy downhill mountain bike.
Well, these are road tires and tubes that came with the bike so…
People mistakenly think that big chunky soft tires are more durable, so especially in the entry-level segment there are tons of bikes with stupid setups that are made to look good to someone who has no clue about bikes. The setup doesn’t need to make sense on the road because almost all entry-level bikes are bought, used maybe once and then put in the garage to rot away so that the owner can say they have a bike.
And this is why you never go on a ride without a basic repair kit that includes at least: a pump, two(!) tire levers, a small bicycle multitool, a tube and a patch kit (you might fuck up the new tube while mounting it…etc).
Get Schwalbe Marathons. Not an ad, just experience.
That blows. I recently had a pinch-flat on clean asphalt (!!!) that wouldn’t take a patch in the field and was forced to walk the last 5 km.
Two things I’d check into besides the tube: the tire casing and the tube install. Sometimes a puncture through the tire’s fabric breaks too many strands or cuts through both biases. In that case the tire is toast as any tube will push through the puncture the moment you start riding on it. It’s this kind of tire failure for why I keep a tire boot in my repair bag.
I’ve also seen tubes get damaged when using tire levers. Those usually fail with tears and little bubbles of weakness. If at all possible, do not use a tire lever for anything but removing a tire. I’ve had very good tubes be fatally damaged in this way.
had this the other week killing a “puncture proof” maxxxis tire. the tire just gave up.
Man, that sucks. I feel you on the cheap inner tubes. I got fucked by that one too many times so now I only buy WTB tubes. Other ones would always pop on rock gardens or hard landings on jumps.
Why would you go on a long ride without bringing spares and tools? Maybe you should stick to doing laps on a 5 mile trail if you aren’t going to bring stuff for repairs. Long ride without a long walk back if you have a flat.
Fwiw, I’ve had no problems whatsoever with RideNow TPUs from AliExpress. Cheap and performant, and small and light enough to pack a few spares at all times in a saddle bag.
