Did a search on this, but didn’t find anything specific. Just wondering if any of you 29-er riders out there running the Big Apple tire have had a problem with frequent flats.
I have a Big Apple on my GB4 29, and from a pure riding perspective, I think it’s a sweet tire. The 29-er setup in general climbs much better than my Hunter 36, so I’ve been using it for interval training up and down a nearby 2oo v/f climb. Two out of the last three times I’ve ridden this road, I’ve ended up walking back down the hill with a flat. This is not a dirty road, no obvious glass, etc. I’ve put less than 25 miles on this thing, and have had two flats.
If this is the way they behave, I may switch over to my nanoraptor, and trade the smooth ride for a hassle-free maintenance experience.
I’ve clocked up a about two to three thousand miles on 29" Big Apples, and until Monday, had never had a puncture at all. I have the pressure pretty high (don’t know psi, sorry), and it’s not uncommon for there to be glass on my route, but that doesn’t seem to phase it. Even Mondays puncture probably wasn’t from riding, as the tyre was fine when I put it in the car on Sunday, but I left it in there all day in the heat, so I think that was probably the cause.
I was using the Nanoraptor on the 24 hour race I did a couple of weeks ago… and that got a puncture! Ok, so it was a thorn, so I know what caused it, but in my experience, the BA is more reliable.
I’ve had problems with both of these before. Also, if you have a rubber rimstrip, check to make sure it hasn’t shifted, and still covers all the holes on the inside of the rim.
Possibly your tube. The WTB ones are to be avoided; the Schwalbe ones are very good. Carefully check your tube, spoke ends, rim strip, and rim surface for clues.
Thanks to everyone for the great advice on this. I’ll continue troubleshooting mode checking all those things, as soon as I get my next flat. If previous cycle is any indication, it should be about 3 miles into tomorrow’s climbing.
I have had a recurring flat on a motorcycle. It is tempting to eyeball it, pull out part of the tube, patch it and reinstall. Sometimes, a shard may hide in the tire carcass to do you grief again. It sounds like you may have more then bad luck, and the community consensus is that this is not a generally crap tire. Some motorcycle tires (Kenda challenger), are cheap crap, prone to easy punctures. So your question is very valid, (is this a pisssssssy tire?).
Same story here. Coupla years riding the BA tire with an unknown brand of tube. No flats yet (knocks on wood). Next time you flat, very carefully mark the orientation of the tire relative to the stem and be careful with the tube orientation as well (keep track of the right side of the tube). Find and patch the hole and then check the orientation. You’ll likely find the culprit. Good luck.
if I would have been around here in 2007 when this was posted I would have said yes, frequent flats…on the big apple 29er .well six to be exact…5 thorn (goatheads are what I call them) and 1 sliver of glass…but I like the tire just the same…had a blowout while riding yesterday…man that was exciting…sounded like a gun going off… the flats were easily fixed the blowout not so much …had to walk back to car about a mile…
I got several flats on BA when I changed the original tube to some cheap 28" I got in LBS. I think I destroyed two of them, both sized something like 28x1,25-1,75. Next one I bought bit more expensive tube aimed at 29er bikes and flats stopped.
