Puncture Alley – HarBUG Response

Two punctures last Thursday and one this morning. I have also sent and e-mail to OCC regarding the punctures and also sent location and some pictures of the deeply rutted track a little further along the Icknield Way just short of the Newbury road which has become extremely hazardous, especially when wet. Might be worth a few more of you emailing if it’s an issue for you too.

I’ve had 31 commuting rides since 7 Feb 2016, not a single puncture since they crunched the flint surface.

These are the tyres that I use:

http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/conticycle/ti%20travel%20contact.shtml

as the most recent thread on puncture alley I thought this would be the best place to share this.

These shards were removed from my tyre today, the largest having torn completely through.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0GKls4Rr7K9dFo3VkQzOVlUTVk/view?usp=sharing

Is anyone experience more punctures recently? my puncture resistant conti’s are proving to be very robust.

Tues 26th April i had a flint related flat heading to work, then on the morning of Wed 27th just as i rolled out of home i discovered a flint related puncture in the front wheel, that delayed me quite a bit heading to work.

On the way back home it started snowing heavily at around 20:00, and when i was on the potholed East Ginge track, which was quite muddy by this point. When going over a small pot hole i lost control and decked it pretty bad.

Turns out my back tyre was flat, which contributed to the loss of control. A massive flint was embedded in the tyre. I had the lovely experience of replacing the tube while freezing my t**s off, and in a bit a pain. Plus my gps cycle computer is now broken.

Any chance I could get the OCC email address so I could write them a nice letter? I’ve also got pretty pictures I’d like to send them.

Hello, sorry to hear about your crash. Hope you are feeling better. My experience over 10 years on Route 544 Wantage-campus is that heavy rain seems to expose more flints on the unsurfaced parts of the route, and will wash out more flinty gravel onto the roads. With puncture-resistant tyres, flints get embedded in the tyre and gradually work their way in until they cause a puncture. It might not be puncture alley this time round.