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My wife has a pair of brand new Conti Sprinters (tubies) on her new bike and the darn things are always flat when we go out to ride. What is the deal? is this common for tubies to only hold air for a day or two before you have to reinflate them? i'm used to clinchers that I rarely have to repressureize, but these things are obnoxious.
Mostly it woudl not be a big deal, but the combination of my blackburn pump not working will with the zipp valve extenders (a whole other story) and me trying to make it as easy as possible for my wife to get out and ride, this has gotten my undies in a bunch.
This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time. - Fight Club
Industry Brat.
your tubbies are defective. There's definitely a leak somewhere, maybe at the valve area. I have a conti tub that was last pumped up 1.5 weeks ago and it's still almost rock hard.
try using some sealant from Tufo or vittoria or similar if you don't want to remove the tub and remount.
I had the same problem and I went to the shop and they put some plumbers tape (i think thats what it is called) on the valve so there would be no air leaking with the valve extender on. It worked, no problems anymore.
Matt
Race-Ready Endurance Training
Team BIKEWAY.com
NYPD Racing
If you had tires with Latex tubes I wouldn't be surprised but since Contis have Butyl tubes you shouldn't be having this problem. I'd say it's something to do with your valve extenders (as the odds are you didn't get two defective tires). I'm telling you I'd ditch the Zipp extenders (I hate those things) and get some where you can remove the core and put in the extender. Use plumber tape on the connection and you'll be good to go.
Put enough water in your sink or bathtub to submerge the valve, and then go slowly around the tire looking for leaks, including coming from the valve.
Look close for air bubbles forming on the sidewall. If you see any, wipe them off and see if they reform. If they do, you have a small internal leak somewhere. It can take hours for a leak like that to flatten the tire. I had EXACTLY this scenario with a brand new sprinter gatorskin after my first ride on it this weekend. I opted to repair it with the Vittoria pit stop, but you can also take apart the casing and patch the inner tube.
>> I had the same problem and I went to the shop and they put some plumbers tape
>> (i think thats what it is called) on the valve so there would be no air leaking
>> with the valve extender on. It worked, no problems anymore.
+1, I also did this on one of my wheels to prevent the slow leak. Pain in the ass, but it worked.
Definitely a valve issue. I previously used Conti Sprinters/Competitions (butyl inners) before switching to Veloflex Carbons (latex inners). The Veloflex (as expected) loose air MUCH faster then the Conti's did (but roll nicer/faster!)
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Fatigue is biochemical, not biomechanical.
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