Darren325 wrote:
I think you are on to something lyrrad...thank you.
Both times the puncture in the tube occurred near the valve stem. The second time it punctured, I had literally just stopped to get off the bike to line up to rack it...and phssssst. So quite likely it has to do with the latex moving around in the rim. I will try it out a few more times and see. But latex tubes can be an expensive experiment...but I know it is something to do with the wheel/my installation so it's worth figuring out what I'm doing wrong and getting it sorted. Thank you!
Because latex tubes are nice and smooth they are very good for accepting patching.
I use parks emergency patches to get home and often just leave them on if the tube holds air, if not then I fit a normal vulcanising patch.
You can also simply superglue old pieces of latex tubes over holes for a permanent repair.
Don't throw away a good latex tube just for the sake of a small hole.
Even though I thashed the sidewall on my tyre on the weekend, the hole in the tube was only about 5mm round.
Patch and continue, you won't notice and rolling resistance increase until you have a coat of many colours for a tube.
If you use the superglue latex piece method, I doubt you could ever measure an increase.
I use my tubes until they have degraded to a useless chemical blob.