seams I’ve been let down

Three flat tyres in the last month! You start to curse people who leave broken glass on the road. Since I started spending a bit more on my tyres, the problem has almost vanished – in fact, apart from the most recent three, I think I’ve only had two others in the past year, so it’s really not a major problem.

However, am I blaming the wrong people? I don’t keep records of this stuff, but at least three of my punctures in 2008 were not due to something sharp, but were the seams of the tube splitting. The last one was particularly annoying – an otherwise pristine BBB tube – only a few months old. I’m a bit more forgiving when a well patched old warrior gives way at the stitching, but this one had no excuses.

I don’t pump my tyres ridiculously hard or do anything else that might aggravate the problem – Is it just me, or are others finding the quality of tubes becoming an issue?