I regularly check my tire pressure while riding, and while on a nearly 400 miler today, I noticed the back tire slowly starting to lose pressure at about the 200 mile mark. I had my kit to plug the hole, but I've only used it at home when I had a compressor to air it back up, and wasn't sure the kit's CO2 cartridges would sufficiently fill it. So I decided to leave the nail in and stop for air as necessary.
As luck would have it though, I discovered the few gas stations that had air didn't have a chuck that you can get on the valve stem because of the lack of space between it and the hub.
But as luck would also have it, after about 50 miles the tire quit losing air and stabilized at 36 psi for the remaining 150 or so miles.
Any idea what would account for this? The nail is pretty much at the center of the tread with the head wedged in one of the grooves. The only theory I can come up with is at 36 psi, the tire profile flattened enough to where it provided a tighter seal around the nail, and with less pressure it was easier to maintain the tight seal, whereas the rounder profile at normal pressure kept enough of a gap around the nail for air to seep out. The tire is a Road Smart 3 with about 12.5k miles on it, so perhaps the flatter profile from all those miles helped maintain the seal, and I wouldn't have had such good luck if the tire had only 2k miles on it. I was riding between 65-80 mph most of the time, so perhaps that was a factor.
Anyone else had a similar experience, and do you have an explanation?
As luck would have it though, I discovered the few gas stations that had air didn't have a chuck that you can get on the valve stem because of the lack of space between it and the hub.
But as luck would also have it, after about 50 miles the tire quit losing air and stabilized at 36 psi for the remaining 150 or so miles.
Any idea what would account for this? The nail is pretty much at the center of the tread with the head wedged in one of the grooves. The only theory I can come up with is at 36 psi, the tire profile flattened enough to where it provided a tighter seal around the nail, and with less pressure it was easier to maintain the tight seal, whereas the rounder profile at normal pressure kept enough of a gap around the nail for air to seep out. The tire is a Road Smart 3 with about 12.5k miles on it, so perhaps the flatter profile from all those miles helped maintain the seal, and I wouldn't have had such good luck if the tire had only 2k miles on it. I was riding between 65-80 mph most of the time, so perhaps that was a factor.
Anyone else had a similar experience, and do you have an explanation?
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