Mysterious intermittent flat tire

[unclecameron 0]

Had a strange situation with an intermittent flat front tire, which went like this.

I was riding back from the dirt track day and my tire went flat after 15 miles of street, then when I looked there was nothing wrong with the tire, and the valve stem wasn't leaking. It was flat enough that the gas station pump wouldn't get it to seat (tubeless pig), so I called the sag wagon and got a ride back home.

Pumped it up at home and it was fine (after I removed/reinstalled the valve stem to check for debris). Next day rode back up to Ramona, 20+ miles of street, and then all of a sudden it went flat again coming into Ramona, same situation. Found a guy with a compressor, aired it back up and headed home, not wanting to try my luck. The next day and thereafter it's stayed inflated. We wiggled the rubber valve stem all around and it doesn't leak, even bending if over quite a bit.

Anyone have any idea what could cause that? It's been inflated riding street now for 3 days.

[Kevin 0]

Had a strange situation with an intermittent flat front tire, which went like this.

I was riding back from the dirt track day and my tire went flat after 15 miles of street, then when I looked there was nothing wrong with the tire, and the valve stem wasn't leaking. It was flat enough that the gas station pump wouldn't get it to seat (tubeless pig), so I called the sag wagon and got a ride back home.

Pumped it up at home and it was fine (after I removed/reinstalled the valve stem to check for debris). Next day rode back up to Ramona, 20+ miles of street, and then all of a sudden it went flat again coming into Ramona, same situation. Found a guy with a compressor, aired it back up and headed home, not wanting to try my luck. The next day and thereafter it's stayed inflated. We wiggled the rubber valve stem all around and it doesn't leak, even bending if over quite a bit.

Anyone have any idea what could cause that? It's been inflated riding street now for 3 days.

I suggest a sticky valve stem.

[dirt dame 561]

I had a leak like that once on a tubeless tire. Sometimes it leaked and sometimes not. It turned out after soaping it up and seeing where the bubbles were, that it was a leak at the bead. Just a glitch in the manufacturing of that one tire. A new tire solved the problem. I suppose you could fix it with some kind of goo, also.

[RogerTOWM 0]

We already know that I’m pretty stupid so this may be a dumb thing to do, but couldn’t you put a tube in it until it’s time for a new tire.

Or replace the valve stem and put in gorilla snot incase it is a bad seal on the tire. That would take care of the tire and stem both, right? I’m a cheep ba$##d and wouldn’t want to buy a new tire until I had to.

[slosher 0]

Did you clean the mud out?

you were pretty dirty from the track..

What that fun or what? Mud all over, took 3 washings to get it out of my clothes.

[carguy 1]

Sometimes small sticks get wedged in the bead and will cause intermitten leaks. Like Mimi said, soap it up and look for bubbles. That reminds me of a joke.