Any question answered...

@ ExTra .. I've had Specialized tubes fail before too. Never use them now. Good luck with the different brand tube.

Not the general sort of question that should be asked on the forum but: Has anyone ever being CUI? (Cycling Under Influence)

Has anyone ever being CUI?

No, we're all Cycling Under New Technology here.

Are you asking "have we done it?" , or "have we been caught?"

how do you get it IN the tube?

I was waiting for somebody with English as a second language to misinterpret that.

I talc the inside of the tyre and the tube != I talc the inside of the tyre and of the tube

No, we're all Cycling Under New Technology here.

Are you asking "have we done it?" , or "have we been caught?"
Both. Although it is quite hard to differentiate drunk cyclists from bad cyclists.

why wouldn't you?

I don't have any at home. now wondering whether to go and buy some and refit the tube. yes?

Woohoo, another ride with 'touch wood' and 'touch my forehead' no problem. I think it's case closed and let's blame Specialized.

I always talc my balls.

^ I always talc his balls

I always appreciate the extra care you put into doing it.

how important is it to talc tubes? I mean, I've never done it, but they usually come a bit dry/powdery.
just put a new one in, and it's been kicking around in a box for ages so didn't have anything on it. and the tyre was a bit damp from rain, I dried it off as best I could, but worried about them sticking together. recipe for disaster or nothing to worry about?

Nothing to worry about, only time I have use talc was on a puncture repair that I couldn't wait for the the rubber solution to dry.

@ ExTra .. I've had Specialized tubes fail before too. Never use them now. Good luck with the different brand tube.

Deathlon brand tubes are great/cheap but they have short valves.

Have you cut open any of the failed tubes to look for defects on the inside?

Sorry are you taking to me? If so, no, I wouldn't know what to look for... Should I?

Deathlon brand tubes are great/cheap but they have short valves.

Do you mean these?

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/700x18-25-presta-48mm-id_8009069.html

48mm valve is ok. Might give these a go. What's up its the 2 years guarantee? It seems a little odd...

Sorry are you taking to me? If so, no, I wouldn't know what to look for... Should I?

sorry, yes, and i don't know either, but you might spot something obviously wrong that would lay the blame with the tube manufacturer.

(From cutting open and prodding at an old tube here, it looks like the valve is mounted onto a rubber oval with tapered edges that is stuck onto the rest of the tube. Examining the valve hole from the inside, it seems the rubber oval isn't perfectly bonded to the rest of the tube - there's a small area round the hole where they haven't stuck. Maybe in your case the region of poor bonding extends so close to the edge of the oval that full inflation is able to burst through the tapered edge of the oval?)

see here from 7:40 for how tubes are made: Schwalbe Manufacturing Process - YouTube

Is the rear chain line on a miche hub 42mm as standard? Building up my bike with Sugino messengers on front which means I'd need a 103mm as opposed to a 107 if I was using the Miche crankset?

Does the LMNH shop stock gatorskins and will they be open at 9ish AM on saturday?

Talc is about £2/kg, why wouldn't you?

Wow, talc is cheap.

I see what you did there

Germans have special bicycle grade talkum:

Is the rear chain line on a miche hub 42mm as standard? Building up my bike with Sugino messengers on front which means I'd need a 103mm as opposed to a 107 if I was using the Miche crankset?

OK really confused on what the internet says. Apparently the miche hubs are 45mm, is this correct?

Messengers are 45mm chainline anyways, they're not true track cranks, they're modified road ones.