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With winter coming in the next month or two, time to solve this problem I ran into last winter. I got my first fat bike in February ([Norco Bigfoot 3](https://www.norco.com/bikes/mountain/fat-bike/bigfoot/2022-bigfoot-3/)) and got a few flat tubes which was pretty frustrating. I never got a flat while riding – always while the bike was sitting in the garage between rides. The first time, I came out to the garage Saturday morning, a week after my previous ride. I got all set up to go for a ride, and as I was wheeling the bike away noticed that the front tyre was totally flat. The ride I had been on the weekend before was pretty solid trail, so I had the pressure a little higher than normal, but still under 10psi. I got the tube swapped out and went for a 50km ride the next weekend, with again pretty normal pressure (8psi). Came out the day after that and both tires were flat. A few notes:
1. I partially studded my tires (just the outer rows). I followed all the advice given online and every stud went in as expected. Should I inspect the inside of the tires to see if some studs are poking weirdly or something? I can’t see how this would happen since the bottom of the studs is nice and flat/round
2. I wondered if this was something with temperature, since I”m storing my bike in the cold garage. Especially during late winter/early spring when there was more fluctuation. But my 2 mountain bikes that were in the garage all winter never got any flats
Anyone experience anything similar? What did I do wrong, or what can I do to prevent this from happening again this winter? As much as reasonably possible, I want to solve this problem so I don’t have to keep buying tubes all next winter, and changing them before, or on rides. Unfortunately my rims can not be converted to tubeless. I had my local bike shop try and it did not work at all.
edit: all the riding I did was pretty gentle terrain. Snow and maybe a bit of groomed ice on our river trail. Nothing extreme that would have been puncture worthy.
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Were there actually holes in the tubes you took out ? If so, whatever made the hole(s) may still be in the tire(s). Maybe something inside the rim is breeching the tube. If I were a betting man I would bet it has something to do with the air inside the tube contracting with the drop in temperature. Are you sure it was 8 psi ? Have you a quality gauge ? Did you try inflating the flat tire(s) before changing tubes ?
I read a “hack” where you take a cotton ball, or really anything that snags easily, and rub it over the inside of the rim and tire to help find anything poking into the tube causing the flats.
Edit: Should actually answer the questions asked as well, sorry. I have 2 fat bikes and live in a very northern city and neither have had flat problems from sitting in cold weather. We might see a bit of a pressure drop taking it from a heated location back out to the cold but haven’t been able to measure that reliably. Don’t use studs so can’t help there.
Split tube tubeless will work. Done it on all kids of rims.
Specialized has a 24×3.0 tube thats perfect. Push in some thin foam plastic between the rim strip and tube.
If not occurring before studs, I’d say that’s your culprit. Tubeless would fix it, also the wheels will turn easier with less rotational mass. Those tubes are almost a pound each!
I bet that you over tighten the nut on the valve and it stresses the tube causing a leak. That nut is there to keep the valve from pushing into the wheel when you attach a pump. It should just be loosely installed.
A pressure drop caused by temperature fluctuations will be quite noticeable on a big fat low pressure tire. It’s science, lot of air, low pressure.
If it holds for a ride just pump it up and go. All my tires loose air slowly.
Or do the soapy water trick and find the cause.
I wouldn’t give up on tubeless so easily either. You may need something like [this](https://fattystripper.com/) to build up the bead seat.
The first step is always figuring out where the hole is and keeping it indexed to the tire and rim so that you can identify the region to inspect most closely. If you can’t find any holes (even with submersion in soapy water), then it could be your valve, but it is unlikely that you would have two bad valves in a row unless you are wrecking them somehow.