Thursday night I was getting ready for a ride and noticed my front tire was totally flat, I wasn't all that surprised since I have over 1500 miles on this set of boots (michelin kyrillium carbon 23s)without a puncture! So I change it out but can't find a hole in the tube, I finally did the soapy-water-routine and discovered the tube was leaking at the base of the valve stem. After changing out tubes and remounting I'm topping up the rear and . . .phewwww-there goes the rear too. I take it apart and its leaking in the same damn place as the front was! So I guess this indicates that 1500-1600 miles is the reasonable life span for a presta valve tube?

No.... maybe yours... never happened to mine.

So I guess this indicates that 1500-1600 miles is the reasonable life span for a presta valve tube?

If this were the case, I'd be putting in a new tube every 5 weeks or so. In fact, my wife and I together ride about 17K miles per year (not counting roller miles) and so far this year we have replaced 1 tube because it couldn't be patched. I think we replaced one last year too :)

Put 2 layers of Velox rim tape at the valve hole and your problem will end. Also replace you tape every 12-18 months.

Put 2 layers of Velox rim tape at the valve hole and your problem will end. Also replace you tape every 12-18 months.

I guess it sounded like I was complaining. Until I switched to the Michelins this spring after a particularly ugly blowout on a local descent I would never get more than 700 or 800 miles out of a tube, ie: a month tops. Siding screws, staples, plain old vanilla nails, you name it I collected it, one or two punctures a week. I rode sew-ups before moving here and that quickly became prohibitively expensive so I went back to clinchers.

I examined the valve holes on this particular wheelset (Open Pros) and I didn't notice anything untoward, I never use the precut hole in rim tape-instead I go right over the top of the valve hole and cut a small X with an exacto. Its almost time to switch to the cyclocross bike so maybe I will retape these when I hang up the road bike for the winter.