Effective tubular repair

bernithebiker

Just wanted to pass on a tip for repairing a punctured tubular.

Options are limited; either a) send it off to a repairer for £20 or so, or b) bin it.

I punctured last week, (1st time in a year, 10000km) with a small piece of glass. Picked out the glass, and put a drop of superglue into the hole. Left under heat lamp for an hour.

Came back, and filled with this can of latex puncture foam from Decathlon. Went up to almost 8 bar straight away, perfectly rideable, all good.

Came back two hours later, and pressure had dropped to about 5 to 6 bar, but otherwise fine. Topped up with track pump, back to 8 bar. Test rode it 100km on Sunday in poor conditions, worked fine. In fact, it now holds it's air better than it did before.

The can costs 3.95 Euros and is small enough to fit into a jersey pocket and not notice it.

markos1963

How about option 3, learn how to fix it yourself and save even more money.

ugo.santalucia

markos1963 wrote:

How about option 3, learn how to fix it yourself and save even more money.

+1

bernithebiker

markos1963 wrote:

How about option 3, learn how to fix it yourself and save even more money.

Fair enough! Can you give me some pointers then? (I am crap at sowing though.....)

cougie

That's fine to get home on - but then you have a filled tyre - how does that ride compared to a normal tyre and tube ?

bernithebiker

cougie wrote:

That's fine to get home on - but then you have a filled tyre - how does that ride compared to a normal tyre and tube ?

No different.

The can is very small and the latex foam just seals the hole. It also coats the inside of the tube. The water/solvent in the latex will slowly evaporate, leaving just a fine film of latex.

What has actually pumped your tyre up is the propellant in the can, probably CO2.

I was among the first to use Stans sealant many (too many) years ago when I was racing MTB's. Once the water's gone, you just have a fine film of latex.

sheffsimon

bernithebiker wrote:

cougie wrote:

That's fine to get home on - but then you have a filled tyre - how does that ride compared to a normal tyre and tube ?

No different.

The can is very small and the latex foam just seals the hole. It also coats the inside of the tube. The water/solvent in the latex will slowly evaporate, leaving just a fine film of latex.

What has actually pumped your tyre up is the propellant in the can, probably CO2.

I was among the first to use Stans sealant many (too many) years ago when I was racing MTB's. Once the water's gone, you just have a fine film of latex.

Ive used one of these once after running out of tubes, seemed to work OK apart from the pi$$ poor seal onto the inner tube valve which meant a load of foam came out. Got me home, but I slung the inner tube away. Never felt inclined to buy another one though.

bernithebiker

SheffSimon wrote:

bernithebiker wrote:

cougie wrote:

That's fine to get home on - but then you have a filled tyre - how does that ride compared to a normal tyre and tube ?

No different.

The can is very small and the latex foam just seals the hole. It also coats the inside of the tube. The water/solvent in the latex will slowly evaporate, leaving just a fine film of latex.

What has actually pumped your tyre up is the propellant in the can, probably CO2.

I was among the first to use Stans sealant many (too many) years ago when I was racing MTB's. Once the water's gone, you just have a fine film of latex.

Ive used one of these once after running out of tubes, seemed to work OK apart from the pi$$ poor seal onto the inner tube valve which meant a load of foam came out. Got me home, but I slung the inner tube away. Never felt inclined to buy another one though.

Yep, you do have to get a good joint between the valve and the can nozzle. This one can be screwed on, so I had no leaks at all.

If it had been a normal tyre with tube, I too would just repair or throw the tube once I got home.

But it seems to work well with a tubular. I only bought the can as a 'get me home' emergency thing, but it seems to have actually effected a permanent repair, and the tyre holds air better than before.

markos1963

bernithebiker wrote:

markos1963 wrote:

How about option 3, learn how to fix it yourself and save even more money.

Fair enough! Can you give me some pointers then? (I am crap at sowing though.....)

Plenty of online guides on YouTube to follow. One good tip is to use dental floss instead of cotton thread, it's strong and being lubed it passes through the casing more easily. Oh and I used a pair of needle nosed pliers to push and pull the needle through to save my fingers. I'm crap at sewing as well but just had a go on a cheap Conti Giro tub and it has stayed good for a couple of thousand miles.