Tubs and punctures

AllezAllezAllez
AllezAllezAllez Posts: 207
edited January 2014 in Road beginners
What do you do if you are running tubs and get a puncture and you are a long way from home? As I understand you can't repair or change a tub on the side of the road?

Or is it the case you would only run a tub if you are racing?

Comments

  • smidsy
    smidsy Posts: 5,273
    You have 2 basic options.
    1. Remove punctured tub and replace with the pre-glued spare that you are carrrying.
    2. Use some instant repair (e.g Vittoria Pit Stop) on the punctured tub and hope it takes.

    There is no reason why you can not change tubs on the roadside, in fact it is no harder than a normal clincher with tube.
    Yellow is the new Black.
  • sungod
    sungod Posts: 16,532
    ^this

    fwiw i've had good results with tufo extreme sealant, used about a 20% of a bottle to fix a flat last weekend, takes 2-3 minutes once you've found the hole...

    put a drop of water/spit on any likely surface marks, the one that bubbles is (usually) where the hole is, remove valve core, squirt in sealant, replace core, position so the hole is at the lowest point, give the sealant a few seconds to run there, inflate

    if the hole is beyond sealing, fit the spare
    my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny
  • racingcondor
    racingcondor Posts: 1,434
    As above. I keep a spare pre-glued tub taped to my saddle rails with some velcro tape.

    While I'd be screwed if I flatted twice I don't have to worry about picking out the flint/glass that caused it and the spare is brand new so has plenty of tread. Since most 2nd punctures I've seen seem to be caused by missing the 'something' stuck in your tyre I don't worry about it.
  • Diamant49
    Diamant49 Posts: 101
    If I had to choose between carrying a spare tub and a tin of pit stop, I would choose the tub - if the hole is too big (eg a glass cut) then the pit stop will just spray out of it.

    I usually carry both in a small bag on the saddle, and I would now only use the pit stop as a 2nd line of defence.

    http://www.wiggle.co.uk/arundel-tubi-seat-bag/

    In my experience tubs puncture a lot less than clinchers anyway and I have never had two punctures in one ride (yet....).
  • DavidJB
    DavidJB Posts: 2,019
    +1 for Tufo extreme sealant. I've punctured tubs after the 3rd ride, put some of this stuff in and raced the tyre for the rest of the season!

    In-fact these days I just put it in to a new tyre right away, that way if I puncture on a ride it normally reseals it's self without me even realising there was an issue.

    I don't train on tubs anyway just race.
  • racingcondor
    racingcondor Posts: 1,434
    Punctured on my tubs for the first time at Hillingdon on Saturday, came down with a cold on Sunday thus proving that punctures are harbingers of evil.

    That said, I just ripped off the Pave, put my Conti Giro on then rode home. It's no harder than changing a tube and gave me a lot of confidence in my glue job, that tyre did not want to move on the three laps I rode with a slow flat or afterwards when I'd let all the air out.