Inner tube repairs - is it just me ?

I've found that wheelbarrows with non-pneumatic tyres are a lot harder to bounce over bricks, scaffold boards etc. than those with a properly inflated pneumatic tyre.

You need to check the tread for cuts that may contain sharp debris, and explore any you find with a small probe (I use an old spoke) to ensure there are no pointy bits that might emerge at an inopportune moment. Squeezing and bending the tyre by a cut will often open it up for easier examination This in addition to a visual and fingertip inspection of the inside of the tyre casing (visual first, to reduce the chance of shredding a finger).

Those are "feather edge" patches, which make a nice smooth join at the edge (apart from the occasional one that doesn't want to be separated from its foil cover).

I wouldn't recommend a sealant for inner tubes - IME it only works on the smallest punctures and makes subsequent repair difficult. On such skinny tyres it's also going to significantly reduce the air volume, so will affect the way the tyre handles shock, and will add weight. On tubeless tyres (pedal cycle or other) a latex sealant seems to work more reliably, but that's mostly at significantly lower pressure than these narrow section tyres.

The volume of sealant needed in a tyre is a small percentage of the total volume. I don?t see it significantly altering the handling. Even Chris Boardman reckons that the extra work involved is so low that tdf teams ought to be using it to minimise time lost through punctures.

A bigger problem is getting it into presta valve tubes. Not impossible but trickier.

Tim

Some people are just lucky and others aren't!

Back in my teens I rode my bike (a racer, not an off-road type) everywhere. I bumped up and down kerbs, rode off road, over glass, allsorts and wore the rear tyre right through without ever having a punture. I lent it to my sister one day to do a paper round, as her bike had a flat tyre, and she came back with a punture.

A number of years later, I was on my second car, also without suffering a puncture. My sister borrowed the car because there was something wrong with hers and yes, she came back with a puncture.

SteveW

I am surprised that no-one has started selling tyres with a fairly high density foam infill. Punture proof, but also with some give like a pneumatic tyre.

SteveW

For a get you going solution, those linear tubes where you just overlap the ends mean a quick, if temporary, repair without even having to take the wheel off.

SteveW

Some pushchair/baby buggie wheels are made that way. For anything reasonably fast it is possible that heat build up caused by the flexing could be a problem.

Lots of agricultural /industrial equipment has it done as an aftermarket service but again those are often low speed with large trees to disperse any heat build up.

Actually I've got a sack truck that always has a tyre flat when I desire to use it, and a can of foam. may try putting a drop in as an experiment. Back in the sixties when cycling to school along country lanes I was always getting punctures till I hit on the idea of nicking some of dads wallpaper paste and Barrs leaks and pumping the mixture into the tube . It worked well except when the temperature dropped below freezing point and I had wheels with a part solid tyre. If only I knew about getting patents and product development at aged

G.Harman

By the way it's quite confusing buying inner tubes for disability gear. Sizing is not really standardised. Generally a slightly smaller tube than the 'correct' one is fine. For instance quoted 10" rim fits a 12" rim. Same with tube width. Always get the ones with a bent valve tube if there are spokes and things in the way.

Bill

Personally, I don't like any of the latex 'get you home' solutions because they are all generally 'messy'.

In contrast, Punctureseal (specifically, because of my contact with it over many different vehicles) is a completely different beast.

It's installed as a preemptive solution (like the other 'slimes' etc) but unlike many of the alternative (some with similar sounding names and promises) has always worked, *even* when used retrospectively.

The last instance was after going to leave my mates place in the car I felt something was wrong and the n/s/f tyre was flat (I would have noticed it before driving off had I gone past that side). So, I put the electric pump on it and it inflated ok and I soon heard escaping air and found a screw sticking out of the tread. It got me the few miles home where I got the trolley jack out and took the weight off that tyre and removed the valve core. I squired some (the correct amount for that size tyre) Punctureseal into the tyre, replaced the valve core and re-inflated it with my electric pump. I then span the wheel by hand and then I removed the screw and span it again. A bit of Punctureseal came out of the hole and then it stopped. I took the car for a 15 minute drive and that was that. A couple of years and a few thousand miles later the tyre still holds air perfectly. I also treated the other 3 tyres after that and so far, no punctures (that I know of). ;-)

On that, Punctureseal lubricates anything that sticks in the tyre and causes it to be ejected quickly and before any further damage can be done. It can't 'protect' against damage to the sidewall (centripetal force takes care of that) and won't protect any hole over about 6mm diameter. I haven't had a puncture (that I know of) in any tyre I have treated and I've never had to further address any tyre that I have treated retrospectively either (on cars and motorbikes).

Hehe ... Punctureseal doesn't freeze, is non-corrosive but is water soluble, even after being in a tyre for 8 years (as I found out a while back after taking the tyre off the wife's 750 Yamaha and washing it out with a garden hose).

Shame. ;-)

A gardener mate was always getting punctures in the big ride on mower at one of his regular customers (typically spines). He treated all 4 tyres and never 'suffered' a puncture again. ;-)

No connection etc but like my Garmin GPS and my Leatherman PSTII, I don't like to leave home without it. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

p.s. To Jethro_uk

Just OOI, would / should it matter just how much you inflate a puncture-repaired tyre?

Given the tube can only expand to within the constraint of the tyre and that most tyres probably wouldn't stretch that much, between just inflated and maximum pressure, it shouldn't put any particular stress on the patch itself?

eg. The tube just provides an airtight 'skin' on the inside of the tyre and so, once stretched slightly (assuming the right size tube is used), it is simply forced up against the inside of the tyre, still doing little outside providing the air tightness. This would also cause the patch to be pressed hard against the tube, helping to hold it in place (assuming the patch isn't being pulled off of the tube because of air still leaking out of any puncture it covers)?

Just thinking out loud. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Thta's what I do except I use ready made patches. It always works fine for me but my usual problem is nipping the tube with the tyre lever and creating a new puncture.

Since I switched to Schwalbe Marathon tyres I don't get nearly as many punctures as I used to.

Robert

Interesting approach. I have always found it more effort (and more time) to swap the tube than to just repair it.

I've never found it necessary to use tyre levers to refit the tyre: if I press on the bead in one place, I can persuade it over the rim of the wheel, and than I can move my thumbs apart to ease the bead over gradually further and further from the starting point until eventually the whole bead is over the rim. The main thing is to make sure that during this process the tube doesn't move around the rim, leading to the valve ending up crooked in the hole through the rim.

You missed a vital step:

- Find and remove the thorn or whatever that's probably still in the tyre.

I've seen bikes in China where the tyre is apparently solid, but drilled like a brake disk all the way around. Presumably this makes for some shock absorbing.

They seem to be in The West too:

Andy

Steve Walker explained :

They do sell them, I tried one sold as replacement for my caravan's jockey wheel. It was fine at first, but eventually (within days) it went flat. It seems they work providing they do not have to support a constant weight.

Isn't the jockey wheel tyre solid? We've a trailer (to tow a car behind a motorhome) and the jockey wheel has a solid rubber tyre.