Puncture Prevention?

[flecc]

Slime and it's derivatives go in before to prevent leakage as punctures occur. There's also sealant aerosol solutions which are used after a puncture, and these are intended to seal and inflate at the same time. The latter were designed for tubeless car tyres and have limited success with tubes.

Frankly none of either has ever worked for me, and this has been the majority view of those posting in the forum. The trouble is that when Slime doesn't work, as often happens, it makes a sticky mess which prevents the puncture being repaired with a patch on the spot.

The best and most reliable solution is to do a practice puncture repair if necessary on a rear wheel, right through to putting a patch on the non-existent puncture, and then have the confidence to repair them as they occur. The other sensible strategy is to use puncture resistant tyres.

An alternative approach with punctures for anyone with basic skills is to swap the tube on the road, as it's a quick and clean solution. The punctured tube can then be repaired at home.
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[Larkspur]

Slime and it's derivatives go in before to prevent leakage as punctures occur. There's also sealant aerosol solutions which are used after a puncture, and these are intended to seal and inflate at the same time. The latter were designed for tubeless car tyres and have limited success with tubes.

Frankly none of either has ever worked for me, and this has been the majority view of those posting in the forum. The trouble is that when Slime doesn't work, as often happens, it makes a sticky mess which prevents the puncture being repaired with a patch on the spot.

The best and most reliable solution is to do a practice puncture repair if necessary on a rear wheel, right through to putting a patch on the non-existent puncture, and then have the confidence to repair them as they occur. The other sensible strategy is to use puncture resistant tyres.

An alternative approach with punctures for anyone with basic skills is to swap the tube on the road, as it's a quick and clean solution. The punctured tube can then be repaired at home.
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Thanks for the info Flecc - I think that I will now return the unused slime that I have purchased from Wiggle, when it arrives and buy a spare inner-tube, some tyre levers and basic tools. Changing the tube sounds like an attractive option to me.

Chris

Chris

 

[BrizzleBoy]

...not forgetting to get the offending sharp object out of the tyre before reinflating

 

[flecc]

...not forgetting to get the offending sharp object out of the tyre before reinflating

Spoilsport!
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[Rod Tibbs]

Yellow crayon

Today I got a puncture in the rear wheel of my Synergie Mistral - I have only had it just over a week! So I bought a puncture repair kit from Halfords, remembering that when I was a boy - about 60 years ago - they always came with a yellow crayon inside intended for marking the position of the hole on the inner tube.

The crayon was always useless.

I was amazed to find they STILL DO IT! And it remains just as useless as ever. The first time I touched it the thing broke and of course it never makes anything like a mark on an inner tube.

I find that a modern write-on-anything marker, preferably in white or yellow, works perfectly. When are the makers of these repair kits going to chuck the useless yellow crayons away and get up todate?

Rod

 

[flecc]

Today I got a puncture in the rear wheel of my Synergie Mistral - I have only had it just over a week! So I bought a puncture repair kit from Halfords, remembering that when I was a boy - about 60 years ago - they always came with a yellow crayon inside intended for marking the position of the hole on the inner tube.

The crayon was always useless.

I was amazed to find they STILL DO IT! And it remains just as useless as ever. The first time I touched it the thing broke and of course it never makes anything like a mark on an inner tube.

I find that a modern write-on-anything marker, preferably in white or yellow, works perfectly. When are the makers of these repair kits going to chuck the useless yellow crayons away and get up todate?

Rod

That's right Rod. . The other bit of silliness is the block of french chalk with a grater ridging under the plastic box of most puncture outfits now. The plastic moulded grater ridges are too rounded to do anything, the chalk block just skidding over them. Obviously the producers never try these things out.
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[Rod Tibbs]

Yellow crayon

I think I will make a bid for freedom and write to Halfords management and ask them to start thinking about puncture repair outfits. These things used to be made by John Bull but whoever produces them now still does exactly the same stupid things. I don't think I have ever used the block of French chalk.

Presumably Halford's management doesn't repair its own bike tyres or even know what a bike is.

Bestest

Rod

 

[RedSkywalker]

Hi Everybody - first post so be kind

I bought my first electric bike couple of weeks ago and although I'm finding it great fun to comute to work on it [only a couple of miles] it's 40 odd years since I was last on a bike and I really dread the idea of punctures - can I ask are solid tyres a realistic alternative?

 

[flecc]

Hi RedSkywalker, welcome to the forum.

Solid tyres are not really an option I'm afraid. There have been such things, but they are terrible to ride with high rolling resistance and less safe.

There are efficient tyres which are almost puncture proof and I've used one brand across three bikes and nearly five years with only a single puncture, and that one was off road over blackthorn cuttings. The tyres are Schwalbe Marathon Plus and they have a thick penetration resistant layer under the tread as you see here:

They are expensive at a recommended price of about £26.99 each, but some places discount them. The cheapest is usually this company, the web page having three different sizes at £19.99:

All Terrain Cycles
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[essexman]

I huffed and I puffed and as I pumped away

Musicbooks, do you have a debilitating lung condition or are you still using 20th century pumps? Teasing aside you want to get a cycleair . I've had one for a couple of years now. I still occasionally use my track pump but to be honest its more work to get it out of the shed.

PS All.... re slime. I've used it before it has about a 1/3 succcess rate on preventing punctures for me. At the same time it ruins the valves of 1/3 inner tubes but on balance i;d rather have a valve slowly ruined than have 50% more punctures. A point of note slime is incompatible with some patch brands (the slime dissolves the glue).

 

[essexman]

lol the puncture repair kit post made me laugh.

Again 21st century , pop into any bike shop (apparently not halfords ) and you can buy puncture repair patches (i do believe there is a green slime branded make). These are like stickers. Peel em off and stick em on. Job done.

The great thing about these are, when you have a puncture, simply roll the tyre to locate the puncture (this time of year its always bloomin thorns!) , pop the tyre off, pull out the punctured bit of tube, stick the patch on, remove the offending thorn, stick inner tube and tire back in, inflate with your cyclair or CO2 pump (no sweat no effort). Its quicker than changing a tube on a bike that doesnt have quick release.

I find these patches will hold for ~75% of the time. Carry a spare inner tube (and spanners) for the 25% and other catastrophic failures.

PS I use woods valves adaptors on my Agattu. I dont notice any resistance using my cyclair.

 

[flecc]

As you say essexman, the self sticking patches only stick 75% of the time, so I prefer to do the job properly which is always successful. It's a pity people are so scared of punctures since they are really so easy to deal with.

Many is the the time when I've stopped and quickly repaired one for someone looking helpless at the side of the road, done in minutes.

Of course that is an alternative way of dealing with punctures, assume a helpless look and wait for a mug like me to come along.
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[Rod Tibbs]

Puncture repairs

It also helps if you are curvy and blonde!

Rod

 

[flecc]

It also helps if you are curvy and blonde!

Rod

The last couple I helped were both curvy and blonde.

Both the mother and her son.
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[essexman]

As you say essexman, the self sticking patches only stick 75% of the time, so I prefer to do the job properly which is always successful. It's a pity people are so scared of punctures since they are really so easy to deal with.

Many is the the time when I've stopped and quickly repaired one for someone looking helpless at the side of the road, done in minutes.

Of course that is an alternative way of dealing with punctures, assume a helpless look and wait for a mug like me to come along.
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I agree Flecc, but hub gear bikes just put me off roadside tube changes. The amount of times i've spent in the pitch black, a bike light between my teeth, by the side of a road, scraping through long grass trying to find the bolt i've fumbled in the dark.....

Helpful passer-by's are amazing. I remember being 18 and stuck out in the middle of nowhere. A cyclist came past and gives me his spare tube. The kindness of strangers is very life affirming. I've had the opportunity to do it for others as well since. Its one of those real feel good things to do. It can be overdone though....

I remember a time i stopped to adjust my rear derailleur and ~100 cyclists stopped to offer advice, tools, a complete wheel rebuild... It was the local CTCs annual AGM ride

 

[MaryinScotland]

I remember a time i stopped to adjust my rear derailleur and ~100 cyclists stopped to offer advice, tools, a complete wheel rebuild... It was the local CTCs annual AGM ride

Like having a heart attack at a medical convention...

Getting back to puncture repair kits, I remember once settling down to fix a puncture (at home). I thought I knew the routine, but found that the glue in my kit had completely dried up. No idea how long it was since I bought the kit. (I completed the job with Evostik - it worked okay.)

Now I try to remember to buy a new kit once a year, so the glue will be liquid when I need it. I don't know what the lifespan is of peel-and-stick patches, but I expect it's not infinite.

Mary

 

[flecc]

I agree Flecc, but hub gear bikes just put me off roadside tube changes.

I usually find just the puncture repair is sufficient and don't normal change tubes.

Being ex trade, I know some dodges for putting tubes and tyres in without taking wheels out though :

 

[essexman]

Flecc: Ouch! I feel for those spokes, although i'm sure your doing something cunning.

My Wife fixed a puncture yesterday by going into the local bike shop with baby and looking helpless. Took 10 minutes! Thats as fast as my roadside changes!

 

[flecc]

Flecc: Ouch! I feel for those spokes, although i'm sure your doing something cunning.

Yes, the foot pressure is inwards, predominantly on the spoke flange.

That's an alloy frame by the way, they will often spring enough if the spindle length isn't too long. The right hand pops the tube in (though here it's holding the camera), and I've even put in the thick Marathon Plus tyres that way, a great time saver.

Years ago we had rear frame stretchers in the trade, like a threaded clamp used in reverse, and with the steel frames at the time it solved tyre and tube change problems on full chaincase and oilbath chaincase bikes, saving hours.
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[Mussels]

A note about slime tube protectors, the plastic strips that sit between the inner tube and the tyre. Where the ends overlap (as per instructions) the slime bands have cut through the inner tubes causing me 2 punctures this week, one cut was about 2.5" long so hard to patch.
I've emailed Slime for their response but I wish I had never bothered.