Winter - Punctures - Repair

short circuit

Seem to be having a very bad winter .. tyres replaced last week as the old gatorskins were giving a few extra punctures and I'd put about 4500km on them. In the last week .. I've had 2 punctures on the new gatorskins .. 1 front and 1 back .. and I've found them extremely difficult to fix using the puncture repair kit by the side of the road ...

I find it easier to patch it especially if I already know where the puncture is .. and especially on the rear wheel .. and in both cases so far ... the glass pieces have been huge .. in 1 case taking a few bits of rubber out of the tyre.

Does anyone else find it hard to get the puncture repair patch to hold in the cold ... even though I make sure that its 100% dry.

Also, the Park no-glue required puncture patch does not work for me .. it never holds ... any ideas

Might just be easier to bring a spare tube with you? And if that goes as well then use the puncture repair kit.

blorg

I would just carry a spare tube, it is easier. I would not be messing with vulcanising fluid and the holding and waiting at this time of year. If you do traditional patching right though it will last indefinately. I get between 24 hours and a month out of a tube patched with the Park no-glue patches, but the patch will blow off evenually. So I keep them as a backup in case I use my spare tube- Park patch will get me home but it is not a permanent fix.

victorcarrera

I feel your pain. Saturday I rear punctured 500 Meters from top of sally gap. Weather was so bad I didn't spend too much time investigating reason and put in a spare tube. 50 Meters on, 2nd puncture and realized my brand new Halfords tyre was burst. So installed my last tube at pumped it to just 40 psi. It got me back to Brittas and gave out. Then called home and had to be rescued. Put a new gatorskin on that night and fixed the tubes. Hit mega pothole Sunday morning and pinched tube. My first time using Gatorskins I think the side walls are too thin for me. (84Kg and 100psi).
BTW I have tried the solution free patches (at home in dry conditions only). No problems yet but I always roughen up the tube first with sand paper or wire mesh. The heat generated by the friction may just make the difference.
Further investigation of Halfords tyre indicating that thread was cut too deep on one side of tyre. I got exactly what i paid for.
Thanks to local man for offering me 70Km lift home. And lovely Limerick Lady for offering help.

short circuit

blorg wrote: »

I would just carry a spare tube, it is easier. I would not be messing with vulcanising fluid and the holding and waiting at this time of year. If you do traditional patching right though it will last indefinately. I get between 24 hours and a month out of a tube patched with the Park no-glue patches, but the patch will blow off evenually. So I keep them as a backup in case I use my spare tube- Park patch will get me home but it is not a permanent fix.

I always carry a spare tube with me as well ... but I don't feel comfortable putting it in till I know where the puncture is ... and then I feel if I am going to pump it up to find out where the puncture is ... I might as well fix it ... was a good thing yesterday morning as a huge chunk of glass was still stuck in the tyre.

I only try fixing when its dry ... never in the rain.

No where on wiggle does it say that the park patch kit is a temporary fix only .... :mad:

I ran my last pair of gatorskins for over 4000km without a puncture and the recent pair has already punctured twice in a week ... I think its purely down to luck with the roads. I think if you are running 700cx25 .. go for 100psi ... but if you are running 700x23c ... go for slightly higher ... 115psi or so.

blorg

It is possible that the Park patches last longer on lower pressure tyres, so they may be OK for MTB use. (I don't know.) I found out the hard way myself with them - like you, I would want to find the location of the puncture and then thought, may as well patch, but they all bubbled off eventually.

Continental recommend close to your numbers- 95psi for 700x25 Gatorskins, and 110psi for 700x23. I tend to run that in the back but a little less in the front.

xz

I just bring spare tubes, never patch punctured ones, I bring them home and get rid of them accordingly, with tubes being relatively cheap, seems the best option

short circuit

xz wrote: »

I just bring spare tubes, never patch punctured ones, I bring them home and get rid of them accordingly, with tubes being relatively cheap, seems the best option

So you will probably kill me for saying this ... but when I took the tube out yesterday morning to fix it on the road ... tyres on the bike .. only 6 inches of tube off ... I saw that the latest puncture meant that the particular location on that tube had been patched all the way around the width over the last 6 months .. ... me thinks its time to change tube ..

p

short circuit wrote: »

So you will probably kill me for saying this ... but when I took the tube out yesterday morning to fix it on the road ... tyres on the bike .. only 6 inches of tube off ... I saw that the latest puncture meant that the particular location on that tube had been patched all the way around the width over the last 6 months .. ... me thinks its time to change tube ..

Probably!

Still it's a bit of a waste to throw away a tube every time you get a puncture.

Raam

p wrote: »

Probably!

Still it's a bit of a waste to throw away a tube every time you get a puncture.

I have about 5 lying in a box at home that I still need to repair :P

Wez

Raam wrote: »

I have about 5 lying in a box at home that I still need to repair :P

You're prolly better to do them in batches like that though, I mean most of the hassle is getting all the equipment out to make the repair, then you can just grab another tube while the others are hardening.

I'm gonna invest in a box of Schrader & Presta tubes and do them like that in future! Along with my new Gatorskins, once they arrive from CRC!