Tubes - Repair?

Granite Head

Do people still bother repairing punctured tubes?

I have tried repairing a pinch punture on 700x23 tube. Even though the patch looks good and the tube inflates, the tube does'nt hold pressure. Am I wasting my time trying to repair this type (size) of tube?

kenmc

pinches are not worth repairing, they tend to just run. holes are easy.

edit: I patch tubes which are salvagable, but no more than 2 or 3 times usually.

Khannie

Granite Head wrote: »

Do people still bother repairing punctured tubes?

I do.

ednwireland

no

cdaly_

yes

Eamonnator

no

07Lapierre

I'll repair a tube once. If i get another puncture, i bin it.

hinault

I repair a tube.

Speaking of which my back wheel has punctured three times over the past 2 days.
I've retaped the wheel rims and patched the tube.
Let's hope these latest rerpairs work!

Rev

I don't bother repairing. Tubes are cheap enough

cython

I'll repair them if feasible (as pointed out pinches may not be), as a repair kit is about the same price as a tube, and you might get 4-5 punctures out of one kit, and about 10 mins of your time per puncture. Perhaps even less with what I normally do which is to let a few punctured tubes collect, and repair a batch in one sitting. At the moment that means I have about 7 tubes in rotation - 2 on the wheels, 2 in the saddlebag, and 3 others, either serving as spares or waiting for repair.

Once I have the repair done though, I will inflate the tube (not to full "in tyre" pressures, as that'll cause it to explode, but so that it's visibly bulging around the valve) and leave it overnight or even for a few days to see that it retains that pressure. I don't like to risk finding on the roadside that my patched spare tube won't hold pressure!

8kvscdpglqnyr4

I patch them usually - I've been commuting and road cycling for 13 years so I've had lots of punctures so I don't think I could afford to buy a new tube for every puncture. If I get a puncture, I normally replace the tube on the side of the road and fix the punctured tube when I get home.

But one thing to be aware of, the quality of puncture repair kits vary significantly. having tried several repair kits, Rema definitely make the best:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=5371

Master and commander

I always repair my tubes unless they are really badly split or broke around the valve. A bike i had years ago had tubes that were full of patches, quite a sight.

People throwing away tubes just because of a punture are just wasteful. Just because it was puncutered before soesn't make it any more likely to be punctured again.

You should check around the inside of the tyre that there is no thorn or nail or whatever left in there before you reassemble, because you'll hav a flat agin in 5 mins of somthing is still stuck in there.

cython

Samantha Flat Rambler wrote: »

But one thing to be aware of, the quality of puncture repair kits vary significantly. having tried several repair kits, Rema definitely make the best:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=5371

Actually, I should have said that too, I use the Rema TT04 kits, rather than the TT02's linked to. There's no real difference in quality, but the patches in the TT04 are thinner (hence less stiff) and maybe a bit smaller, making them slightly better to use with narrow tubes for road tyres.

dquirke1

I always bring the punctured tube home with the intention of fixing it...

Now I have 5 years worth of punctured tubes sitting in the shed.

petethedrummer

I repair with up to 5 patches then throw in bin.

manwithaplan

petethedrummer wrote: »

I repair with up to 5 patches then throw in bin.

Performance art?

smurph10

Buy tubes in bulk via the chain reactions website, free delivery too, think u can get ten tubes for 30 quid.

Plus the majority or reasons the people keep getting flats is that they dont inflte the tyres properly, since learning this i have done over 1000 kms without getting a flat.

Racer bike tyres should have 120 or over bars of pressure in them.

manwithaplan

smurph10 wrote: »

Racer bike tyres should have 120 or over bars of pressure in them.

PSI. 120 bar would be enough to move a large building. The recommended tyre pressure varies with the riders weight and generally the rear tyre would be inflated to a slightly higher pressure than the front. 110 psi rear and 105 in the front works out fine for me on my road bike.

smurph10

ok maybe bar was the wriong word but you get what i mean

Khannie

Samantha Flat Rambler wrote: »

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=5371

Can someone tell me what that tube-y bit is for? Always wondered.

cython

Khannie wrote: »

Can someone tell me what that tube-y bit is for? Always wondered.

This page suggests it can be used in repairing a Woods valve, somehow, and Sheldon's Glossary explains how you might go about putting it to use at that.

petethedrummer

manwithaplan wrote: »

Performance art?

Yeah then I set the bin on fire, for closure.

Unregistered.

Repair.

the Lamb Post

Always repair (if possible).

pprendeville

Waste not want not. I repair til I deem there's too many patches.

Got preglued patches which I hadn't come across before in Bike Hut last week. Much handier now to repair a tube. Will post link later.

pprendeville

smurph10 wrote: »

Buy tubes in bulk via the chain reactions website, free delivery too, think u can get ten tubes for 30 quid.

Plus the majority or reasons the people keep getting flats is that they dont inflte the tyres properly, since learning this i have done over 1000 kms without getting a flat.

Racer bike tyres should have 120 or over bars of pressure in them.

Link please.

Unregistered.

pprendeville wrote: »

Link please.

AASHTA.

cython

Unregistered. wrote: »

AASHTA.

In case he wanted a link to the tubes rather than the source for tyre pressure, here ya go, 10 for about 24 quid

pprendeville

cython wrote: »

In case he wanted a link to the tubes rather than the source for tyre pressure, here ya go, 10 for about 24 quid

Ya meant tubes. Am working on a super dooper pump and military spec tyres for 120 bar pressure. Also need a parachute should they explode.

cdaly_

pprendeville wrote: »

Waste not want not. I repair til I deem there's too many patches.

Got preglued patches which I hadn't come across before in Bike Hut last week. Much handier now to repair a tube. Will post link later.

I've used the Park Tools pre-glued patches but they're a temporary measure. They come off after a while. I also tried the BBB ones and I couldn't get them to work at all.

hinault

Here's a tip.

Instead of using patches to repair to the tubes, I use the rubber from old/discarded tubes to repair punctured tubes.

Cut up an old/discared tube.
Locate the puncture and using Superglue apply the cutup old tube over the punctured area.

It works for me!

petethedrummer

hinault wrote: »

Cut up an old/discared tube.
Locate the puncture and using Superglue apply the cutup old tube over the punctured area.

Superglue goes hard though doesn't it? This can't be a good method of patching. Do you put 110psi into the tyres afterwards?

hinault

petethedrummer wrote: »

Superglue goes hard though doesn't it? This can't be a good method of patching. Do you put 110psi into the tyres afterwards?

I used this method for years and I've never experienced a problem.

I haven't bought a puncture repair kit for years.

petethedrummer

hinault wrote: »

I used this method for years and I've never experienced a problem.

I haven't bought a puncture repair kit for years.

Fair enough. But I haven't bought super glue in years either. :pac:

I can't wait till the "I super glued my hand to my inner tube" thread appears.

hinault

petethedrummer wrote: »

Fair enough. But I haven't bought super glue in years either. :pac:

I can't wait till the "I super glued my hand to my inner tube" thread appears.

I've never had a problem pete using this method.

If superglue worries you, feel free to use another adhesive.

The essential point is that using the rubber from a discarded tube works better
than patches in my experience.

triggermortis

hinault wrote: »

The essential point is that using the rubber from a discarded tube works better
than patches in my experience.

I've used old tubes as patches for ages and use aviation grade rubber adhesive to keep them in place.

dermiek

I will repair a tube up to about 50 times.

Granite Head

cython wrote: »

I will inflate the tube (not to full "in tyre" pressures, as that'll cause it to explode, but so that it's visibly bulging around the valve)

Why does the tube bulge at the valve when inflated "without tyre"?

cython

Granite Head wrote: »

Why does the tube bulge at the valve when inflated "without tyre"?

It doesn't bulge at the valve, rather it bulges everywhere else, but narrows at the valve, so there is a bulge either side of the valve (I realise what I said didn't make this clear now!). At a guess I would say that the rubber is a bit less flexible or stretchy where the valve joins the tube, and so the rest of the tube expands more, and you get the bulging. It's worth pointing out though, that the tube is inflated such that it's wider than it would be let get inside a tyre, so inside the tyre all sections will be constrained to being the same width, i.e. that of the tyre.

Granite Head

Thanks Cython, I undertsood what you were sayiing about the bulge at the valve. My own experience was that the bulge appeared at one side of the valve - just curious as to why (initialy thoght it was a fault in the tube)?

cython

Granite Head wrote: »

Thanks Cython, I undertsood what you were sayiing about the bulge at the valve. My own experience was that the bulge appeared at one side of the valve - just curious as to why (initialy thoght it was a fault in the tube)?

Nah, like i said above, i'd say it's just a lack of flexibility/stretchiness about the valve. In fact having thought more about it, it's probably the presence of the valve that causes this. If you consider what's happening when the tube expands, the rubber is getting stretched out. However, at the valve, there is a section of rubber that is replaced with, to all intents and purposes, a relatively inflexible, hard "collar" (the wall of the valve stem), and the circumference of the tube's cross section that is actually made of rubber is less. If you want an analogy, think of 2 elastic bands that are identical (elasticity, thickness, etc) except for their length. Thus at this point, there is less rubber to stretch (contrary to what I said above, the rubber is probably no less stretchy or flexible, just less of it).

Now if you take the elastic band analogy, for the same force applied to both bands, the shorter band will always be shorter than the long one. Similarly in the tube, the pressure is uniformly distributed through it, and so there is the same force acting on the inside of the tube at all points to stretch it. However there is less rubber to stretch at the valve, hence the narrowing of the tube at that point.

Hope that makes some sense!

macfhinn

Repairing one at the mo but why wont the patch stick to the tube??? Is there certain patches for road bike I should buy?

Unregistered.

macfhinn wrote: »

Repairing one at the mo but why wont the patch stick to the tube??? Is there certain patches for road bike I should buy?

Did you apply some rubber cement?

GreeBo

macfhinn wrote: »

Repairing one at the mo but why wont the patch stick to the tube??? Is there certain patches for road bike I should buy?

Is there grease/oil on the tube?
Sand the bugger a little.

Crow92

macfhinn wrote: »

Repairing one at the mo but why wont the patch stick to the tube??? Is there certain patches for road bike I should buy?

Have you used the little sander? afaik in factories where tubes are made the out part of the rubber tube is coated in some sort of solution so It doesn't stick to the machinery it's made with. So you need to use the sander to get rid of this layer.

Also make sure you don't apply the patch straight away after the glue. Let the glue dry a little.

Or your glue could be crap.

(Actually does anyone have any recommendations for repair kits/?? The Rema repair kit? )

tomasrojo

I was eating a stacked sandwich a little while ago, and as I was pulling the cocktail stick out, I remembered this tip from Ken Kifer's site:

The most frustrating moment in repairing a tube by the side of the road is losing sight of the leak. It's easy to see a leak when the tube is blown up and ducked under water. It's very difficult to mark the tube and even more difficult finding that tiny hole after the tube is dried and deflated. The other day, when dealing with such a problem, I reached into my pocket, looking for a pen, when I found a toothpick instead. I stuck the toothpick into the hole, and voila, losing sight of the hole was now impossible. From now on, I am going to carry a toothpick in my patch kit.

http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/commute/tricks.htm

So I've tried carrying half a cocktail stick in the repair kit, and it is a rather good tip. You can also leave it in the puncture hole while you create a circle of glue around the stick, and the extract the stick and use it to spread the glue inwards towards the hole.

tomasrojo

Also, is it possible to buy a kit with only the small patches? I never seem to use the larger ones.

Paul Kiernan

tomasrojo wrote: »

Also, is it possible to buy a kit with only the small patches? I never seem to use the larger ones.

I cut them up with a scissors and make two or four smaller patches from them.

Mycroft H

I've a tesco patch on for about 6 months now. No perceptible difference in deflation versus the other tube. Patches and glue are much of a muchness

petethedrummer

tomasrojo wrote: »

Also, is it possible to buy a kit with only the small patches? I never seem to use the larger ones.

halfords sell strips of small ones.