Repairing a 1cm slit in a tyre ?

[simon_adams_uk]

Another temporary solution if you're stuck in the middle of nowhere is to place a credit card in between the inner tube and tyre [...in fact it might be the perfect long-term solution for those of us who spend too much on bike bits!]

I've also heard of people, particularly when they've got a 28mm+ tyre, using a narrow tub as an inner tube - any slits in the outer tyre don't lead to the inner 'hernia-ing' through.

S

 

[upandover]

A friend of mine who's a vicar, using his dog collar!

Steve

 

[yumpy]

Don't know if this has been done somewhere already, but had a tyre blow out because of rubbing brakes on a leisure ride recently (not my bike, so quite smug about this).

Half inch slit in tyre sidewall. Sunday. Not a very well prepared group of us as we were doing a modest round route visiting a few hostelrys.

Put a new tube in, glued 2 patches onto the inside of the tyre + gaffer tape.
Always carry a few tie wraps (learnt usefulness in previous days of driving rally cars!).
Tied 2 of them tightly around whole tyre where slit was, loosed off front brakes and hoped for best.

He did 10 miles to someone's mum's house to swap tyres and repair still OK.
He was a bit nervous without the front brakes though !

Now routinely carry gaffer tape, a few bits of old tyre and tie-wraps.
Still learning though...

 

[ColinJ]

I would only do a temporary repair to a tyre for road use. I'd rather not risk the repair failing when descending Pennine hills at over 50 mph...

As to the point about tube repairs failing... When a repaired tube fails, it's usually by a slow leak which is much like a typical puncture. When a tyre fails, it tends to be catastrophic - the tube bulges through and explodes. I had it happen to me once - fortunately I heard the tube rubbing as it bulged through the split in the tyre and had stopped before it exploded - damn scary, I can tell you ! I was riding with a mate as a teenager when his perished tyre gave way. There was a big bang and he went down like a sack of spuds.

One suggestion - if you use a turbo-trainer, you could use a repaired tyre on that. Before I bought a dedicated gym bike, my turbo trainer chewed up tyres, so I consigned used old, worn tyres to turbo duties.

 

[yumpy]

Know what you mean about the bang ! Made a few villagers jump on their way to get the Sunday papers.

 

[piedwagtail91]

plastic toothpaste tube is about the best i've found.

 

[jay clock]

Lots of great tips for emergency repairs. What amazes me is that (I am guessing) there seem to be people who spend quite large sums on expensive bikes but skimp on replacing essentials (like tyres that are undamaged). Hopefully these are people with little cash, not the same ones who are constantly adding the latest carbon bling at the expense of consumables

 

[tyred]

A strip of rubber cut from an old car inner tube works well to "repair" a split tyre in my experience. Ask in the local tyre centre if you don't have any. They'll give you an old/damaged tube for free.

 

[goo_mason]

Lots of great tips for emergency repairs. What amazes me is that (I am guessing) there seem to be people who spend quite large sums on expensive bikes but skimp on replacing essentials (like tyres that are undamaged). Hopefully these are people with little cash, not the same ones who are constantly adding the latest carbon bling at the expense of consumables

Why would anyone replace an undamaged tyre ?

 

[Dave5N]

Fantastic!

 

[Dave5N]

You either are or should be a lawyer!

 

[goo_mason]

You either are or should be a lawyer!

Sadly I'm not, but I'd like to be paid the same money as a lawyer !

 

[Dave5N]

You need to go into law then.

 

[BentMikey]

I'm also with the replace it group. I'm not sure I'd like to have some sort of incident as a result of a damaged tyre, esp. given that I'm regularly doing over 40mph on my commute. Up till now I've been lucky enough to stay in control with sudden deflations. I'd quite happily use a tyre boot to get me home though, and did so the other week when a rubbing brake put a small slit in my front tyre.

 

[Twenty Inch]

I'm with the "Replace It" group too.

However it's worth knowing a few bodges, and carrying the wherewithal to fix them. On my last Dunwich Dynamo, I came across an "All the gear, no idea" roadie, who had a split in the (23mm, slick racing) tyre of his (£1500) bike. We were in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night, 20 miles from the nearest railway station, and 10 hours from the nearest cab service.

I helped him out with a gaffer tape bodge, using the gaffer tape that I always keep wrapped around my seatpost of my commuting clunker. I don't know whether he made it any further as I didn't see him afterwards. I was bewildered that someone would set out on an unsupported, overnight ride without carrying basic kit. Tyre boots used to be standard equipment for every roadie, didn't they?