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what is the best way to fix a flat tube tire on the road what is the best way to fix a flat tube tire on the road
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  #1  
Old 26 Jul 2009
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what is the best way to fix a flat tube tire on the road
usally i have a box with foam with me, but is there anything else to buy that will work better or that is more longlasting? without the need of removing the tire?
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  #2  
Old 26 Jul 2009
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Simple answer no.

The foam will fail on about 50% of punctures and will always leave you with a tyre that will slowly leak air. Tyre fitters will curse you for using the stuff and may refuse to help you unless you buy new tubes or even a new tyre. IMHO, bin the foam.

A better solution is Gloop or Ultraseal. These are liquids you put in either straight after a tyre change or straight after a puncture. On 90% of puctures they get you going and are good for days if not weeks. You still have the issue with tyre fitters and they stop patches sticking, so you will end up throwing away the tubes. The limit is a hole that won't stay still. Get a nail that works about in the tyre and makes a flap of V-shaped cut and they simply don't work.

The only solution that is 100% effective and will result in you carrying on the ride with the certainty of getting where you want to go is tyre irons and a spare tube or patch kit.

Do you need the 100% certainty or are you going to be in places where the tyre guy will come to you after a simple phone call?

Andy
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  #3  
Old 26 Jul 2009
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, before it gave out Ouch! This issue has real relevance for me as of late. On the A2 autobahn halfway between Berlin and Magdeburg (heading west) my rear tube (an old one by the looks of it - on there since i've had the bike)developed a tear which left me stuck by the autobahn for some 3 hours whilst i waited for Adac to attend to me. I must add i had the tube out twice (how hard is it trying to isolate a puncture being buffered around by all the passing trucks with the attendant noise on a fenced-in section of the road - answer Very) but the patches i applied just couldn't hold the air in. So the Adac chappy stuck some foam in which got me going to the outskirts of Magdeburg (40km'ish on the back roads before it gave out again) where i eventually located a new tube. Annoying thing is that i didn't take a spare tube as it was a pure road-trip and a straightforward puncture shouldn't have been a problem... Sod's Law and all that!
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  #4  
Old 26 Jul 2009
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The foam stuff hardly ever works. Personally i always use HD tubes but carry normal spares as they don't take up so much space and are quicker to fit. The time it takes to find and patch a hole on the trail or by the roadside is normally far greater than replacing the tube. You can then patch the original tube at your leisure.
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  #5  
Old 4 Aug 2009
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Carrying tyre changing gear & spare tubes etc will be one of the best decisions you can make.

Learning to repair puncture or replace tyres by the roadside will be one of the most useful skills a bike rider can have.

Practice at home & work out what works for you.
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  #6  
Old 4 Aug 2009
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Hi
my bike has an 18" rear and 21" front
If brinigng a spare tube I heard it is better to bring just a 21" as this can also be used in the rear if necessary.
Has any one tried this and does it work
Thanks
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  #7  
Old 4 Aug 2009
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Enduro racers do it and at that level it works.

My question is, is something smaller than a book worth risking life,limb and hassle over? An incorrectly sized tube will run at the wrong temperature, sit in the wrong place and carry the load in the wrong way. You will therefore need to change it again at some indeterminate point before it fails. Do you want the mess of another change shortly after the first one? My final point against is that it invalidates your insurance. If it blows out in western Europe and you cause a petrol tanker to crash avoiding you, you'll be doing the paperwork for the rest of your life one way or the other.

I've seen this trick done twice. Both times the bike got off a trail and onto a main road (20 miles tops). After that, I assume the riders made it home but beyond that I don't know.

Personally I'll carry the right sized tubes and do the job once. If the weight is that important to you I can see you might do this, but outside racing it seems a bit pointless. If the weight is that important IMHO, simply don't supersize your lunch.

Andy
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Old 4 Aug 2009
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The 21" tube works fine in an 18" wheel. It'll see you good for another 100miles of hard trail-riding, but for travel, I'd carry the same spec spares as I have fitted.

If you run HD tubes but carry a standard spare are you going to repair the HD then fit it later and put the standard tube back as a spare ? I don't think so.

Get a decent kit of patches and some spare glue. Replace the silly bit of sand-paper supplied with some emery-cloth and put some talc in a pot. A biro does a good job of marking where the hole is.

Try patching a few times before you go and get used to propping the bike, removing wheels and fixing punctures with the tools you carry.

Fix the tube as soon as you get a chance; nothing worse than getting a puncture a few days or even hours later and then remembering you haven't fixed your spare.

Have fun
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  #9  
Old 17 Aug 2009
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For Electra owners. but maybe useful to others.
Although the toolkit includes tyre levers (piddley little things) It does not include a spanner to get you wheel nut loose. To change the rear wheel you will need to source a 24mm flat ring spanner. WAIT for the exhaust to cool first. To adjust rear chain, you will need a 30mm flat ring spanner.
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  #10  
Old 18 Aug 2009
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Dim and distant recall, but I thought there was some sort of box spanner? Looked utterly useless and I'd always replace with proper tools, but it's not like Enfield to leave you in that much trouble.

Now a Moto Guzzi Nevada, that requires you to lean the bike over off the centre stand to the right while dragging the wheel out on the left. Easy so long as you are built like King Kong!

Andy
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  #11  
Old 18 Aug 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Threewheelbonnie View Post
Dim and distant recall, but I thought there was some sort of box spanner? Looked utterly useless and I'd always replace with proper tools, but it's not like Enfield to leave you in that much trouble.

Now a Moto Guzzi Nevada, that requires you to lean the bike over off the centre stand to the right while dragging the wheel out on the left. Easy so long as you are built like King Kong!

Andy
Yup, you are advised to do something similar on the Enfield, but I just put it on the centre stand on a bit of wood plank to give enoungh clearance to slide it out easy. I have yet to try to remove the front wheel
I updated my last post on the air cooled thread, after discovering my bike is fitted with a one tooth bigger gearbox sprocket. It felt overgeared, and I was about to order a one size smaller sprocket, but I was suspicious so counted the teeth
Incidentally you will also need an 18 mm and 14mm spanner to do many maintenance tasks.
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  #12  
Old 29 Aug 2009
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Bought this today to break the tyre bead:

Quick clamp

Works very well - up to 250kg of force (depending on your spinach intake) and deep enough to reach the rim over my 150/70 rear tyre.

They do a bigger one too, but this will fit in my MM pannier once I've sawn the bit of shaft off I don't need (about 4 inches).
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  #13  
Old 30 Aug 2009
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Whats that TYRE MOOSE stuff all about then??????????

Isn't it some sort of puncture proof system - foam or sumink :confused1:


Years ago, my old Ford Escort MKI was running remoulds - got a flat, so bought some Tyre Slime (green hairy liquid?) - whacked it in the tyre, took out the nail, spun the wheel round a few times... pumped it up and it was good for months - until I wrote the car off (was 18yrs old at that time).
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Old 31 Aug 2009
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I had countless punctures riding through China last year. On one stage I was up in the mountains on a gravel road 50km from the nearest town - that's a very long way in China - and had no option but to continue riding when the rear blew out. There were vey few other vehicles on the road - the only one I saw was another rider with a flat front tyre.

I eventually found a truck stop where they repaired the tube for me. The other rider pulled in shortly after, had his front repaired and very generously invited me back to his home to stay the evening.

The point is that you can continue riding - albeit at slow speed - for a lot farther than you think with a flat.
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  #15  
Old 31 Aug 2009
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Were you running heavy duty inner tubes?

What tyres and pressures?
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