Fixing Punctures / Puncture Repair / Exploding Tubes

Carrying a couple of spare tubes will save you a lot of time and heartache.

....and now for the merge.

Punctures are like buses--you wait for ages for one and then several come along at once.

What Oliver said. I went nearly a year without any punctures, then every single bike got one within a week of each other.

So after Thursdays debacle I fited a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Plus and this morning was the first chance to ride them on properly.

Tyres : Scwalbe Marathon Plus 26 x 1.35

Route : Sunbury to Westminster

Fitting - At the harder end of the spectrum. Even after letting them warm by the radiator for an hour or so it was still wasn't as easy as the old tyres ( Bog standard Bontrager 26 x 1.75) and you wont get them on without a tyre lever for the last bit unless you are . Definately gave the impression that once they are on, they are on for keeps. Hope they are as good as claimed cos I don't fancy changing one of these by the side of the road.

Ride Comfort

The general view in reviews was that you pay for the protection in the ride quality with the MP. They are definately a harder ride than the old tyres, even allowing for the sze difference, but it was not as bad as I was expecting. Not the most comfortable in the world but not the worst either.

Grip

Early days but they did seem to be a bit uncertain now and again when on the move. Mind you it was pissing wet this morning and I was still getting used to them so it may just be my perception. Pulling away from lights they were noticably grippier than the old tyres, with no squidgyness. I havn't pushed them too hard yet or had to take sudden evasive action which will be the real test.

Speed

Again, all the reviews tell you to expct to feel the difference in rolling resistance and speed with these but I have to say I was actually faster on these than the old tyres. Don't know if this was because of the change down in size but I was a good 5 minutes faster on the commute this morning than previously and they felt a lot quicker on the road.

Fat make you fast.

Fat make you fast.

Whch Ironic* as the new ones are thinner than the old!

*At least according to that whiny Canadian woman.

Punctures are like buses--you wait for ages for one and then several come along at once.

It's called regression to the mean

Jon Mack can put SWPs on one handed. Drunk.

2 buses came my way in quick succession today :(

Woods valves can fuck off.
How much fucking pissing about can it take just to put some fucking air in a tube?

Can you get 26x1/38ths with Prestas?

^Schwalbe make them

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/product/39681/Schwalbe_26Inch_Presta_SV12_Innertube

So I have maybe half a dozen punctured inner tubes picked up from winter riding. I've been putting off fixing them because im so bad at it, even when sitting in the warmth of my front room it never seems to work.

At first it was because I thought I was just bad at gluing, so I started using patches
desipite the increased cost

My technique is to find the hole, release all the air and then apply the patch.
Hold it for a couple of minutes and then pump a little air back into the tire and leave it over night to see if its held.

8 times out of 10.. the patch no longer be glued tight and the tube depressurised. Some times adding extra glue at this stage will help but it shouldn't need it should it?

Wondering if pumping up inner tube when outside of a tire is a bad practice?

those super patches are pretty terrible in my experience, hardly ever worked when i've tried them.

Problem with those patches - it doesn't stretch.

Can only be used for emergency rather than a permanent repair.

oh, odd. they work fine with me. I don't know why but I have a whole stash of them and they're all I ever use.

They work well when/if you use them on the go, the tyre inflates and squashes the patch between tyre and tube which helps it keep it's shape and place. If you leave them "out" overnight then the patch is able to move about and goes bad.

I use them, they seem to work well.

Well this all explains why when ive used them on the road they've been amazing but when I try at home they disapoint.

Thanks.. guess I need some real glue

And a patch that actually stretch when you pump the inner tube.

Okay giving gluing and patches another ago.
First two attempts.. I glued the patch on perfectly only find ive missed the actual hole.
Third attempt I'm noticing air creating bubbles.
Are these a concern?
Whats the cause?
I pushed them away and the patch seems to have held.

1 Attachment

That patch look quite big for the inner tube.

Did you sand the affected area down, applied the glue and let it dry before applying patch?

its the smallest patch size in the container.
I just squeezed out these blisters.. seems to have worked.

Looks like you're not letting the glue dry enough, should be two minutes minimum, I usually leave a little more, especially if it's cold.

It's not glue ffs

It's a good enough word.