Tyre Repairs...

[Banana Boy]

Just wondering if any of the more frugal PH'ers have attempted much in the way of tyre repairs?

I picked up this little beauty of a 'puncture' a week ago on the way home from work... the classic 'didn't see the small patch of broken glass until the last minute' affair

Tyre Repairs... by Ben Magee, on Flickr

As some may notice this is a rather nice Continental GP4000SII with plenty of life in it and while I accept that punctures are a way of life for the hardened cyclist, I'm loathed to shell out on new rubber at the hands of the local brainless, scrounging mouth-breathers!

So, tonight, after a bit of mulling over while on holiday I had a look at trying to make good a repair to see me through the autumn in a view to fitting new boots in the spring. (after a winter on the turbo trainer - I have an indoor tyre)

I've applied superglue to the cut and backed it with a self-adhesive patch. I haven't ridden it yet (going out for a spin tomorrow morning) but with my usual 105psi in the tube it seems to be holding up?! - I've settled at 105psi, these are 700c X 25mm and I weigh in at 78kgs at the moment...

Tyre Repairs... by Ben Magee, on Flickr

Tyre Repairs... by Ben Magee, on Flickr

Has anyone else got real world experience of attempted tyre repairs?!

I understand that some will say 'for the sake of £30 and the children of the world - I wouldn't risk the rise of Satan's army riding on that thing!' but like I said, I'd rather not bin off a tyre with loads of rubber left in it - and I live in the flat lands of Cambridgeshire! There's no monster climbs of killer descents where I'm riding!

[anonymous-user]

That's exactly what my lbs have done to one of my tyres this week, although I suspect they didn't use superglue and that may be an issue for you as patches need to be vulcanised.

I ran over some glass and got a cut that Stan's Race fluid wouldn't seal, so they patched the tyre for me.

[ALawson]

I used to run those exact same tyres in the same width. I am 80kg and never ran them at more than 90-95psi.

For a wide tyre I think less pressure would assist in reducing punctures,

Repair looks fine to me, I have been super gluing up the outer section of the tubeless tyres I now run with no problems to date,

[gazza285]

It might be a good idea to use a feather edge patch on the tyre, the last time I patched a tyre with a square edged on it kept rubbing through the tube.

[Banana Boy]

It's good to hear that I'm not pushing the boundries of common sense with my tyre repairs!

With regards to tyre pressures, I have been toying with the idea of dropping to 100psi on the rear. I've had them at 115/120 which was far too hard! (when I was new to road tyres etc.) and I've ridden home on 85-90psi after repairing punctures etc.

I'd seen on a GCN Youtube video a recommendation of 95psi for 25mm wide tyre at 70kgs. I might give 100r/95f a go tomorrow and see how it feels?

[okgo]

I'd be 95/90 at your weight probably.

Anything much over 100 in a 25 feels awful.

[jesusbuiltmycar]

I have recently discovered that wetsuit repair gel /glue is much better than superglue for fixing nicks in tyres.

[yellowjack]

That repair is pretty much spot-on what I've done a few times now. Never any issues with the repair failing.

I've also glued a section cut from an old tyre into the inside of a tyre that was beyond being cured by a patch. Plus absolutely loads of superglue on cuts and slashes on the outside. Sometimes the repair even bulges out a little, but I simply can't afford to be lobbing otherwise serviceable tyres into the bin.

I'll try to put up some pictures tomorrow...

[Banana Boy]

jesusbuiltmycar said:

I have recently discovered that wetsuit repair gel /glue is much better than superglue for fixing nicks in tyres.

Good call on the wet suit glue, I'd forgotten about that sort of thing! If my Grandpa were alive I'd be tapping him up for that kind of stuff - he was into his diving and wind surfing so repaired his own suits etc.!

[mikecassie]

I'm no glue expert but superglue always seems to go hard and as the tyre flexes the bond between patch and tyre would fail. It might be ok as the force applied by the inflated tube will hold the repair in place.
It looks good and I hope it works for you.
As an aside, I remember an old workmate used superglue to fix his rearview mirror to a new windscreen in his car. First warm day the screen cracked from the point where the mirror was fixed. It seems the glue and the window didn't expand at the same rate in the heat. Could and probably am wrong with that theory tho.

[Banana Boy]

Well, after a 70km ride out this morning the repair is looking ok!

Tyre Repairs... Post 70km Ride by Ben Magee, on Flickr

I went for 95psi in the front and just over in the rear, probably 96/97? Mostly because that's where we got to at the end of the last pump and I couldn't be bothered to get too anal about it! I have to say though that it felt good and seemed to roll well over both urban and rural roads.

As an interesting side note - as I was also looking at the 28mm 4 Seasons that I had put on the commuter. I'd already settled with 90/95psi for these but just out of curiosity I got the verniers out...

The 25mm Conti 4000SIIs on the standard Bontrager Race rims measure 27.5mm across while the 28mm 4 Seasons on Fulcrum Racing 5s measure only 27mm across! So I'm probably not far off running them at the same pressures.

[Banana Boy]

Hmmm...

This little bugger popped open again today , this pic is after I removed the black self adhesive patch and tried a glued patch:

Tyre Repairs, V1.1... by Ben Magee, on Flickr

So tonight I tried dropping another self adhesive patch on top of the glued patch and tried gluing the cut. It improved the slight bulge but I still wasn't overly happy and wanted something a little tougher to back it all up. Fortunately, being a bit of a hoarder, I had a fairly dead Scwalbe CX Comp with suitable side walls...

Tyre Repairs, V1.1... by Ben Magee, on Flickr

I'm going to monitor it daily and as I 'only' average 113km per week, realistically it only has to last maybe 6 weeks tops before she becomes a turbo queen for the winter. After which I will be putting new boots on for the spring and I'll keep them hanging in the garage just in case... god I'm an absolute skin-flint!!!

Tyre Repairs, V1.1... by Ben Magee, on Flickr

[okgo]

Only possible issue is that the tube could rub on the edges of that stick on bit...

[JEA1K]

I did this as a temp measure when I was out one day and suffered a large hole when I got a puncture. Fortunately it lasted long enough to get me home but then caused a slow puncture ... the old pieced of tyre must have caused some friction as the tyre rolled and it put very small pin prick type holes in the tube.

I wouldn't want to be riding far on it!