Poor me :( Punctured Bike Tyre In The Middle Of Nowhere

Snax · 31 Jul 2008 at 13:40

So i finally got home at a reasonable time on a bright sunny day (7pm) last night and immediately get out on the bike with its brand new Pilot Power rear tyre.

I frolic around the A281 until about 9.30 ish and then decide to head home (about 70 miles away).

Cue puncture a complete flat in the middle of no where in my brand new tyre.

RAC pick me up an hour later and I get home at 11.45pm

Im SO annoyed and I dont know whether to take the tyre for puncture repair or if I have to buy a new tyre. I think I have found the hole but I cant tell, it is about 1.5mm and in the centre of the tyre.

Any ideas (and sympathy)?

DampCat · 31 Jul 2008 at 14:07

I truly sympathise!

Griffo · 31 Jul 2008 at 14:19

I 'think' you can get them repaired if they're smallish, and on bikes I thought it was at anywhere on the surface, as opposed to 75% of the width on cars? Or is that the tread level thing? Oh dear, annoying anyway but sounds like repairable. Good luck fellow.

Gixer · 31 Jul 2008 at 14:36

Some say dont repair it, some say do. Myself I always have my punctures repaired and have never had any problems.

Now go get yourself a puncture repair kit too! Got myself up and going again twice with one of these and even fixed two other bikers tyres that were stuck on the roadside with flats

They were most appreciative

Avalon · 31 Jul 2008 at 14:56

If it's in the centre and 1.5mm in the centre of the tyre it'll repair no problem at all. It's totally up to you if you want to plug it or not though. Personally I use Ultra Seal on the bike, i've seen it demonstrated for years at the NEC Bike Show and thought 'oh that'll never happen to me' but after your first blow out at speed you suddenly start to see things a little differently. So does the tyre fitter if you forget to tell him it's fitted when you have the tyres changed

Dano · 31 Jul 2008 at 15:06

Repair will be fine, I've had several done and never had any issues with them at all.

dsb · 31 Jul 2008 at 15:58

Gixer said:
Some say dont repair it, some say do. Myself I always have my punctures repaired and have never had any problems.

Now go get yourself a puncture repair kit too! Got myself up and going again twice with one of these and even fixed two other bikers tyres that were stuck on the roadside with flats They were most appreciative

How did you inflate the tyre?

kidloco · 31 Jul 2008 at 16:15

Iv repaired tyres many times before and never had a single issue with them. They have always been professionally repaired though, I wouldn't trust the plug kits you can do yourself.

I even taken a repaired rear tyre on a trackday, it was going to go it would have done it then I reckon.

As long as its not on or around the sidewall the trye will be fine.

Snax · 31 Jul 2008 at 20:04

woot thanks for responses.

I'm club fisted at technical stuff so this will be my first time in my year of ownership i will yank the wheel off!

Snax · 1 Aug 2008 at 16:59

I've just chatted to a local tyre place. they have told me they vulcanize punctures to repair them.

Is this is better than the mushroom kit that I have read about?

Fireskull · 1 Aug 2008 at 17:06

Had a puncture in my new Corsa 3 on tuesday, it had only done about 500 miles :-(

and they said they cant repair it, against the law for that type of tyre or something :s ah well got my TD tyre on there for now lol I wasnt going to spend another £130 :/

Griffo · 2 Aug 2008 at 15:13

Against the law for that kind of tyre?! I know nothing but that sounds silly/scary/odd/expensive, where was the puncture? Was it half a badger in the side wall?

Fireskull · 2 Aug 2008 at 16:29

Griffo said:
Against the law for that kind of tyre?! I know nothing but that sounds silly/scary/odd/expensive, where was the puncture? Was it half a badger in the side wall?

Yea well thats what Mitcheldever told me, its a Corsa 3 so its the tripple comound stuff but it was on the edge of the hard middle compound and not on the soft side wall but they still said no, they knew they werent getting any money out of me so it wasnt like they said no so I would buy a new tyre so dont know :/

Mr-White · 2 Aug 2008 at 16:34

was about to go out on my mountain bike, as i mainly do off roading my tyres were really low. as i start pumping up my tyre the whole valve comes off in the pump

MW

Snax · 2 Aug 2008 at 18:41

I vote for a new universal law where punctures always postpone themselves until you are just ariving back home after a ride/drive etc.

Life would be better.

On the plus side Kingston Tyres sorted me out for £10. It did take me a whole day to remove the wheel, clean all the crud out, get the puncture repaired and put the wheel back on.

Im also not 100% the wheel in on correctly.

Gixer · 3 Aug 2008 at 13:07

dsb said:
How did you inflate the tyre?

Have about 5 of those CO2 canisters you can get from halfords etc under my rear seat as well as the repair kit. 3-4 is ok for the front. 3 will get the rear rideable but 5 is much better.

The on the road side repair kits are only to be used as temporary measures though. I.E. to get you home. You shouldn't travel at more than about 50mph with one of these repairs.

Then you can take tyre and get it 'vulcanised' as someone mentioned where they shall use a big mushroom shaped bung fitted from the inside of the tyre so there is no chance it is going anywhere.

Some people use stuff like tyre weld etc in their tyres when they get a puncture or prior to a puncture to prevent them. Myself I'd rather know that I have a puncture so I can get it repaired properly. Also if you do use tyre weld you may find it difficult to find somewhere to repair your tyre as that stuff is a pain to clean off of the inside of the tyre!

zetec452 · 3 Aug 2008 at 17:26

Silly question. Can you get run flat tyres for bikes?

Griffo · 3 Aug 2008 at 18:04

Fireskull said:
Yea well thats what Mitcheldever told me, its a Corsa 3 so its the tripple comound stuff but it was on the edge of the hard middle compound and not on the soft side wall but they still said no, they knew they werent getting any money out of me so it wasnt like they said no so I would buy a new tyre so dont know :/

Hohum that's an expensive puncture then

I can see inbetween compounds would be a bit odd, but...muhh, pain in the bottom eh.

dsb · 3 Aug 2008 at 18:04

Gixer said:
Have about 5 of those CO2 canisters you can get from halfords etc under my rear seat as well as the repair kit. 3-4 is ok for the front. 3 will get the rear rideable but 5 is much better.

The on the road side repair kits are only to be used as temporary measures though. I.E. to get you home. You shouldn't travel at more than about 50mph with one of these repairs.

Then you can take tyre and get it 'vulcanised' as someone mentioned where they shall use a big mushroom shaped bung fitted from the inside of the tyre so there is no chance it is going anywhere.

Some people use stuff like tyre weld etc in their tyres when they get a puncture or prior to a puncture to prevent them. Myself I'd rather know that I have a puncture so I can get it repaired properly. Also if you do use tyre weld you may find it difficult to find somewhere to repair your tyre as that stuff is a pain to clean off of the inside of the tyre!

Good idea, might have to have a look in halfords what tyre repair kit do you use. Touch wood never been that far from home on a puncture, but i like the idea.

Northwind · 3 Aug 2008 at 19:46

Fireskull said:
against the law for that type of tyre or something

Total rubbish...

My approach for puncture repairs is this- if the original puncture was terrifying/dangerous, then I don't do it. If it wasn't, then I do. If the patch fails, you just get the same puncture back. I use mushroom plugs from the inside now for their reliability but I've used string patches in the past.