Author Topic: If you haven't had a puncture for a while....  (Read 5830 times)

Kim

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Re: If you haven't had a puncture for a while....
« Reply #25 on: 24 August, 2017, 06:36:00 pm »
My general approach with glue is to try to buy really small tubes (Home Bargains occasionally do a good value kit with a couple of tubes, a selection of patches and some crap tools for a couple of quid), and carry a new unopened one on the bike.  They're not immune to manufacturing defects that cause them to dry out, but they tend to last much longer than opened ones.

Once used, the open tube goes on the shelf for use on any subsequent puncture repairs done at home, and a fresh one in the kit.


In the spirit of this thread, I gave my Road Morph a workout earlier.

telstarbox

  • Loving the lanes
Re: If you haven't had a puncture for a while....
« Reply #26 on: 24 August, 2017, 07:40:46 pm »
I keep my saddlebag (inc spare tubes) indoors whereas the bike lives outdoors - is that likely to prolong the life of the tubes as they won't be exposed to as many warm-cold temperature cycles?
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hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: If you haven't had a puncture for a while....
« Reply #27 on: 24 August, 2017, 07:43:45 pm »
Suspect glue evaporates more quickly in a warm environment...

Kim

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Re: If you haven't had a puncture for a while....
« Reply #28 on: 24 August, 2017, 08:22:25 pm »
I find the life of tubes is limited by unrepairable punctures (massive snakebites, trouble around the valve), rather than shelf life.  Do you find the tubes in the bag last longer/shorter than the ones in the wheels?

I'm sure the glue solvent does evaporate faster when it's warm, but it'll still evaporate fast enough to ruin your day in the cold if the seal made by the cap isn't any good.

Biggsy

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Re: If you haven't had a puncture for a while....
« Reply #29 on: 24 August, 2017, 08:25:13 pm »
I'm sure the glue solvent does evaporate faster when it's warm, but it'll still evaporate fast enough to ruin your day in the cold if the seal made by the cap isn't any good.

Or the crimp at the other end.
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Cudzoziemiec

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Re: If you haven't had a puncture for a while....
« Reply #30 on: 29 August, 2017, 07:14:44 pm »
I had a puncture on Thursday, my second this year. That's about two years worth already and it's only August! It served to remind me that my pump, which lives attached to the side of the bottle cage mounts, needs greasing. Also, when I pressed the air bleed valve (cos it's one of those Lezyne mini-floor pumps), a bit of water spurted out. None seems to have gone in the tube though.

As it happens, I couldn't mend the tube. Either there's a really tiny hole somewhere or a fault has developed in the valve. It's not quite slow enough to ignore but too slow to find. But that's not the pump's fault.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: If you haven't had a puncture for a while....
« Reply #31 on: 30 August, 2017, 06:50:40 am »
Since going tubeless on my MTB my puncture frequency has dropped off a cliff. Last time I needed to pop the wheel out it was a real struggle... So I'd add that if you have through-axle wheels it's well-worth removing the axle(s) periodically to make sure they haven't seized.
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mattc

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Re: If you haven't had a puncture for a while....
« Reply #32 on: 30 August, 2017, 04:51:25 pm »
If you buy some cheap tubes online, it makes sense to test-inflate them, right?

Not when 2-of-5 explode. Including the one you hung round your neck during inflation to keep it off the dirty floor.

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hellymedic

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Re: If you haven't had a puncture for a while....
« Reply #33 on: 01 September, 2017, 12:48:17 pm »
If you buy some cheap tubes online, it makes sense to test-inflate them, right?

Not when 2-of-5 explode. Including the one you hung round your neck during inflation to keep it off the dirty floor.

PARDON?!?

If they go BNAG! at home that's a nuisance but you can return them as faulty to the vendor if you have the inclination.

This is still preferable, IMHO, to discovering they won't hold air at Audax o'clock at the side of some dark, wet, isolated, windswept road.

YMMV of course!

Kim

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Re: If you haven't had a puncture for a while....
« Reply #34 on: 01 September, 2017, 12:49:55 pm »
This is why when I repair a tube it goes in the wheel, rather than in the toolkit.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: If you haven't had a puncture for a while....
« Reply #35 on: 01 September, 2017, 02:12:37 pm »
This is why when I repair a tube it goes in the wheel, rather than in the toolkit.

As I don't ride and batch-repair tubes for partner, that's not what happens here. I like to test all tubes underwater post repair to detect second punctures are tube/valve failures.

David seems to get home OK with these tubes (as I think do fellow riders who've had a visitation).
But we seldom get visitations.
 

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: If you haven't had a puncture for a while....
« Reply #36 on: 01 September, 2017, 06:46:31 pm »
This is why when I repair a tube it goes in the wheel, rather than in the toolkit.
Are you talking about roadside or home repairs? Because I'm not sure I follow the logic of that.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

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Re: If you haven't had a puncture for a while....
« Reply #37 on: 01 September, 2017, 07:29:17 pm »
This is why when I repair a tube it goes in the wheel, rather than in the toolkit.
Are you talking about roadside or home repairs? Because I'm not sure I follow the logic of that.

Either.  If I'm patching a tube at the roadside rather than just swapping it, that's because I've run out of spare tubes, so it's going in the wheel through necessity.

But if I get home (or to campsite or whatever) having swapped a tube, I'll generally patch the hole then swap them back.  That way the one in the kit is known-good, and the one that's just been repaired gets to spend the night under real-world pressure so any secondary leak or failure of the patching process gets to make itself known before I use the bike again.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: If you haven't had a puncture for a while....
« Reply #38 on: 01 September, 2017, 07:33:57 pm »
Makes sense I guess. I'd be inclined to regard the tube I'd ridden home on as proven and the one I'd patched as known good once I'd inflated it and found no leakage; no need to re-swap. But different things work for different people (and tyres).

In other rarely-used puncture-kit news, I've greased my Lezyne bottle-cage mounted pump.  :o
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hellymedic

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Re: If you haven't had a puncture for a while....
« Reply #39 on: 01 September, 2017, 07:55:36 pm »
I would never swap a tube back. Don't think David does either.

Kim

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Re: If you haven't had a puncture for a while....
« Reply #40 on: 01 September, 2017, 08:05:45 pm »
It's a habit developed through doing a lot of night rides and use of Marathons on 20" wheels...

Jayjay

  • Layin' back a bit these days.
Re: If you haven't had a puncture for a while....
« Reply #41 on: 03 September, 2017, 03:49:56 pm »
Good advice PaulF - in fact I went and checked the pump before my hols, it worked and I didn't need its services, felt happier knowing one less thing to surprise me. What did surprise me though, was the effort required after only using a floor pump for a few years.

Re: If you haven't had a puncture for a while....
« Reply #42 on: 06 September, 2017, 10:18:36 pm »
I had a puncture on today's outing (to Mordiford), then decided to make Newent the furthest point of the ride.
The rubber around base of the valve had perished. My sturdy (7 year old) Zefal HPX  :thumbsup: made short work of
inflating the replacement tube.
I think my Mini Morph is older & it's still working perfectly, as is Mrs B's Road Morph (slightly younger than the Mini).

I can't remember how long my old Zefal HPX lasted. Something in double figures, I think.
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dim

Re: If you haven't had a puncture for a while....
« Reply #43 on: 06 September, 2017, 10:24:53 pm »
my 2nd puncture today in 1 week  >:(

broken beer bottles on the cycleway between Shelford and Cambridge Station

another puncture and I'm switcing tyres to Durano Plus on my commuter
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