Bicycle Tires and Tubes

[cycloner29]

If things happen in twos in term of flat tires on bikes, I think I win the last two days. Wife’s rear tire was flat yesterday morning. I had repaired it once and noticed the patch was a little wrinkled. Filled it part way and put it underwater and there were air bubbles. Took the old patch off, put on a new one on and last night it was low again same issue with the patch.

This morning my road bike front tire was low. Pulled the tube and found what looked like a 1/4” thorn, but it was a piece of metal in the tire. I put a patch on the tire
and got a new tube for it.

Is it best just to get a new tube each time or is there a type of patch that works better for a tube? I assume these patches are just a temp fix. I feel more comfortable putting a patch on the inside of a tire vs putting one on a tube. My road bike tires say max pressure is 90 psi whereas my wife’s hybrid is like 60 lbs. TIA!

 

[CYCLNST8]

I had to change the back tire on my road bike on the way to work just this morning. I have high pressure road tires, so usually when the tube blows it's done for. I think the lower pressure tires are easier to fix with patches. I could be wrong tho.

 

[Clonehomer]

If things happen in twos in term of flat tires on bikes, I think I win the last two days. Wife’s rear tire was flat yesterday morning. I had repaired it once and noticed the patch was a little wrinkled. Filled it part way and put it underwater and there were air bubbles. Took the old patch off, put on a new one on and last night it was low again same issue with the patch.

This morning my road bike front tire was low. Pulled the tube and found what looked like a 1/4” thorn, but it was a piece of metal in the tire. I put a patch on the tire
and got a new tube for it.

Is it best just to get a new tube each time or is there a type of patch that works better for a tube? I assume these patches are just a temp fix. I feel more comfortable putting a patch on the inside of a tire vs putting one on a tube. My road bike tires say max pressure is 90 psi whereas my wife’s hybrid is like 60 lbs. TIA!

Tubes aren't expensive, replace every time.

So is your wife's tubeless? Or am I not following something?

 

[BACyclone]

I am by no means an avid biker, but I guess my view is somewhat like yours -- the patch is more of a temp fix or even an emergency fix if you are way out and don't want to walk home.

For the cost of a new tube (relatively small) I can more likely just reassemble the tube and tire and be done with the repair. Using a patch on a tube has a non-zero higher percentage chance to either have a leaky patch now or later (unsuccessful fix or a less robust fix) with an equivalent risk of just getting a new flat later.

 

[Tri4Cy]

I've done temp fixes on tubes and forgot they were on there for months and have never had an issue. For the most part though, I just replace the tube from the get go. Last thing I want to do is wreck (again) at speed because of a tube/tire failure.

 

[simply1]

I road bike and a patch is definitely a temporary fix on the tire, eventually it’ll cause a problem. You can get by for a while and replace that patch I suppose, but I descend pretty fast sometimes so I want the confidence of a stable tire.

Tubes I’ve not had issues repairing, clean scrub and bond it with the glue. Used to do it a lot due to goat heads.

 

[cycloner29]

Tubes aren't expensive, replace every time.

So is your wife's tubeless? Or am I not following something?

Wife had a sheet metal screw go in her sidewall off the tire and tube. I got a new tire but patched the tube. I assume most people patch there tire if the hole is pretty small.

 

[usedcarguy]

I always do a new tube. They're cheap. But I do tire of fixing flats, especially on the rear. It might be giving up too much rolling resistance, but for the sake of never having a flat ever again, I'm giving these airless foam composite tires some serious thought:

Tannus America Tires

Tannus airless bicycle tires are puncture proof bike tires that don't go flat. Bike tires that are solid and made out of a lightweight foam that will last long

tannusamerica.com

 

[Clonehomer]

Wife had a sheet metal screw go in her sidewall off the tire and tube. I got a new tire but patched the tube. I assume most people patch there tire if the hole is pretty small.

With tubes, the tire doesn't hold any actual air pressure. So a hole in it doesn't matter so much. Just so long as the hole isn't big enough to have the rubber begin to tear in that area as the tube is pressurized. The tire just creates an area that holds the tubes.

If the tire is going flat, the tube has a leak. Make sure you didn't pinch it as you replaced the tube. That's usually the issue if it's leaking after you replace it once.

 

[cycloner29]

With tubes, the tire doesn't hold any actual air pressure. So a hole in it doesn't matter so much. Just so long as the hole isn't big enough to have the rubber begin to tear in that area as the tube is pressurized. The tire just creates an area that holds the tubes.

If the tire is going flat, the tube has a leak. Make sure you didn't pinch it as you replaced the tube. That's usually the issue if it's leaking after you replace it once.

Hole was big enough that when I aired the tire up the tube started to poke through the sidewall off the tire and poked a hole in the tube.

 

[PineClone]

Where i live we have goat-heads (aka puncturevine) which are hell on tires. I have run my bikes (both cyclocross and mountain) with tubed and tubeless. Tubeless works well but I got tired of maintaining the messy fluid, so i went back to tubes.

Contrary to other responses so far, I patch tubes multiple times before getting a new one. I just don't like tossing all that rubber in the garbage. I will patch a tube multiple times and most patches last for years.

I'm running tubes in my cyclocross bike with liners (Tuffy's or other brand) and almost never get flats. Running tubeless tires on my mountain bike and it is working well too. Tuffy's add some weight, but they will virtually eliminate your problem unless you get a puncture in the sidewall. I regularly find goat-heads in my cyclocross tires and have no problems with the liners installed.

Tuffys

 

[ForbinsAscynt]

I always do a new tube. They're cheap. But I do tire of fixing flats, especially on the rear. It might be giving up too much rolling resistance, but for the sake of never having a flat ever again, I'm giving these airless foam composite tires some serious thought:

Tannus America Tires

Tannus airless bicycle tires are puncture proof bike tires that don't go flat. Bike tires that are solid and made out of a lightweight foam that will last long

tannusamerica.com

The airless tires are heavy and don’t have good performance. The tannus armor does pretty well, I actually imported this for a little bit but tannus decided to self distribute in the US. We offer a similar product called Stop-a-flat but i personally would only recommend for kids bikes, trailers or joggers. For adult bikes a recommend the mr. Tuffy tire liners.

 

[CtownCyclone]

Get a new tube. They're cheap. For tires, back when I lived in a place where I picked up lots of flats, I ran with Gatorskin tires. After I switched, I never had a flat again. They aren't the fastest tire you can run, they aren't the easiest tire to put on, but if you don't want to worry about fixing flats, that's your tire.

 

[brianhos]

I bike a lot, I never repair tubes, they are like $10. Just replace. And then I got gatorskins because I was sick of changing tubes. Probably 4 years since I have had a flat.

Crap, I am going to get one this weekend for saying that.

 

[CyCloned]

I carry two spare tubes and a patch kit(the peal and stick kind) on RAGBRAI. One tube is for me, one is for someone else and the patch kit is to fix anything I can to use as a spare until I can get another new tube. I have had a patched tube last for a couple years without leaking, but I would just rather have on new tubes that I change in the air conditioning.

 

[VeloClone]

I replace the tube after a puncture and don't mess with patches. I disagree with what others have said about a hole in the tire not being a problem. A hole is a means for grit and other nasties to get in the tire and ride around rubbing against the rubber of the tube. This is especially true when you ride on wet roads as the grit will stick to your tires and work its way in. You certainly can use tires that have holes in them as long as the holes aren't big enough for the tube to protrude, but I would only do that as a stop gap measure. If you have any sort of of hole that you can see light through when it is off the bike, replace it because it can potentially cause problems later. If you had a puncture through the tread and it has "closed itself up" so you can't see any light through it, it probably isn't going to present a problem.

As long as we are talking about stop gap fixes, if you ever have a big hole blown in your tire and you just have to get home with that spare tube from your pack, you can put a dollar bill between the tire/hole and tube. It is generally tough enough to keep the tube in and protect it so you can get home. You may have to underinflate high pressure tires for this stop gap trick.

 

[usedcarguy]

The airless tires are heavy and don’t have good performance. The tannus armor does pretty well, I actually imported this for a little bit but tannus decided to self distribute in the US. We offer a similar product called Stop-a-flat but i personally would only recommend for kids bikes, trailers or joggers. For adult bikes a recommend the mr. Tuffy tire liners.

I'm heavy and don't have good performance. LOL I'm 265 plus booze, gear, etc. I strongly considered the Tannus Armor but it looks like they won't work with the thinner 15mm rims. I've got a Trek 7.4 with 700x32 road tires on Shimano R500s. I've ran Hardcases and Gatorskins, and neither had good rolling resistance. I've been told by the company that the Tannus will roll similarly, but no one there will give me any data. If I knew they would be comparable, I'd sign up in a minute. The fastest thing I ever rode on was a Schwabe Pro One with tire slime. Took that on Ragbrai a few years back, and a small stone created a small puncture that required airing up in every town. But it didn't leave me stranded!

I was just reading PineClone's post about Tuffy's. I may give them a look. Or I may just buy a Tannus for the rear and see just how bad it rolls. It's only money, right? haha

 

[simply1]

Gator skin might as well be paper to goat heads.

 

[cycloner29]

Gator skin might as well be paper to goat heads.

I've seen those things. That's what it looked like in my road bike tire, but I bit it and it was steel. Looked just like those things though. Nasty!

 

[NWICY]

Recommendations for the best place to order tires and tubes?