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Tire Repair Kits

8K views 24 replies 12 participants last post by  Rabbit1300 
#1 ·
Getting ready for the 06 riding season and i was wondering if anyone had suggestions for a tire repair kit including a way to reinflate after the repair is make
Duane :shock:
 
#3 ·
I don't leave on a trip now without a whole range of stuff. Since getting a blowout on the trailer and thinking I had the right gear.. Had to leave the trailer 100 miles from home and go back.

Anyway I carry a spare wheel for the trailer plus a spare tube, repair kit, tyre levers and have that green slime in the trailer tyres.

As for the bike I have a can of finilec. Not recommended to keep in the tyre for too long as it deteriorates the rubber, but it does inflate the tyre enough. Doesn't do big holes though so I also have the tubeless repair kit with the stringy stuff that you plug up using the T piece. Also have compressor. Feeling pretty confident I'll get out of trouble. Of course I've not had cause to need it since carrying all this stuff.

Sounds like a heap of stuff but really just for a bike with limited storage I would say get the finilec and a tubelss repair kit and you'd get yourself out da'shit

http://www.slime.com

http://www.thorncraft.co.uk/acatalog/TYRE_REPAIR_KITS.html
 
#4 ·
Sitting here on my tail, with the FJR out in the garage, off the top of my head, purchased about a year ago, new JUMBO size CO2 cartridges. They have a special screw on valve. So big, that two of them fill that little area under the passenger seat and are held down by the elastic band there. I think one is supposed to work for a tire.

badfjr said:
Getting ready for the 06 riding season and i was wondering if anyone had suggestions for a tire repair kit including a way to reinflate after the repair is make
Duane :shock:
 
#5 ·
I carry a tubeless repair kit that uses figure-8 rubber plugs, not the sticky string - will post a piccie sometime. After finding that the three CO2 cartridges only took the rear tyre to 15psi I now also carry a small 12v compressor, which takes about 4 to 5 min to pump to 40psi (it cost all of Aus$7.00). I also made up a air hose with a valve inflator fitting at each end, and carry that. In emergencies I can tap air out of another tyre (like a friendly passing truck, or the spare from someones cage).
 
#10 ·
@malki - that bigger CO2 cartridge looks good, but at what price? I lloked for ages for something simillar here, but no luck. My mini compressor cost less than 3 regular CO2 cartridges, so I am happy with that.
 
#11 ·
@ David...sorry my post was slightly misleading...I did not go for the TRK5, but the next one down. The TRK5 with the big cartridge sells for $65US, not seen it for sale in the UK, but it still only inflates to 22psi. 2x cartridges are about $30US
I paid £37.00UK for the TRK4 years ago, and only ever used it on a mates bike, but we needed everybody's cylinders, about 9 in total to get the tyre working, expensive to replace them, hence the wee pump at about £14, a great little buy and a must have.

A word of warning tho, the cheaper brands of repair kits use inferior plugs, on that trip my mate had the puncture...he tried his own kit, then another mates, none of the plugs sealed properly. He used my Progressive kit and it sealed first time, he was able to carry on for another 700 miles before changing the tyre. So on this occasion the £37 was well worth it compared to £20 kits. Especially when it was 3am, hard shoulder of a 4 lane motorway and freezing fog to boot :mrgreen:
 
#13 ·
@ Rabbit - not criticising here, just that all the plugs that failed on us were figure 8 ones, only one that worked was the cone shaped one. On looking at the figure 8 one, I failed to see how it could work, with a hole in the middle of it, but these are the ones that rescue services, such as AA, RAC Etc. use so maybe we (I) are using them wrongly. Takes bigger balls to cut a slightly bigger hole for the cone, but so be it if it gets us going again.
 
#15 ·
@malki

I was a tyre fitter for a year, in between jobs so to speak, so perhaps I have a better understanding of the way they work.

Plenty of glue and follow the instructions. This is really a get you home at low speed repair only.

But be warned, any foreign object entering a tyre is highly likely to compromise the cords and therefore the safety of the tyre.
 
#16 ·
Here's my experience with a puncture and a plugged rear tyre:

The puncture was in a new Avon - 2 weeks old, but approx 5,000k's on the tyre. You'll find the story here (right towards the end of the post): http://www.fjrowners.ws/discus/messages/2/42647.html?1130213265

At first I was inclined to immediately replace the tyre, but then decided I will ride it locally (max 200 k's from home) and use up the edges. Pity to throw away so much good rubber. Also, I would always carry a repair kit and small compressor so I could patch and ride if needed.

Another factor was that the puncture was in the tread area, no sidewall damage, and I figured that if the plug was going to fail it would be a controlled deflation that would be felt and could safely be ridden through. This was my personal assessment of my risk, but if my son had suggested he was going to do the same I would have bought him a new tyre!

Here is what the plug looked like 400k's after installing:


Anyway, here is the plug 5,000 k's later:


And you can see that I did manage to use up lots of the rubber that was left on the tyre:


Something I noticed through the life of the tyre, though, is that the chicken strips left on this Avon are considerable wider than I have ever had before. I only touch pegs down very occasionally (believing it's more a function of soft suspension plus heavily loaded bike than an indication of riding skill) but I think that subconciously I was aware that I was riding on a plugged tyre, and therefore did not push through corners as hard as I ususally do (or the Avon profile just means I don't get the edge of the tyre down.) I'll soon know, as I have just fitted another Avon.
 
#17 ·
And for those who have never had to fix a puncture on the side of the road, here is how I did it (note: not intended for those who have done this often, but this really is Puncture Repair 101):

I carry a German-made puncture repair kit, and these are the component parts:


It's probably all self-explanatory, but anyway, from left to right:
1 - T-tool for reaming out the hole and inserting the plug
2 - chalk for marking the site of the puncture
3 - rubber cement
4 - knife tool for trimming the plug when inserted and before riding
5 - adapter for screwing into CO2 bulbs and tyre valve stem
6 - top right: pack of 3 (1 used) 'figure 8' style plugs
7 - NOT SHOWN - 3 CO2 bulbs (cylinders that came with the kit)

When I stopped the tyre was already completely flat, and the screw/nail whatever had been thrown from the tyre. I speculated it was a screw, as the hole was neatly reamed:


After reaming the hole a little more, I coated the T-tool with rubber cement, and inserted this in the hole, getting as much cement in/around the hole as possible. I fitted a plug into the shaped eye at the pointy end of the T-tool, coated it with cement, and inserted this into the hole. It feels far too big, and as if it won't go, but the plug stretches and suddenly pops into place. Immediately remove the tool. The shaping of the 'eye' leaves the plug in place as the tool is extracted.

Leave to cure for about 5 minutes, then inflate with CO2 bulbs. Make sure you are wearing gloves when holding the bulb, as the relaese of CO2 causes the bulb to cool immediately and significantly - you can freeze your fingers to a bulb if not careful. The three bulbs that came with the repair kit only took the tyre to 15psi, so I now carry a small compressor that plugs into a lighter socket I have mounted under my seat.

About 4,000 k's after this repair the tyre developed a slow leak (10PSI over 2 hours riding). As it was only 1,000k's to replacement, I just 'pumped and go', but when the tyre was removed I found another puncture caused by a small nail about the thickness of a thumbtack. The external hole was so small that 5 or 6 detailed inspections had missed it. After 5,000k's of fairly aggressive riding the plug was still fine. I did not do much high speed riding in this time, but lots of twisties.

And, for info, this is what the plug looks like inside the tyre after 5,000k's of riding:


And close up:
 
#18 ·
Look, I'm not going to get into a debate here, but this was my wife's tyre after a rapid deflation at around 70 to 85 mph.

It already had a mushroom plug repair some time previously. After this tyre was stripped off, the mushroom plug was nowhere to be seen. I can only assume that the plug failed.

You would be very unwise to continue riding with any type of repair on these high speed tyres, other than get you home.

Make up your own minds:

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#19 ·
david1300 said:
Leave to cure for about 5 minutes, then inflate with CO2 bulbs.
I've often wondered how long to leave the glue to cure. Is there a definitive answer?

My "stringy" plug pack doesn't say how long to wait for the glue to cure and I waited 30 mins after inserting the plug, before inflating the tyre again. Probably a little OTT but it took that long for the excess glue to stop feeling tacky and the last thing I wanted to do was stuck by the side of the road again with the plug blown out.
 
#20 ·
Rabbit1300 said:
You would be very unwise to continue riding with any type of repair on these high speed tyres, other than get you home.

Make up your own minds:
I agree absolutely - make up your own minds. My write-up records my experience and hopefully helps you to do just that, make up your own mind, just as Rabbit's does.

For additional info, I don't think I exceeded 120kph on the plugged tyre, and did not do any continuous riding at that speed. I did regard the speed rating of the tyres as completely compromised.

However, I did exit corners aggressively, and rode 'the pace' through my regular twisty routes very aggressively, but then this does minimise straight-line speed and focusses on correct (or, in my case, maximising) cornering speed.
 
#22 ·
I have had similar punctures through the tread and not the side wall
on a tire with 90% of tread life remaining.
Being cheap , I plugged the tire at the road side then later I brought the tire to Les Schwab and had them put a reinforcing doubler on the inside of the tire which is an approved and safe repair if there is no cord damage to the tire.
I then rode the tire to the end of tread life without problems or worries.
If you don't feel safe doing this then please send me your new tires with minor punctures and I will use them
________
Iolite vaporizer review
 
#23 ·
Rabbit1300 said:
By the way, didn't mean to sound as though I was flaming the write up david1300 in any way shape or form. Just wanted to add the warning.
and no 'flaming' noted this side :ale: .

I really agree that people must learn all they can, heed every warning, and apply what they have learned as they see fit. To see what can happen with a high-speed deflation (as in Rabbit's piccie) is also part of the information we all need to assess when making our own decisions.
:D
 
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