Construction Latex Sealant for Fast Easy Cheap Convenient ReliableSmall Puncture Repair
 

If you are worried about getting bad knees and therefore want the lowest rim weight wheels -- thin tires w/o 100 gms of sealant in each tube -- and/or you know the location of the puncture and can get away without removing the wheel or the entire tire, small punctures can be repaired with construction latex:

Inflate the tube to somewhat larger than service, ~ 110% - 120% of the tire diameter. If you aren't removing the tube from the wheel just reinflate the punctured section of the tube. Dab construction latex sealant onto the puncture and stretch the rubber around the hole as you smear it in. You might as well repeat this two - 3 times as it takes just a few seconds.

Dust, deflate, mount and reinflate as usual.

Only a few micro liters make it into the puncture and inside of the tube when it is deflated. That's all it takes to stop a leak from a 1 mm puncturing object. Most of the sealant ends up wasted smeared around the puncture. Latex cleans up easily wet or dry.

A water based construction latex sealant will last years in a 50 ml travel bottle -- less weight than the spare tube -- and is enough for a hundred small punctures.

I average a small puncture every 10 - 20 miles and stopping more than a few minutes is not acceptable. It's better than patches even working back home.


Bret Cahill

Construction Latex Sealant for Fast Easy Cheap ConvenientReliable Small Puncture Repair
 

On 04/07/2019 19:53, Bret Cahill wrote:

I average a small puncture every 10 - 20 miles and stopping more than
a few minutes is not acceptable. It's better than patches even
working back home.

Are you sure you have suitable tyres?

In the last 3500 miles I have had 3 punctures. Long term average is
probably about 500 miles.

Construction Latex Sealant for Fast Easy Cheap ConvenientReliable Small Puncture Repair
 

On Thursday, July 4, 2019 at 9:14:19 PM UTC+1, TMS320 wrote:
On 04/07/2019 19:53, Bret Cahill wrote:

I average a small puncture every 10 - 20 miles and stopping more than
a few minutes is not acceptable. It's better than patches even
working back home.

Are you sure you have suitable tyres?

In the last 3500 miles I have had 3 punctures. Long term average is
probably about 500 miles.

He lives in a desert with cactus spines everywhere.

Construction Latex Sealant for Fast Easy Cheap ConvenientReliable Small Puncture Repair
 

I average a small puncture every 10 - 20 miles and stopping more than
a few minutes is not acceptable. It's better than patches even
working back home.

Are you sure you have suitable tyres?

In the last 3500 miles I have had 3 punctures. Long term average is
probably about 500 miles.

He lives in a desert with cactus spines everywhere.

Cacti are the problem in Tucson.

The major problem here are goat heads, tribulus terrestris, torrito in Mexico.

They came from the Mideast or some other place. It's a real problem if livestock eat them.

You rarely get just one goat head. Usually you run over a patch and get 3 - 8 at a time, half of them puncturing the tube.

Farm workers pick them up next to the fields and track them into parking lots so you can get flats even if you stay on the pavement.

The only good thing about goat heads is they often stay stuck between the tire lugs for miles plugging the leak as well as pin pointing the location of the puncture.


Bret Cahill

Construction Latex Sealant for Fast Easy Cheap ConvenientReliable Small Puncture Repair
 

On 06/07/2019 20:05, Bret Cahill wrote:
I average a small puncture every 10 - 20 miles and stopping
more than a few minutes is not acceptable. It's better than
patches even working back home.

Are you sure you have suitable tyres?

In the last 3500 miles I have had 3 punctures. Long term average
is probably about 500 miles.

He lives in a desert with cactus spines everywhere.

Cacti are the problem in Tucson.

The major problem here are goat heads, tribulus terrestris, torrito
in Mexico.

They came from the Mideast or some other place. It's a real problem
if livestock eat them.

You rarely get just one goat head. Usually you run over a patch and
get 3 - 8 at a time, half of them puncturing the tube.

Farm workers pick them up next to the fields and track them into
parking lots so you can get flats even if you stay on the pavement.

The only good thing about goat heads is they often stay stuck between
the tire lugs for miles plugging the leak as well as pin pointing the
location of the puncture.

Oh well, wet tyres picking up flints that work their way in aren't so
bad after all.
I was interested to see how they fix tubeless car tyres. No need to take
the tyre off the rim, push a hollow needle through the hole then a gun
pushes a mushroom plug through it.

Construction Latex Sealant for Fast Easy Cheap ConvenientReliable Small Puncture Repair
 

If you are worried about getting bad knees and therefore want the lowest rim weight wheels -- thin tires w/o 100 gms of sealant in each tube -- and/or you know the location of the puncture and can get away without removing the wheel or the entire tire, small punctures can be repaired with construction latex:

Inflate the tube to somewhat larger than service, ~ 110% - 120% of the tire diameter. If you aren't removing the tube from the wheel just reinflate the punctured section of the tube. Dab construction latex sealant onto the puncture and stretch the rubber around the hole as you smear it in. You might as well repeat this two - 3 times as it takes just a few seconds.

Dust, deflate, mount and reinflate as usual.

Only a few micro liters make it into the puncture and inside of the tube when it is deflated. That's all it takes to stop a leak from a 1 mm puncturing object. Most of the sealant ends up wasted smeared around the puncture. Latex cleans up easily wet or dry.

A water based construction latex sealant will last years in a 50 ml travel bottle -- less weight than the spare tube -- and is enough for a hundred small punctures.

I average a small puncture every 10 - 20 miles and stopping more than a few minutes is not acceptable. It's better than patches even working back home.

With these smaller punctures you get a hour or so warning. That's often plenty of time to get to a pleasant place to work. I just tried it again with instant success -- much faster, cheaper and more reliable than patches. The one I did a few weeks ago is still holding air.

I'll eventually make and post a [necessarily short] video if anyone is interested. To drag this one out over a minute I'd have to include my entire philosophy of flat tire / bad knee management.


Bret Cahill

Construction Latex Sealant for Fast Easy Cheap ConvenientReliable Small Puncture Repair
 

Don't buy any more inner tubes. Just repair the old ones. Construction latex makes it easy, fast and pedmanent.