Running Vittoria Corsa N.EXT tires with Stan’s Race Sealant for winter training here in Seattle, I’ve had a couple incidents where I get a mid-ride puncture that’s immediately fixed by my sealant. Generally some sealant sprays out, and in one case I had to stop with the puncture pointing down for a moment to get it to seal and I added a bit of air via a CO2 cartridge. However, after doing this the tire holds air just fine, not only for the rest of the ride but for days after.
I know how to patch a tire, but I’m wondering how most of you handle an issue like this. Would you consider a tire that has sealed punctures and holds are just fine to be A-OK to ride? Or would you repair it (a modest PITA but doable) before riding further?
And given the frequency of these issues, what’s your favorite puncture-resistant tire that still had decent RR/ride quality characteristics? I’ve had great success with Gatorskins on my commuter, but ride quality is pretty rough…
Tubeless gravel road tires… I don’t repair them. I ride them until they wear out and top up sealant as necessary.
If I was riding a narrower tire that required higher PSI, I’d probably still treat it as “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” attitude. IE, if I never find the tire in unrideable flat conditions when I pull the bike out, I’d just check pressure and ride. If the hassle of topping air and sealant got the better of me, AND I had a few free hours, I’d take a look at the inside of the tire and figure out if its worth patching…
With a tire plug and cement, good as new. I think if it’s big enough that you’re hearing sealant spray it’s worth a plug. The ones you never even noticed, probably not.
If the puncture has sealed with sealant alone and no plugs, I usually take super glue and seal over it. I’ll repeat this for a couple of rides after until I’m sure it’s going to be permanent, which is usually the case. If I’ve had to plug the tire, I’ll generally take it off and patch it from the inside once I get home.
I do nothing. If it’s sealed, it’s sealed. That liquid latex has bound the tire and is acting as glue already for you.
If sealant isn’t holding consistently then plug it.
No issues. Get around 10,000km out of GP5s before replacing them due to wear. The new STRs maybe a bit less. Top up sealant in spring and fall. Never end up removing it as the tires wear out before any significant amount build up. My main discipline is ultra-endurance riding. Only flat I’ve had in the past 30-40,000km was from nailing a curb at 35kph… but that was because both tires basically ripped apart
To date if my road bike tyres or gravel bike tyres have sealed and stayed good after I’ve done nothing. I did bin a gravel bike tyre that I had to take a tyre worm to but on hindsight I maybe should have tried to repair that as it had only saw about 1000miles. However, when I binned a roadbike tyre because of that (a tyre worm) I didn’t think it was worth repairing as it had done something like 10,000miles. I’ve also binned a high mileage road bike tyre that was splurting sealant every ride.
Edit Touch wood I haven’t needed it yet but if I repair a tyre in future it’ll be with a plug rather than a worm and they are supposed to be more pernament.
Here are the punctures in question; as you can see the tire is basically brand new. It’s held air 100% normally for about a week with no further intervention, so I’ll probably consider it good for now. I do like the idea of superglue, may give that a try. Un-mounting, cleaning, and patching from inside seems like an unnecessary headache.
What do you like for tough winter training tires that don’t totally suck in terms of ride quality?
Is there such a thing as a glue in plug that one can install from the top? I saw a glue in plug for car tires and was curious about bike tires.
(I have 25mm tubeless (80-85psi) and once or twice I’ve seen plugs keep squirting out and not taking a permanent hold.)
I know one can use a dynaplug or dart. I saw someone repairing tires with thick butcher’s twine on another forum. They tied a knot in it and installed it from the back side. The knot held it from blowing out and the butcher’s twine was thick and porous so that it would soak up the latex and bond with the tire. One could probably install something like that from the top with a bacon strip tool.
I have to use dynaplugs fairly frequently, roads round our way have quite a bit of debris and some very sharp flint shards after it rains, means however well you look after your tyres there’s always the occasional ride where something just rips a hole too big to seal. Plugs have been great with tyres like the GP5K and Schwalbe Pro One as they bond into the tyre and practically disappear after a few rides. Had poor results recently though with Vittoria Corsa N.exts which seem to be made of a harder rubber that doesn’t bond to the plug, and while the plugs are good enough to get me home I find I’m then losing ~20-30psi a day plus weeping sealant around the plug. Even if I persevere with topping up sealant and inflating tyre every ride the plugs never seem to properly bond in so I end up having to take the tyre off and patch from the inside which is a real pain (and waste of sealant). So glue in plug from the outside or any other tips that would enable me to fix the problem without removing the tyre would be enormously appreciated!
It seems like one could ream out the hole with one of those tools, insert plug, inject super glue around it, and then let the latex seal up any remaining leaks.
I see all sorts of interesting plugs and glue for car tires on Amazon.
It does seem like these three items would cover your tire repair needs possibly forever. I wonder whether a stiff auto repair plug installed in/near the tire crown would be noticeable when riding on asphalt. Also wonder if the casing of a road tire is strong enough to keep such a plug in place; obviously there’s a lot more rubber and belting in a car tire.
