Greg Hall said:"David L. Johnson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:Technically, although their ad copy says otherwise, they do have a tube.
They call it a "bladder", but it's a tube. What they don't have is
casing that is stitched together, so it can be opened.
Tufo tire diagram: http://www.tufo.com/index.php?lg=en&co=produkce The
inside airtight layer ('bladder'😉 is made of a special butyl-rubber
compound that is bonded to the casing.
So, it's a tube glued to the tire casing.
Quoted message said:
I have been unable to determine the location of leaking air on some
flatted tubulars (most likely pinholes from flakey Vittoria latex tube
defects). As a last resort I'm going to try pouring some Tufo sealant into
the tube. A knowledgeable mechanic has attempted this, with mixed results,
and reports that the tire has to be kept somewhat inflated to prevent the
insides of the tube from sticking together.
If that doesn't work, the tires are very expensive, and you don't want to
try this yourself, there is a company somewhere on-line that will replace
the tube and re-stitch the entire casing. Extreme, but if, say, you have
nice old silk tires with rotted tubes, it might be worth it. You can also
replace a tube yourself without completely re-stitching the casing. Cut a
new tube in half, thread it through the casing after cutting a normal
opening, lap-seam the tube back together, and pray. Not for the safety
conscious, since it will probably fail.
--
David L. Johnson
__o | And what if you track down these men and kill them, what if you
_`\(,_ | killed all of us? From every corner of Europe, hundreds,
(_)/ (_) | thousands would rise up to take our places. Even Nazis can't
kill that fast. -- Paul Henreid (Casablanca).