Spare tire?



ElPerro

New Member
May 8, 2004
37
0
0
My experience with the nail raises yet another tire question....

The nail happened close to home, so it was no big deal to hoof it home. However, my weekend rides are now in the 70-80 mile range and will be in the 100 mile range before long. I carry a spare tube, but as the tire itself was made unusable by the nail, that would not have helped me if I'd been in the boonies somewhere. Does anybody make a 23/25cm road bike tire that "folds" small enough to stuff into the saddle bag? A thin crappy tire would be fine, just have to last 50 miles or so.
 
ElPerro said:
My experience with the nail raises yet another tire question....

The nail happened close to home, so it was no big deal to hoof it home. However, my weekend rides are now in the 70-80 mile range and will be in the 100 mile range before long. I carry a spare tube, but as the tire itself was made unusable by the nail, that would not have helped me if I'd been in the boonies somewhere. Does anybody make a 23/25cm road bike tire that "folds" small enough to stuff into the saddle bag? A thin crappy tire would be fine, just have to last 50 miles or so.
If you take a dollar bill with you in your repair kit, you can fold it and insert it between the tube and the tire before inflating your new tube. You can patch a pretty big hole (up to a quarter inch x quarter inch or so) this way and ride home no problem, then fix it proper with a new tire once home.
 
ElPerro said:
My experience with the nail raises yet another tire question....

The nail happened close to home, so it was no big deal to hoof it home. However, my weekend rides are now in the 70-80 mile range and will be in the 100 mile range before long. I carry a spare tube, but as the tire itself was made unusable by the nail, that would not have helped me if I'd been in the boonies somewhere. Does anybody make a 23/25cm road bike tire that "folds" small enough to stuff into the saddle bag? A thin crappy tire would be fine, just have to last 50 miles or so.


OK.....here is the 100% fail-safe emergency tyre saver.
-Save an old tyre (I still have a Conti 3000GP from about 1997 for this purpose)
-cut out a few sections of the tread and sidewall about 3 inches long to make little rectangles.
-put these with your spare tubes in your saddle kit until you need 'em
-then when you flat and are replacing the tube, use these tyre sections to line the inside of your existing tyre to prevent the tube bulging through the hole and bursting. You can even glue them in semi-permanently when you get home if strapped for cash......:)

there you go.
 
Thanks for the great advice! Fortunately, I still have the original tires - they're worn out, but I'll cut 'em up for patches. In a pinch, the dollar bill idea makes a lot of sense - I never would thought of that one.
 
WINGNUTT said:
If you take a dollar bill with you in your repair kit, you can fold it and insert it between the tube and the tire before inflating your new tube. You can patch a pretty big hole (up to a quarter inch x quarter inch or so) this way and ride home no problem, then fix it proper with a new tire once home.

Here at work we use big sheets of relatively thick mylar. The stuff is indestructible whereas I've seen a dollar bill get mildewed and disintegrate after a fellow rider forgot about having made the repair a couple of months earlier. I've cut several two inch squares and carry a couple in addition to a few bills. After all, you never know when that hottie you're riding with will want to stop for ice cream. Unfortunately, I've never had the chance to play the "Knight in Shining Armor" with my indestructible mylar or spare SRAM powerlinks. :rolleyes:
 
cachehiker said:
Here at work we use big sheets of relatively thick mylar. The stuff is indestructible whereas I've seen a dollar bill get mildewed and disintegrate after a fellow rider forgot about having made the repair a couple of months earlier. I've cut several two inch squares and carry a couple in addition to a few bills. After all, you never know when that hottie you're riding with will want to stop for ice cream. Unfortunately, I've never had the chance to play the "Knight in Shining Armor" with my indestructible mylar or spare SRAM powerlinks. :rolleyes:


Mylar?? Where do you work?? Williams F1 headquarters??
 
ed073 said:
Mylar?? Where do you work?? Williams F1 headquarters??

It's not THAT exclusive of a material. My buddy works in the engineering depratment of the local U.S. Fish and Wildlife Dept. and he says their blueprints are printed on mylar. He gets scraps from there for his tires.

Although WilliamsF1 would be SWEET to work for. I'd even be happy sweepin' the floors for those guys :p
 
ed073 said:
OK.....here is the 100% fail-safe emergency tyre saver.
-Save an old tyre (I still have a Conti 3000GP from about 1997 for this purpose)
-cut out a few sections of the tread and sidewall about 3 inches long to make little rectangles.
-put these with your spare tubes in your saddle kit until you need 'em
-then when you flat and are replacing the tube, use these tyre sections to line the inside of your existing tyre to prevent the tube bulging through the hole and bursting. You can even glue them in semi-permanently when you get home if strapped for cash......:)

there you go.

Ok, so thinking that your idea sounded great, when I was last visiting my LBS I asked if they had a old "throw-away" tire in the back they wouldn't mind letting me have...of course they were happy to give me a nice kevlar beaded Hutch that was being junked. So now, I just want to be sure I understand your instructions. When you cut in 3 inch lengths are you using the full width of the tire for each piece; i.e. cutting from bead to bead? Or are you cutting 3 inch strips of sidewall and three inch strips of just tread, etc.?

thanks.
 
TheDL said:
Ok, so thinking that your idea sounded great, when I was last visiting my LBS I asked if they had a old "throw-away" tire in the back they wouldn't mind letting me have...of course they were happy to give me a nice kevlar beaded Hutch that was being junked. So now, I just want to be sure I understand your instructions. When you cut in 3 inch lengths are you using the full width of the tire for each piece; i.e. cutting from bead to bead? Or are you cutting 3 inch strips of sidewall and three inch strips of just tread, etc.?

thanks.


Cool...:)

I cut from inside the bead to inside the bead....effectively "gutting" the tyre from one side to the other, leaving the bead intact, sticking out like two rubbery prongs.

There isn't enough room for 2 beads under a rim, or inside the tyre casing...would cause all sorts of lumps in the sidewall.


That's it.
 
ed073 said:
Cool...:)

I cut from inside the bead to inside the bead....effectively "gutting" the tyre from one side to the other, leaving the bead intact, sticking out like two rubbery prongs.

There isn't enough room for 2 beads under a rim, or inside the tyre casing...would cause all sorts of lumps in the sidewall.


That's it.


Awesome! Thanks for the clarification.
 
TheDL said:
Awesome! Thanks for the clarification.
Cool.....happy riding :)

[and no punctures......]

My next tip is how to get rid of the saddle bag altogether and have your spares neatly packed up in the spare bottle cage on your down tube......but I'm waiting for the right post to reply to....:D
 
My sidewall failed recently and my tube burst through. Luckily I wasn't too far from home. I've since put three plys of duct tape to cover up the hole from the inside. There is a slight bulge where the sidewall was damaged, but it appears to be holding up for now even at over 100 psi. I don't expect this to last very long but am interested to see how long it does last until complete failure. Are there any stories about tires failing catastrophically due to a weakened/repaired sidewall resulting in injury? Oh, this is my front tire.

I like the "cutting up of old tire into patches" idea.
 
The dollar bill trick has saved me big time when i blew out a sidewall. That being said, I now carry a spare tire (older worn one). It folds up pretty tight with a few elastic bands and I stuff it in a jersey pocket. Might not make me look as sleek as Lance, but I ride on some country roads where you're liable to run into nails and other metal debris. Between the tire, spare tube, spoke wrench, tire lever, pocket pump and cell phone it might sound like I'm a pack mule, but they all fit in pretty tight. Personally, I like that set up instead of those little seat ***** packs dangling under my balls.