My 24" has a flat :(. I had a terrible time getting the tire (duro) off of the rim. Anyway, the tube was twisted badly in two places and the hole occurred in one of the twisted seams. When I put air in the tube it is very lopsided where the twists were. My questions are: I’m not sure if I should patch the hole or just get a new tube. Is it okay to use a lighter tube than what came with the unicycle?
My other question is regarding a good 26" tire for a guni. I plan to do mostly road riding with some not too technical trail riding. Is there a problem with a wire or metal bead? Should I avoid that? I’m looking for something no thinner than a 2.3 size. There are so many choices for 26" tires I was hoping for a good recommendation. I like the Berm Master but the 26" size is pretty narrow.
I would opt for a new tube and a fresh start in this case. There shouldn’t be any problem with a lighter tube so long as you are not having puncture flats where you ride (thorns, glass…).
Before installing the replacement tube pump it up a little and then let the air out again. Leave only a small amount of air in the tube so that it retains some shape as you put it in the tire. Make sure that it isn’t folded, twisted or pinched anywhere before you seal up the tire. A new tube straight out of the box has no body and is harder to install evenly.
As for tire recommendations…I’m sure someone has better advice than me.
As long as the holes are easy to find I don’t see a problem with patching. I have patched thousands of tubes, and I wouldn’t hesitate to trust a good patch. I would avoid twisting the tube as it is installed and it should be alright. If you want a lighter tube in the 24 I would suggest a standard weight 26" tube. It has about the same outside diameter as the 24x3 tire. It will still have to over inflate a bit to fill the volume of the 24, but it won’t be pushed as much as a lightweight 24" tube.
As for an all purpose 26" tire. That’s an interesting problem. Most cross terrain tires are in the 2.0 range give or take. I’d be interested in what you find. Maybe the Maxxis Holy Roller 2.4. It seems like a nice round profile, and enough knobs to smooth out hard surfaces yet grip loose stuff. I’ve never tried it, but it looks promising. Kevlar beaded tires tend to be soft in the sidewall, and very hard to mount and remove from rims. I can deal with the second thing, but having stiffer sidewalls tends to make a tire better for a uni.
the tube has a hole in it and it’s deformed in several areas. I play it safe by recommending a new tube. The tire was difficult to remove because it’s a DH tire and has a tight wire bead so it doesn’t just roll off the rim at low pressure and high speed. It’s also heavy duty like the tube. if you’re gonna be bouncing a lot off road, then I’d stick with a heavy tube. Otherwise, you’ll be fine with a standard weight tube.
I was going to recommend the Maxxis Holy Roller for your street and XC riding but you wanted something smaller than 2.3 the K-rad by Kenda is pretty good. I’d look for some dirt jump tires, smooth for the street but with an inverse tread to hook up on hardpack dirt.
if you ride Muni in the muck or loose stuff you’ll want deep knobbies with a lot of space in between them, for sticking to rocks you want a soft tire. for street, you’ll want shallower knobbies, less space between them, and a firmer rubber. Look around for aggressive “inverse tread” tires. if you want something easier to remove, and even lighter, then kevlar beaded tires are nice.
My inclination to replace the tube is based on its deformity. Generally patches are fine. If the tube is unevenly stretched out I personally wouldn’t waste my time with it but it may well work.
I have K RADs on one of my bikes and one of my unicycles (both 24"). They work very well on and off road. Another bike of mine and one of my GFs have Holy Rollers (20" & 24"). They are very similar but lighter in weight, a little more expensive and slightly less rolling resistance (very slight). I am tempted to say the Holy Rollers have a tiny bit less traction but have no science to back it up.
A new tube it pretty cheep. Maybe $10.00. If you do not have a patch kit its another expence. When I put in a new tube i take out the valve and pump it up a few times and let the air out. That should straighten out the tube. It is kind of hard to get put it in and not have any wrinkles in it. By pumping it us and letting the air out should take out any wrinkles.
In my experience it is not really “playing it safe” to put in a new tube. In the almost 10 years that I was at a bike shop I saw more tubes with faulty seams, and bad vulcanizing at the valve than I saw with bad patches. Normally the reason people get a second flat with a patched tube is that they never dealt with the culprit. You need to make sure that if there is a thorn you remove it, and if it’s a snake bite you use more pressure. There are a lot of reasons to patch a tube, but only a few to replace one. If you don’t deal with the problem you will continue to get flats with the new tube as well. In this case you really need to make sure that you don’t twist the tube, and put folds in it while you are installing it. Do this with a patched or new tube and you won’t have a sequel.
I would say that if you can find the hole in your tube, and the tube has proven itself otherwise, it is “playing it safe” to patch it.
you could patch the tube and leave it fully inflated, uninstalled overnight which will stretch the tube and perhaps straighten it out a little (and will also confirm you’ve done a decent repair). If you’re still unhappy with it buy another tube.
And for another opinion I would go for a standard 24" tube, it still fills a 24x3" and I’ve not had a puncture with that combination yet.
I am a patcher but in this case I would be tempted to replace the tube since we don’t know how much it has been rubbed from being twisted in the tire and there may be more areas just waiting to let go. Standard 26" tube is probably a good idea if you want to save weight on a tube for a 24x3. It just might be a bit tough to get the tube in position without any folds since it will be sort of long when slightly inflated for installation.
On the subject of a tire i have a Hookworm that I used for cruising around town and the occasional jaunt on the trails. It is really heavy for its size but has very stable sidewalls and is a great tire as long as the ground is dry. It had surprisingly good grip is almost anything dry but as soon as there is some water the tire seems to loose all traction.
At this point pictures would probably give us the answer. You can usually see how much of the tube was folded on the tube itself. I have certainly replaced tubes before, and this may be a good time to do it; however, If you use one of the long oval patches and place it along the fold it will reinforce the area as well as patching the hole.
In the end, whether new tube or patch, it’s the installation that needs work.
Thanks everyone. I have changed many bicycle tires and have never had a problem. This is my first unicycle flat. The tube came in the tire this way (not from UDC). I was surprised to see how the tube was not just folded but twisted completely around in two places. I can patch the hole no problem. I was just concerned about the “warped” shape of the tube. I haven’t fixed it yet since I’ve been riding the 26". That will be tomorrow’s project since the weather is not going to be so nice.