Pinch flat repair?

Unicycles and Equipment
1

I had a TWO hole punctures at the same time today due to a nasty pinch flat…yeah I just didn’t have enough air in my tire at the time, my bad! :astonished: Anyway, upon removing the tube I noticed TWO straight cuts about 3" apart.

The last pinch flat I had produced just a small “pin” hole but this time each cut was approx. 3mm in lentgh. I have been using these little “invisible” patches, which are basically peel & stick, and they have worked very well; I have yet to have one come off or leak.

But now with these particular cuts I’m wondering if they are just too big and if they will hold since they are larger, and not round pin holes but longer “straight” cuts. Do you think these patches will hold fine, or is this tube toast?

It’s also a brand new DH tube with the metal stem, so I hope it will be ok as it wasn’t cheap and it was also hard to find locally in 24X3 size!

2

get one of the rubber cement patching kits from your lbs. those work great, might be a little work, but they work great.

3

Well I already patched it with the peel & stick squares. I’m not sure I would be able to remove these patches; but maybe that’s a good thing if they’re on that strongly!:slight_smile: Here’s what I used: http://www.ems.com/catalog/product_detail_square.jsp?PRODUCT<>prd_id=845524442588929&FOLDER<>folder_id=2534374302871634

http://www.argear.com/gear/grparksuperpatchkit.html

4

well, if they are on ther dont try to pull them off. You know what they say, if it aint broke dont fix it

5

I’m not getting fat! I just don’t have enough air in my tire!

(well, that’s my lame-o excuse, anyway)

6

“Snake bite.” Been there many times. Best fix: replace the tube. Tube was expensive? Then I guess that’s an expensive lesson.

To prevent, use more pressure like you said. A wider rim is good prevention too.

Last time I tried to patch a pinch flat, the repair job blew wide open at a very inopportune time. Attempt repair at your own peril.

7

haha I had purposely let a lot of air out earlier in my attempt to 1-foot pedal down stairs! I just didn’t have my hand pump with me to bring it back up afterwords! I’m just lucky I didn’t tweak my rim;the drop/gap was pretty high/long.

8

I have always used rubber cement and either a chunk of old inner tube or actual rubber patches and have never had a patch leak. A 3mm hole should be no problem to patch. You should only have to replace your tube if the stem is wreaked or you can stick you finger in the hole.

9

those stick on patches are only temporary, in my opinion. whenever i have to use one of those on the road…i come back, peel it off, and put on a “real” glue on patch. the stick on ones have never held well for me, but i’ve never had a problem with the glue on.

so yeah, i’d say get a proper patch kit, follow the instructions, and patch it.

10

I found that duct tape works just as well as the stick on patches, seriously. They both last just as long as each other (well at least the patces I have anyway). I like the glue on ones, they take a bit longer to fix the tube but they are worth it.

11

I’ve used the stick-on patches for my commuter b*ke for ages, and they’ve very rarely failed. But I’ve always just replaced snake-bitten tubes as lost causes.