What not to do when you have a flat tyre

[jeffs]

2 weeks ago I was out on my bike in very heavy rain. I stopped at a customer site and when I came out it was just as heavy as when I went in.

I jumped on my bike in full wet weather gear and started to ride off, just to get a few yards before realizing something was wrong.

I had a rear puncture !!!

Bugger, but not to worry I have a tyre repair kit

I wheeled the bike back to the customers site, but they had no cover so I had to inspect my bike in the full glory of an Auckland winter downpour.

AND I DO MEAN DOWNPOUR !!!!!!!!!!!

What I saw was a large nail stuck in the center of my tyre that looked to have been flattens out on the tread.

I pulled out the nail and got out my trusty gas driven tyre repair kit.

Remember it was pouring down, so to keep a bit drier I still had my helmet on and full wet over wear, so visibility and motion was restricted.

I followed the instructions and pushed the tool into the hole, but it seamed a lot harder than described in the manual, but I did get it in with some hard pushing.

I then proceeded to follow the rest of the instructions and even it the heavy rain plugged the hole.

I then started to fill the tyre with the provided gas. First one -- tyre still felt flat, then 2 -- still flat, then 3 ( my last ) and the tyre was still down, but just about rideable at low speed to get it to a bike shop and have it repaired properly.

Then the fun started. The bike shop took the tyre off and found that the nail had not gone in straight but at an angle, but unfortunately I and my tool had gone in straight ( remember my visibility was very restricted by the rain )

So the bike shop could not fix my near new tyre. ( not their fault, they can only do so much)

I had 2 holes in the tyre and the repair plugs/patches would have overlapped.

So Here is a big thing to remember if you use one of these repair tools.

If the tool does not go in easily, then you are drilling the wrong hole, and that hole is likely to cost you the price of a new tyre.

So never, never, never repair a puncture in pissing down rain in low visibility.

And if you do and ruin your tyre the only place in Auckland you can get it repaired is The Auckland Tyre Doctor in Otahu. Because I tried them all.

And a CB1300 take 3 gas cylinders to get a tyre to 15PSI. So ride very slow and stop at the next garage and pump up your tyre.

[Gremlin]

depending on your kit, cycletreads can supply you with extra cylinders. Get several

Bit of bad luck then for ya? Sounds like you've had all 3 in one hit!

[insomnia01]

this happened to me once when I went through the Forgotten highway, just came of the gravel section heading in the direction of the pub when the rear decided to come around & greet the front tyre found 4 holes used all 3 cylinders & had to gingerly ride to Stratford for more air... freakie shit when your in the middle of no where with a puncture & just enough gas to get going none the less I always carry 4 cylinders now

[240]

Whats a customer site mate ?

[riffer]

Bugger. Yes, my RF used 3 cylinders (170/60-17 rear) to fill up the tyre to rideable last time I had a puncture. Which reminds me, I need to replace those.

It sucks to fix your bike in the rain. I recently replaced my chain and sprockets on the front driveway. Clear skies when I started, by the time I was doing up the master link it was pissing down. Horrible to work on a bike in the rain.

[Usarka]

The moral of the story - if it's hard to push in you've got the wrong hole.

[Tunahunter]

The moral of the story - if it's hard to push in you've got the wrong hole.

Happened at snooker last night - guy went for the brown when he should have been on the pink!

[CookMySock]

It's just inexperience mate. You will have it next time.

Steve

[Dogboy900]

Sounds like a crap afternoon.
I carry a hand pump as well to top it up if need be but have not had to use it so far... Fingers crossed

[slofox]

Best thing i ever did re punctures was to chuck away the gas cylinders and replace with a Supercheap Autos "Thunder" 12v compressor. It is small and compact, fits in the seat bag and pumps tyres up in moments. Runs from a ciggy socket which you can jig up yourself if you are even half competent (I meantasay, I did it without blowing up anything and if a klutz like me can do it, so can you!). $69.99 full price but down to $51.97 from tomorrow, 7th July the man just told me.

Handy for regular tyre inflation as well.

[Flip]

I carry a small pushcycle pump, never had to use it.

[jeffs]

I was asked off thread if I got my tyre fixed.

The answer is yes.

With quite a lot of persistence I found 2 places that said they would look at the tyre. Most places just said no without even looking.

First was the Auckland Tyre Doctor in otahu. From the calls I made, this seems to be the place that all tyre shops take their hard fixes too.

The other was a tyre place down in Ta Papa in Hamilton, I used the Auckland tyre doctor because they where nearer.

They uses 2 plugs ( drilled out both holes ) and a large internal patch. It looks a good fix.

It was not a standard puncture hence the reluctance for most repairers to fix it.

I do have space under the seat for a small pump, so will follow up on the ideas above, because the gas cylinder is not as good as I thought it would be.

[PrincessBandit]

hahaha, sorry don't really mean to laugh. RipperRoo 92 ran over a nail on gijoe1313's 250 hornet yesterday and with Balu overseas and me in Cambridge he attempted to mend it himself with the repair kit under the seat. Without trusty mum or dad to assist he cleverly went on youtube to see how it was done. Except he managed to leave no dog poo on the outside, wondering why the gas cannister wouldn't fill the tyre.
Enter wonderful Drury tyres. They picked up the bike, and had it all fixed this evening for him. I thought that for picking up the bike and mending the tyre the cost was very reasonable.

[scracha]

Shit, a Z rated tyre is so stiff you could just ride it at 50kmph to the nearest garage.

AA Plus, mobile phone and credit card is also very useful.