I spent some time on an as good new Vittoria Corsa Evo SC which I got from a colleague. He tried to fix a small puncture with liquid latex but did not succced and he wanted to throw the tubular away.

After reading this topic and some other tubular repair topics on internet I openend the tubular for about 10cm of the valvehole, replaced the inner tube with a new latex inner tube (Vredestein), sewed it up again. Checked it and at last I glued the basetape back into place and put the tubular on a spare rim.

I inflated it up to 10 bar and it is holding with no bumps etc.

I only repaired a flat tubular once before so I do not have a lot of experience. But take your time, work carefully and do not hurry and you will succeed. Most member of the cycling club call me crazy for using tubulars. I agree that it takes more time compared to clinchers but it is no rocket science and I simply like the ride

By the way, I use Bison Kit as glue for the basetap which is, as far as I know, the same as Barge Cement.

http://www.bison.net/en/

If you have question about replacing an inner tube please let me know. Next time I will take pictures.

Second tub puncture today whilst out on a training ride, I fired a can of Vittoria PitStop into which fixed the flat.

Each time this has happened I've used an entire can- should I be doing so, or would half a can work fine and leave me with some left for the next flat?

Hi,

Ideally a punctured tubular should be replaced by a spare preglued tyre you're supposedly carrying with you.

If you must use Pittstop then there often is no need to empty the entire can into the faulty tubular. Use whatever it takes to fix it and provides you with enough pressure to head back home.

IME experience this product does not work reliably at all though.
More often than not the fix is only temporary even when it seems fine at first. The problem seems to be that it won't take any higher pressure than the one that actually fixed the puncture. Next day the tyre may deflate again as you reinflated the tyre to its usual pressure and load it some more by actually riding the bike.
That, plus all the other disadvantages most of these products come with.
Quite frankly of all of the similar products out there Pittstop is one of the worst and about twice as expensive as some lesser known brands which do a better job.

I only use liquid latex a la Jevelot or Tufo to fix very small punctures, the ones that aren't visible to the naked eye, at home.
That often allows me to repair those tubulars without having to actualy open them up, etc.
Works fine most of the time and since it does not require much of the product to work well it also reduces the typical drawbacks of said products.

Ciao,

_________________
Being a snob is an expensive hobby.

Thanks for the advice.

So, what product would you recommend instead of PitStop, i.e. a pressurised sealant that'll get you home?

(You are going to hate this, but I've used tape on these wheels, I did have a spare tub in my bag but just wanted to get back on the bike to finish my training ride last night).

Hi,

According to a recent test in french mag "Le Cycle" the cheap and cheerful B'Twin (Decathlon) worked best followed closely by similar products from Hutchinson, Mafac, Michelin and Zefal.
I can't help but notice that quite a few look identical in every respect except for the printing on the package....

There were only 8 candidates included in the test. Mostly those that are "Made in France" so to speak or at least readily available on the market in Western-Europe.

Hopefully others will chip with accounts of their fav product.

Ciao,

_________________
Being a snob is an expensive hobby.

I know I am so lazy so I am gonna ask this question at the risk of being shot down in flames.

Having covered a little over 600kms on a set of Veloflex Criteriums (very plush) I noticed on my last outing that the tyres have a few (read small) nicks and splits in the them ( less than 5mm long).

Nothing to worry about I am sure but what is the best method for managing these please ?

Is it :-

Option A - Do nothing.

Option B - Glue the splits / nicks to stop them from spreading further.

Option C - Swap out tubular and keep as (expensive) spare ???

I'm loving the feel of riding on tubulars and enjoy the extra skill set I have had to learn to feel confident in glueing, mounting, prepping rim etc ...

All advice gratefully received

_________________
Enigma Echo

Hi,

Option A - Do nothing.

Ciao,

_________________
Being a snob is an expensive hobby.

That's all good for me, thanks for the advice

_________________
Enigma Echo

I'd be very intersted to know more about changing the inner tube on tubulars.

_________________
cycling,a great individual sport,were you can't reach anything,whithout group effort.

@ atakaoka

Somewhere ( i forget where, might be off sheldon browns website) that details how to change a complete tube.

From what i remember, it advocates cutting the tube, and fastening a new latex tube cut in a similar place to it, then drawing it through with the old one.

Once in place, you then overlap the 2 ends of the new tube together and glue.

Ive never had to do this so cant say if it works or not...let us know

_________________
Official cafe stop tester

Hi,

I'm sure I have described the procedure a few times already, just don't seem to find it somehow.

Anyhow, here's the link mentioned by jekyll man:

http://sheldonbrown.com/brandt/tubular-repair.html

Scroll down to "Tube Replacement".

Ciao,

_________________
Being a snob is an expensive hobby.

Thanks Guys,helps a lot.
later I let know how it goes.

_________________
cycling,a great individual sport,were you can't reach anything,whithout group effort.

I used the tips from Sheldon Brown and from this website.

However, when I tried to pull the new, splitted, inner tube through the tubular by attaching it, with a knot, to the old inner tube the old one snapped. So I had no inner tube left in the tubular. As a result I had to, do not know the wright English term, "feed" a string line through the tubular which went quite easily. I used the string line, attached to the new inner tube, to pull the new inner tube through the tubular.

Next time I will not try to pull a new inner tube directly with the old one through the tubular. The knot is to big and most likely it will snap. Pull a string line (small but strong line) through the tubular with the old inner tube and use the string to pull the new inner tube. This will work much easier. Use talcum power. This will fascillitate the "pulling through".

For joining the end of the new innertube I used the same manner as described in the part "Splicing the Tube". I only used 3 cm's instead of one for rejoining and I was carefull not to get any glue past the joining parts. I used normal patch cement which worked ok. I tested the seam with a little, pressure.

I re-stitched the tubular with waxed dental floss and I tried to use the existing holes as much as possible. Be carefull not to stitch into the floss again when going backwards because it will tear. After checking air tightness at 9 barg a glued the base tap back with Bison Kit. (a flexible contact cement and I think allmost the same as Barge Cement)

The tubular is on a spare rim and I kept it inflated at 9 barg for several days and it was holding fine.

i wouldnt bother doing it yourself its not as easy as one might think. sewing is hard getting strip back on is very hard.

Hi,

Generally speaking sewing up a tubular by hand is not hard. Once you've done it a few times it becomes obvious what to pay attention to so the tubular is as round as it was before.

The key with putting the base tape back on straight is to not cut it and to remove only as much as strictly necessarily. I agree that this is often the hardest part of the repair.

Most of the (true) handmade tubulars are pretty straightforward to repair, it's the machine made ones that are often causing a headache....
Which is why you don't buy them in the first place.

Ciao,

_________________
Being a snob is an expensive hobby.