Saturday I popped an old'ish Veloflex. Woke up this am and decided to fix it and ride the suk'r. The defect was a 1/2" long piece of steel, perhaps an old nail that pierced clean thru the tyre and double puncture of the latex innertube....ouch more work.
To remove basetape I clamp the tyre body into my vise with plastic jaw protection and use a set of stained glass plyers (very sharp jaws) to grab an edge than yank. Bummer, the tape came off too fast and I ripped it :( No worries, after the repair was deeemed a success I used fastak to screw it down...quick and dirty repair for sure.
Pics. of the finished repair are of the section where I've resewed. No lumps, nothing to be ashamed of.
I buttered the rim, mounted the tyre, dynamited it and had a coffee than went for a ride...not a race ;) Fifty miles later looks the same.
This is not rocket science my friends.
CSB BROTHER my sewing classmates will be sew jealous of the vintage repair kit you sent. It is pretty clever, if you note the wraps? Each pair of slots contains about the right amt. of thread for one total repair. Far freakin' out. I miss the old ways yo.
I need to fix an FMB....... I picked up a staple today in the Outer Banks. There's plenty of life left here.
I will have to play around. Tried this once years ago and did not have success.
Plan to pull the tire all the way off but how do I re-attach the base tape? And where do I buy the special thread? And how about the needles? Are they special?
I flat tubulars so seldom that I really have never worried about this. But this FMB definitely has life left and they ain't cheap so it'll be worth fixing.
1. Source for thread?
2. Re-attaching the base tape?
3. Regular vulcanizing patches on the latex tubes?
World Class Cycles sells a "tubular repair kit" here. Some say you can patch latex tubes with standard patches, but I think its better to use an old latex tube if you can.
Saab2K you can use dental floss and a heavy needle in a pinch. It is easier to use a broad tip needle supplied in repair kits however. No big deal you just need to close the case. Use a thimble and a set of needle nose plyers to pull the needle thru when it gets tight. My ape hands don't grip small things so great ;) Reattach basetape with liquid latex. Works real nice.
NICE work hupomone, very nice work. I like your method to add strength to the casing cut. What is your source for liquid laytex. I *think my last bottle was from world class cycles. FWIIW I have dedicated one of my really cr@ppy stretching rims for touching up tubular sidewalls. After a repair or if I rip a tyre off and it needs some love...I stretch it on the old (clean) rim and butter up the sidewalls with liquid latex. Pimptastic.
thanks, I get the liquid latex form form world class as others have mentioned. It seems like the cotton patch adds strength to the cut and prevents grit from entering and messing with the tube. Only down side is you cant finish the repair in one shot, you have to wait for the latex to dry (over night) before you can finish the repair. on smaller cuts i just put some shoe goo on it.
Originally Posted by Too Tall
NICE work hupomone, very nice work. I like your method to add strength to the casing cut. What is your source for liquid laytex. I *think my last bottle was from world class cycles. FWIIW I have dedicated one of my really cr@ppy stretching rims for touching up tubular sidewalls. After a repair or if I rip a tyre off and it needs some love...I stretch it on the old (clean) rim and butter up the sidewalls with liquid latex. Pimptastic.
I have ordered the repair kit and the liquid latex from World Class Cycles. We'll see how it goes. I hate having a dead but nearly new Veloflex starting at me from the wall every time I pull the bike out for a ride. This one died far too young and must be revived and ridden. Normally I can justify chucking them if they have a thousand miles or so, but the one in question had maybe 150-200 miles. Worth fixing. I'm gonna try it.
So I flatted a 24mm Vittoria Pave today. Not two minutes into pulling it off the rim an lbs shop owner/acquaintance and general cool dude rolled by and approved my first ever non-cross tire glue job. But anyway...
I've read that these things are not repairable. Is this true, or can I start peeling back the base tape? I assume if they are not then my only recourse is some Vittoria Pit Stop and a prayer? The cut is a pretty crappy almost sidewall job. I am a bit worried that it will bulge, but first thing's first.
So I flatted a 24mm Vittoria Pave today. Not two minutes into pulling it off the rim an lbs shop owner/acquaintance and general cool dude rolled by and approved my first ever non-cross tire glue job. But anyway...
I've read that these things are not repairable. Is this true, or can I start peeling back the base tape? I assume if they are not then my only recourse is some Vittoria Pit Stop and a prayer? The cut is a pretty crappy almost sidewall job. I am a bit worried that it will bulge, but first thing's first.
Depends how extensive the casing damage is. You can patch the inside of your tubular casing than tackle the tube and if done using thin repair materials will be lump-free.
Apparently the "non-repairable" status of new Vittoria tubs lies in the latex coating of the base tape, making it very difficult to peel back. I wish that I had known this when I was buying them. Oh well, I'll give it a shot.
Apparently the "non-repairable" status of new Vittoria tubs lies in the latex coating of the base tape, making it very difficult to peel back. I wish that I had known this when I was buying them. Oh well, I'll give it a shot.
Hey, good luck. I know other folks claim they can peel back the basetape without severe mayhem. They beat me down man!!! The good news is these are d@mn fine tubulars and seem very durable.
A decently worn rear 24mm that I rode at about 85 psi for roughly 700 miles, with a tiny puncture:
Peeling back the base tape is apparently the toughest part of patching new Vittoria tubulars. I started very carefully by using the tip of the knife on the edge of the tape in a ~1/4 inch area, running it back and forth with a gentle pressure until I got good separation from the tire. It took a bit of finesse but was surprisingly easy considering the horror stories I had read about Vittoria base tape. I had the knife through as the image below shows in less than 10 minutes (I had planned on getting an x-acto knife or something but my Leatherman did just fine so I didn't bother):
There was also a layer of very fine cloth surrounding the latex tube inside the casing, that I had to cut through.
I cemented a small boot of thin, fine material that I had laying around onto the inside of the tire at the puncture. It isn't going to stop anything sharp but I've seen others do this while repairing tubulars and it will at least keep dirt out. I then performed this colorful patch job on the tube, using an old Vittoria:
No pictures of the sewing job but I went down the length of the opening then back to the beginning, making an x pattern. I had both ends of the thread running under the pattern so it should hold itself together. This was my first time sewing up a tire so it took forever. It was by far the most time consuming part of the process. At one point I managed to stick the needle clear through the side of the casing. Luckily I didn't puncture the tube.
And finally, some liquid latex from World Class Cycles attached the base tape good as new. I made sure that I was very delicate with the tape and it conformed perfectly to the tire once I was done patching, making gluing it into place straight a breeze.
I pumped the tire up to 100 psi and let it sit overnight. Still holding air as we speak. The operation was a success, but I'm not buying Vittoria tubs for day to day riding anymore. I want something easier to patch.
I am happy to report after a 4 hour test ride that the tire feels good as new. No lumps, bumps, or any other kinds of -umps. I hope that I can take it down to the cords this time.
got s small bit of glass in my front FMB, small enough that i didn't even realize til an hour after i got home and saw the tire was flat.
found the punture, pulled the bit of glass out.
made sure i had most of the stuff i needed to repair the thing, pulled tire off.
started pulling the basetape, very hard to get more than a few mm of basetape off...noticed some fine red stitches too. looks like the basetape is actually sewn to the casing.
anyone repaired an FMB paris roubaix?
anyway i put some stan's (about 1/3 of a small bottle) and it held air all last night so might just aquaseal the sidewalls and glue it back up.
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