caecilius wrote:I've just taken delivery of some PunctureSafe on the recommendation of Data and Waldorf. I've been carrying a puncture kit and gas canisters around for the last years but I never used them. I did have a rear wheel puncture once - which I only knew about when the Beverly's traction control detected it and started messing with the engine management. But on that occasion I chickened out of using the kit and hobbled to the nearest garage and pumped up sufficiently to get home.
I hope the Puncturesafe will take care of me in future. It seems to make blowouts manageable, so that has to be a good thing.
Alan

Puncturesafe is the one I use as it was recommended by Data.

Meldrew wrote:I've never had much faith in those CO2 cartridges inflating a tyre from flat either...

For anybody who does carry them - carry at least two to get a decent pressure

Always wear gloves or insulate yourself from the cartridge. When they discharge they get extremely cold, sometimes cold enough to frostbite or damage skin or at the least make you let go of them.

(Physics - pressure change =temperature change.
Same reason a bicycle pump heats up and a fridge cools things)

Meldrew wrote:I've used Puncturesafe for years and Ultrasafe before that. It's all very well carrying a tubeless repair kit but in the event of a puncture you need to be somewhere safely out of the way of passing traffic to attempt to plug it. It isn't if you practice plugging a punctured tyre a few times to get the hang of it, reaming the hole out for the plug and all the rest of it. Could you do it in the dark, when it's pissing down with rain, or were in danger of being hit by a car etc. That tubeless repair kit you've carried for years may be well past it's use by date by the time you actually need it

I've never had much faith in those CO2 cartridges inflating a tyre from flat either, and you've be a knackered sweaty mess after trying to pump 25 to 30 psi into a flat tyre unless you're also carrying a decent cycle track or foot pump.

That's a fair point Meldrew and I agree with you about the potential danger and difficulties fixing the tyre, let alone trying to pump it up it in those types of situations.

You reminded me of a long and lonely 500 mile ride home to Scotland on my CX500 when I only carried that old '80's foam (Tyreweld? I think) and my rear tyre went down late at night a hundred miles away from home. No mobiles, nothing open, dark, lonely and a poor student to boot! The foam partially worked but I managed to crawl home in the early hours as the tyre was still going down.

I have however had great success with my plugs and pump but the conditions were good and safe to do the fix. I must admit that I hadn't stopped to think about being stuck in the situation you mentioned above, with only a plug kit and pump. As a result of that 'long night of the knives' in the Scottish Boarders I've carried a plug kit around ever since; which doesn't in any way mean that I'm poo-pooing the Puncturesafe route. I've never considered Punturesafe because of that 'foam nightmare', and even now after years of reading about its efficaciousness I still ponder about using it. Perhaps that makes me fool.
I might be persuaded though.

We all tend to stick with what has worked for us previously, don't we?

So is this Puncturesafe very good? If it seals punctures on the run then you wouldn't know about a puncture however, would you? This is when checking your tyres regularly would be prudent.

The old Tyreweld stuff was utterly hopeless....I carried a can round in the car for years and when I finally needed it, I only got a little squirt! But the modern gunges are completely different products - they go in before they are needed. As I've mentioned even the new ones don't work everytime, and can create problems if they don't, so if you are happy with plug kits I'd stick to that. I just get the AA to do it for me!

Ahhhh, Finilec, that takes me back, more a case of swear at it than swear by it. I have a bottle of goo under the saddle, possibly I should put it in the tyre but the rate I get through tyres at it seems pointless. I also have under the saddle the pump that I liberated from my Zafira B before trading it in, now that IS a pump.

Capt. R Swipe wrote:

Meldrew wrote:I've used Puncturesafe for years and Ultrasafe before that. It's all very well carrying a tubeless repair kit but in the event of a puncture you need to be somewhere safely out of the way of passing traffic to attempt to plug it. It isn't if you practice plugging a punctured tyre a few times to get the hang of it, reaming the hole out for the plug and all the rest of it. Could you do it in the dark, when it's pissing down with rain, or were in danger of being hit by a car etc. That tubeless repair kit you've carried for years may be well past it's use by date by the time you actually need it

I've never had much faith in those CO2 cartridges inflating a tyre from flat either, and you've be a knackered sweaty mess after trying to pump 25 to 30 psi into a flat tyre unless you're also carrying a decent cycle track or foot pump.

That's a fair point Meldrew and I agree with you about the potential danger and difficulties fixing the tyre, let alone trying to pump it up it in those types of situations.

You reminded me of a long and lonely 500 mile ride home to Scotland on my CX500 when I only carried that old '80's foam (Tyreweld? I think) and my rear tyre went down late at night a hundred miles away from home. No mobiles, nothing open, dark, lonely and a poor student to boot! The foam partially worked but I managed to crawl home in the early hours as the tyre was still going down.

I have however had great success with my plugs and pump but the conditions were good and safe to do the fix. I must admit that I hadn't stopped to think about being stuck in the situation you mentioned above, with only a plug kit and pump. As a result of that 'long night of the knives' in the Scottish Boarders I've carried a plug kit around ever since; which doesn't in any way mean that I'm poo-pooing the Puncturesafe route. I've never considered Punturesafe because of that 'foam nightmare', and even now after years of reading about its efficaciousness I still ponder about using it. Perhaps that makes me fool.
I might be persuaded though.

We all tend to stick with what has worked for us previously, don't we?

So is this Puncturesafe very good? If it seals punctures on the run then you wouldn't know about a puncture however, would you? This is when checking your tyres regularly would be prudent.

Captain, if you get a puncture on the move you may not be aware of it at the time especially if the nail or screw comes out as you ride. However, when doing your next tyre check, PunctureSafe WILL tell you you've had a puncture by marking the place with a blue dye. Easy to see!