Puncture repair 'plugs' - safe?

[Sergeant Pluck]

I had a puncture on the rear the other day, by no means my first, but the first time I've taken it to a professional fitter to have it repaired.

They removed the offending spike and cut a whole in the tyre, and filled it with a rubber 'plug'!

Has anyone got any experience of these? Are they OK?! Am I right to be mildly paranoid about it when whizzing down the M4 at 90, or are they a normal fix, totally safe and nothing to worry about?!

pr0ne

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

If they did it professionally - and you better hope they did - then it should be pretty good. ( or perfect at least )

Most places wouldn't DARE repair a bike tyre cos of the possible consequences.

I personally - have repaired one and ridden round france on it.

Mike O in his travels recently had a few recurring problems with a DIY plug - however it went down slowly rather than suddenly.

A tricky call , but its only your life ......??

 

[MikeO]

My Tyre-Plugger repair kit worked without a snag the first time I used it - on a very small hole. The tyre was virtually new and the repair lasted for 5k miles (untilthery tyre wore out).

The second time I used it, the hole was very big - probably at the upper limit of what the plug was designed to deal with. It seemed to cope with this OK, so long as I stayed off gravel - I didn't

In retrospect, I should've got a vulcanised patch put on the inside - the hole was just too big. For a 'normal' sized hole, I'd have no hesitation in using the tyre as normal...

Mike

 

[MiGSel]

I have succesfully used a red cord-type plug on my previous Tourance rear tyre. Did about 5000 km after the fix, without a problem.

I didn't do this with my K1200RS, but with the GS usually go a lil' slower

Cheers,
Michel

 

[schnauzer]

I've used my 'progressive' puncture kit on a couple of occasions, but I basically stuck to 50mph, rode home and binned the tyre....
I'd basically just got no confidence in the bung holding up......

 

[Mick_rw]

I have...

had two tyres repaired by Mitcheldever tyres and never had any problems, one was repaired only after a couple of hundred miles on a new tyre which was then replaced 10,000+ miles later.

 

[Fanum]

On the continent, plug type puncture repairs are the norm and they are classed as permanent....I had a couple on my old F650 and they lasted for the remaining life of the tyre...

 

[Harv]

...of course..

...you could do the unmentionable and shove a tube in it.
I rode 4k miles around the Pyrenees on a Vara with a tube...loads of people warned ahainst imbalance etc etc but it worked.

 

[Sergeant Pluck]

thanks all - no horror stories then. i'm happy to forget about the repair now.....

pr0ne

 

[ahutcheon]

Why are people so afraid of plugs - surely if they fail then you've got a puncture, but you just had one of those and survived, hence the plug?

Am I missing something (about the tyre repairs - I've decended Alps on easy-deflate bicycle tyres with rims too hot to touch due to braking, so there might be a common sense deficiency).

 

[Sergeant Pluck]

Am I missing something

I think so. My plug is nearly a centimetre across. If that baby pops out champaigne cork style at motorway speeds - that tyre is going to deflate sharpish and you is in trouble!

The puncture itself was caused by a big nail which caused good damage to the tyre, but deflated it in a nice slow and controlled fashion - hence me not only not falling off, but actually being able to ride it to the tyre fitters place.

pr0ne

 

[adamski49]

Prone

Obviousy I haven't seen the repair but a cm across!!! That sounds a bit big.

All repairs I've had done were using a 'mushroom' type bung that's pulled through from the inside of the tyre and they're only about 5mm across max, possbily less.

The bit that worries me is your line "They removed the offending spike and cut a whole in the tyre" Why did they cut a hole? They normally just rasp the hole, add some glue, let it go tacky and then pull the bung through.

I'm no tyre fitter but surely cutting holes risks damaging the cords in the carcass possibly leading to failure at a later date?

Adam

 

[Sergeant Pluck]

Adamski - You're probably right - I wasn't paying too much attention to what the guy did, what the bung looked like, etc - just a coursory glance.... Actually - if the plug is mushroom-shaped that would make total sense as it would stop it 'blowing out', which is primarily what I was worried about.

Cheers,

pr0ne

 

[Mick Fagan]

The mushroom plugs that I have, require a 6mm hole drilled into the tyre before it can be inserted.

Perhaps, that is what happened?

Mick.

 

[carbold]

On the continent, plug type puncture repairs are the norm and they are classed as permanent....

Exactly, in Italy this thread would have been abit odd...I think sometimes British riders are too obsessed by safety - if you can take the criticism. For example, the no-jeans thing...