C
cableguy
Guest
I finally addressed the slow leak in my front tire.
To be fair, this is not my idea, but i haven't seen it addressed on here, so hopefully my search will benefit others who start their search on this site.
No punctures, scrapes, etc, so i sprayed it with soapy water and found 2 spots along the bead just barely leaking, but would explain why i was 5 pounds low twice a week. I probably should have dismounted the tire, but like most humans, I'm trying to do 2 hours of work in 1, and so i tried this:
Tools:
Large C clamp
Small scrap of wood, i found a piece of 1x3 about 8 inches long
Silicon spray
Sandpaper, flat screwdriver, putty knife, (something to scrape/cleanwith)
Spray bottle with soapy water
-Inflate the tire
-Find the leak(s) then mark where they are.
-Deflate the tire as much as possible
-Open up the C clamp and place the solid end on the tire just off the rim, where your mark is
-On the other side, place your wood scrap partly on the rim and partly on the tire, and this is what the threaded end of your clamp will screw against.
-Screw the clamp until you can see a good bit of rim, and it looks like the tire is getting away from the outer edge, but not so much that you unseat the bead. I went about 1/8" at first, then a smidge more.
-i had lots of black gook in there, and sprayed silicon, then used the screwdriver to GENTLY scrape it out. I was able to clean it well enough to not need the sandpaper. Then i sprayed it again, with the idea that the lube would help the tire slide all the way to the edge.
-inflate the tire over the recommended PSI to seat it (I went to 65), then air it down to your preferred level.
In my case both leaks stopped on the first try, YMMV.
DISCLAIMER: This is not the proper and complete repair for a leaky tire. This is one way to get out of a jam relatively easily with simple tools, with your bike fully assembled. Once you get it back to wherever, dismount the tire, thoroughly clean the rim and inspect the tire before assuming that it is fixed.
To be fair, this is not my idea, but i haven't seen it addressed on here, so hopefully my search will benefit others who start their search on this site.
No punctures, scrapes, etc, so i sprayed it with soapy water and found 2 spots along the bead just barely leaking, but would explain why i was 5 pounds low twice a week. I probably should have dismounted the tire, but like most humans, I'm trying to do 2 hours of work in 1, and so i tried this:
Tools:
Large C clamp
Small scrap of wood, i found a piece of 1x3 about 8 inches long
Silicon spray
Sandpaper, flat screwdriver, putty knife, (something to scrape/cleanwith)
Spray bottle with soapy water
-Inflate the tire
-Find the leak(s) then mark where they are.
-Deflate the tire as much as possible
-Open up the C clamp and place the solid end on the tire just off the rim, where your mark is
-On the other side, place your wood scrap partly on the rim and partly on the tire, and this is what the threaded end of your clamp will screw against.
-Screw the clamp until you can see a good bit of rim, and it looks like the tire is getting away from the outer edge, but not so much that you unseat the bead. I went about 1/8" at first, then a smidge more.
-i had lots of black gook in there, and sprayed silicon, then used the screwdriver to GENTLY scrape it out. I was able to clean it well enough to not need the sandpaper. Then i sprayed it again, with the idea that the lube would help the tire slide all the way to the edge.
-inflate the tire over the recommended PSI to seat it (I went to 65), then air it down to your preferred level.
In my case both leaks stopped on the first try, YMMV.
DISCLAIMER: This is not the proper and complete repair for a leaky tire. This is one way to get out of a jam relatively easily with simple tools, with your bike fully assembled. Once you get it back to wherever, dismount the tire, thoroughly clean the rim and inspect the tire before assuming that it is fixed.
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