Hey, little buddy, here you are!

[weisan]

I got a pair of nice but used pair of Vitt. Elites (tub) from a pal here a short while back. The seller has fully disclosed the fact that one of them has a slow leak and I told him I will still take them regardless. So, earlier today, I got to do a bit of detective work to find out where the leak might be coming from....:D

Any suggestion on how I might plug that leak? :hello:

[eBAUMANN]

mmmm sealant with some glitter mixed in?

[hollowgram5]

I've used orange seal and Stan's before. I prefer the orange seal just because it doesn't clump as quickly.

Somewhere on slowtwitch there's a review of sealants and their effectiveness.. Don't have it pulled up on my phone right now though.

[djg21]

I used this when I rode on tubulars before there was such a thing as sealant.

http://www.amazon.com/Velox-27232374-Tubular-Repair-Kit/dp/B001CK2JTW

I got pretty good at sewing tubulars, but repaired tubulars most often became spares.

Edited to fix Apple autocorrect gibberish.

[Dead Man]

I used this when I rode on tubulars before there was such a thing as sealant.

http://www.amazon.com/Velox-27232374-Tubular-Repair-Kit/dp/B001CK2JTW

I got pretty good at sewing tubulars, but toast he'd tubulars became spares.

What do you think of that basetape sealant that comes with it and is the tube enough to do a whole tire? Have some tubulars that need whole new innertubes, and actually have enough life left to make it economical

[djg21]

What do you think of that basetape sealant that comes with it and is the tube enough to do a whole tire? Have some tubulars that need whole new innertubes, and actually have enough life left to make it economical

I think you have wrong idea about how to fix a leak in a tubular. You remove only a couple inches at most of the base tape and open only about an inch or two of the seam near the leak. You then patch the internal tube (latex in good Vittorias), resew the seam and reglue the small section of base tape you lifted. You don't remanufacturer the tire.

It's a pain in the ass, but works, and was oddly therapeutic. It's also one of the reasons why I now ride clinchers.

[Dead Man]

I think you have wrong idea about how to fix a leak in a tubular. You remove only a couple inches at most of the base tape and open only about an inch or two of the seam near the leak. You then patch the internal tube (latex in good Vittorias), resew the seam and reglue the small section of base tape you lifted. You don't remanufacturer the tire.

It's a pain in the ass, but works, and was oddly therapeutic. It's also one of the reasons why I now ride clinchers.

No... I understand perfectly. I literally have to replace the whole tubes - so I'm wondering if these little patch kits will do that.

Otherwise, I wouldn't wonder

[OtayBW]

Any suggestion on how I might plug that leak? :hello:I would quit putting that soapy water on there, and that way, it won't leak....:cool:

[djg21]

No... I understand perfectly. I literally have to replace the whole tubes - so I'm wondering if these little patch kits will do that.

Otherwise, I wouldn't wonder

There's no way you'll replace the entire tube with the Velox patch kit. Even if you could, I'd strongly doubt that your sewing skills are such that the repaired tire would be smooth and perfectly round. It also would take hours -- many mind-numbing hours -- to sew the tire casing back together by hand. Given the value of time, you might be better off purchasing a new tire.

If you are dead set on repairing the tire, there are services. A quick Google search found http://www.tirealert.com/tirealert/Welcome.html. But it isn't cheap -- $42 with a new latex tube. Maybe try them and tell us how the company does?

[Michael Maddox]

For what it's worth, you can re-tube a tubular by cutting a section of seam, cutting the tube and removing it, then replacing the tube with a cut tube that must be threaded though, then rejoined. Naturally, you then sew the seam back up. It's an old technique that works well with latex tubes. The technique seems to have been lost....though I learned it as a teenager. It helps while away the winter evenings.

[Dead Man]

For what it's worth, you can re-tube a tubular by cutting a section of seam, cutting the tube and removing it, then replacing the tube with a cut tube that must be threaded though, then rejoined. Naturally, you then sew the seam back up. It's an old technique that works well with latex tubes. The technique seems to have been lost....though I learned it as a teenager. It helps while away the winter evenings.

Wow.. Never knew you could rejoin a cut tube. If thats the case, i might not actually need to replace the whole tubes in these.

[weisan]

C-section.

[Michael Maddox]

You can always count on Sheldon and Jobst...

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

Notice "Splicing the Tube," down the page.

[cachagua]

Wonder if it'd be smart to first join (or somehow attach) the cut end of the old tube, to one end of the new one... so that you pull the new one in all in the same motion as removing the old one?

Or is that what Sheldon and Jobst recommend. I didn't follow the link yet.

[ultraman6970]

+1 with mr maddox... is doable, done it so far like 4 time if im not mistaken (or old :p)

I posted the way to do this in another thread, even posted a picture of how needs to be done. What you do is to open a section maybe 2 or 3 inches away from the valve, then you cut the tubular and put it out.

Grab a latex tube cut it in the same place than the one extracted, grab something like a long piece of wire and tie a piece of cord to it, then pass it all the way in to the tubular, then attach that cord to the latex tube and start pulling little by little, put some talc to make your life easier. Then the trick is how to do the joint.

This is how you join the tube... not terrible hard but once you have it done the 1st time the next time is piece of cake.

http://cdn.velonews.competitor.com/files/2010/03/splicetube.jpg




Regarding the Op's puncture, I would just go and fix it as it needs to be done, open, patch and sew back.

[oldpotatoe]

It works great, Stans, Orange Seal(my preference), even last gen Slime(pretty good stuff these days)..Dry it out, mount on wheel(not glued), goop in valve, spin around, air it up and check..It 'may' be too big to seal..I fix my tubulars, not hard. The hardest part is finding the hole..

Base tape off that section, seam ripper to open sewed up part, pull tube partially out, patch with patch kit..stuff back in, resew up with either chain stitch or baseball stitch. Gotta have a thimble and I use a 3 sided, small carpet needle. I use Weldwood contact cement to reglue section of base tape. Wait 24 hours-go ride.