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[Rods2]

Phone call from my daughter this evening. Had I got a bike puncture repair kit and could I fix a puncture on the oldest grandson's bike as he has his cycling proficiency test tomorrow?

He had ridden over a thorn bush, so there were several thorns visible in the front tyre. Where my daughter was ferrying the three grandsons to and from birthday parties today and her partner was working so he had not got time to fix the puncture, my daughter made the mistake of dropping it off at Hellfrauds to REMOVE the thorns and fix it. They fixed the puncture by badly fitting a new inner tube, which went down as soon as the grandson tested the bike. The effing retards had not bothered to remove the thorns that they were told about from the tyre. So it looks like at Hellfrauds as well as SlowFit you need a degree to work there these days, a degree in stupidity.

So Grandad to the rescue, all thorns removed, puncture repaired and ready for tomorrow.

Still a tornado will be turning up at HellFrauds tomorrow, where my daughter does not take any prisoners when she has to suffer from fools.

[Bigron]

Too late to help you now, Rods, but a few years back my son had a habit of riding his bike into things and collecting punctures, so after tiring of mending them I filled the inner tubes with OKO (I think that was what it was called), a rubber solution liquid that seals on contact with the outside air.
I never had to mend a puncture after that, but the most remarkable thing was he often rode on rough terrain and through thorny areas - still no problem.
Eventually he grew up a bit and gave up cycling, so out of curiosity I took the inner tube out - it was riddled with hundreds (honestly, hundreds!) of puncture that were effectively sealed by the bright green rubber solution that had sealed them all!
Many thorns were still in evidence, some of which had caused splits as the bike was still ridden hard with them in place.
If this magic product is still available, maybe you might consider using it as a preventative measure?

Ron.

[Bigron]

It doesn't hurt to Google!
I did remember the name correctly and they are still in business:-  http://www.oko.com/

Ron.

[Vamps]

It doesn't hurt to Google!
I did remember the name correctly and they are still in business:-  http://www.oko.com/

Ron.

That seems a handy product...........

[Rods2]

It doesn't hurt to Google!
I did remember the name correctly and they are still in business:-  http://www.oko.com/

Ron.

Thanks for the link, website visited and bookmarked. It looks like good stuff. It is his birthday in a few weeks, so he might just get a can of this, along with other presents.

[shyboy]

Also Google 'Slime' tyre sealant. Does a great job.

[Terbs]

That's great post, matey....my bike at the pikey van has always got punctures. Did not see a price though, but suppose it can't be that expensive.
It would of course reduce my daily exercise, not having to pump up tyres

[Steve B]

That's great post, matey....my bike at the pikey van has always got punctures. Did not see a price though, but suppose it can't be that expensive.
It would of course reduce my daily exercise, not having to pump up tyres

Just over £9 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OKO-TYRE-SEALANT-ANTI-PUNCTURE-OFF-ROAD-1250ML-STOP-PUNCTURES-/361019981131?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item540e77bd4b

[Terbs]

Cheers mate, just found OKO sales also

http://okosales.co.uk/shop/

I shall be getting some of this

[Gaffers]

As you know I do a lot of miles on my trusty fleet of bicycles and I regularly get punctures, especially when the road is wet.  There is something about wet rubber which means it punctures more easy, not 100% sure why.

I use the green slime on most of my bikes, it works pretty well although my aim is to reduce rolling resistance and weight in order to increase my average speed.  It's only a few percent difference but over a hundred or so miles it makes a big difference, especially on hilly competitions.

That said, it wont protect against the b@astard of all punctures that is slate clippings or it's slightly less annoying brother "the rim killer stone" (which you cant see until it's too late)  For that I always carry a couple of inner tubes with a spare tyre and/or a section of old tyre cut out for those bigger holes which you place inside the damaged area to stop the new tube blowing out of the hole.  This saved my arse once in the Alps when I was 30 miles from my hotel, with no support, no phone signal and on a sunday when the Taxis wouldn't even answer their phones let alone work.  When riding the carbon rims I use tubular tyres so I can get about 160-180 PSI in the tyres, they are rated to 200 but then you have to allow for rolling and braking heat.  When they blow out you rather know about it!


Back the OPs post, if they fitted the new tube without removing the old thorns then that is pretty negligent.  If someone had been riding it afterward and came off because of the new puncture then I guess it would fall under the same legal responsibilities as if a mechanic failed to fix a safety related item properly and it failed shortly afterward.

In your favour, the managers at Halfords are generally pretty generous when they get it wrong.  I once had the wrong bottom bracket delivered to a store which I needed to take out to france for my bike over there.  They would not be able to get another one in before I left so he get the best quality model he had in the shop that would fit and gave it to me.