I need some help. Without regurging the virtues and vices of tubulars v clinchers, suffice it to say that I dont have the option at this point in time. I have tubulars on my racing wheelset. 6 mos is a long time to give to a race just to DNF from a flat. In the past I have been extremely lucky and not flatted with tubulars in a race. During that time I had just carried a pre-glude/pre-stretched tubular spare as a one shot, last chance at changing a flat tubie at road side. It has been suggested to me that Fast’Air by Hutchinson (A Fix-A-Flat clone) might be a better option. I have bought two cans. One for the race and one to practice with. The problem is, I can’t justify a 100 dollar experiment by puncturing one of my tubulars. So, I took an old punctured clincher innertube. No clincher rim or clincher tire, just the flimsy tube. The stuff seemed to inject through the valve extender and presta valve and into the inner tube, but it just came out the puncture hole without sealing it.
Was this a result of it being a flimsy innertube, using bad technique, too large of a puncture, bogus product? Please help. I need some sort of confidence that, if I flat, this product will work and that I dont need a mechanic’s license to be able to use it.
I have used Vittoria Pitstop which I think is the same type of product, I have never flatted in a race but on a training ride with my Hed 3 tubulars I got a flat. The pitstop worked great, think I went about 20 miles on it to home. I velcro’d a can to my top tube in my last 3 races but luckily didnt need it. I also carried a spare tire though, incase it didnt work, I have 650’s and the bike support usually carry 700s.
I would put some pressure on wherever you see the stuff coming out(while on the wheel, your tire would act as pressure on the blown inner tube and even then you might need to apply pressure by hand to assist). It works just like a human cut. The “clotting” from the sealant sometimes takes a while. Often you’d need extra air(a hand pump would be better at controlling the amount of air than a CO2 in this case) to get it back up to pressure.
i plan on carrying 1 can of Vittoria PS and one spare tubie for IMOO. Here is a vid of how to use it. Im sure its similar to the product you bought. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e21-MHy1eE
