My wife is doing IM Moo and has Tufo tubulars. I have the Tufo liquid repair but I am wondering what is the best way to repair tubulars during the race.
You’ll need to carry a valve core removal tool. I have mine on an elastice around the tube of sealant
Remove the valve core, insert sealant, reinstall the valve core, slowly spin the tire to spread the sealant. Insert air (place a finger over the hole in sealant is coming out).
Another option is to preinstall the tufo sealant
Here’s a flat repair check list:
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2 CO2 cartridges with air dispenser
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1 pre-glued spare
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1 razor blade
Flat repair:
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use razor to cut across flat tire
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rip flat tire off rim
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put new pre-glued tire on rim
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blow up tire
Your flat replacement will take about 3 minutes. The flat is toast anyway, so, just cut it and rip it off, takes about 30 seconds. ive done this tons of time faster then you can ever think about chaning a clincher. BTW - never in a race…they’ve all then training flats. I use tubulars to train and race on. Never had a flat in a race…no need to knock on wood…I just make sure I have brand new rubber for every race : )
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Thanks. I was looking for a tool but didn’t know it was a valve core tool. Will send my wife to the bike shop to get one. I don’t think she’ll want to be ripping the tire of in the race. She is very impatient. Maybe that is why she beats me.
Before she removes the core on a flat tire she’ll want to identify the cause of the flat. If it’s a very big hole or cut it will not be repairable with the sealant and she’ll want to switch right away to the backup tire.
What type of wheels?
If a deep aero wheel…you’ll need to take off the tire in order to take off the extender/valve core. Much less fuss for her to install a pre-glued tubie as you’re not guaranteed results with the sealant.
At this point, if she/you are nervous, put sealant in now as a preventive measure.
Good luck, see you on Friday.
I run with the sealant. If you have a flat and it’s sealable, it will take care of itself, and you may never notice. If it’s beyond repair, your still sunk. I’d put in the glue and carry a spare. I put in the glue and prayed the whole way. If you put in the sealer, always keep the valve on top when adding or letting out the air. If on the bottom, the sealant will come out and make a mess. They are very durable tires, so I worried less.
Here’s a link to the tool
http://www.tri-sports.com/tufvalextool.html
**SWoo ** brought up a great point. It’s a waste of time to use the sealant if the tire’s badly damaged
For a disc or Hed 3 its also good to have a CO2 chuck that the crack pipe will fit in. Parc isn’t good but Genuine Innovations is. A glove may be nice too if taking your shirt off to hold the frozen pipe, chuck and cylinder isn’t an option.
brand new rubber for every race???
have much do you make, or are you sponsered???
See the signature line below. I own my own business and make emough money that my wife lets me buy an toys I want.
If I do a bunch of races in row, I won’t train on the race wheels at all and I’ll just use the same tires.
I always wondered if there was money in B and Bs. But then, you have to be nice to people? How are your weekends?
Can I have your (slightly) used tubulars?
When do you get the time to train? B&B’s are a lot of work, no?
B&B’s are indeed alot of work. I never get to train in group rides on weekends. But we do bring in a staff member to help with breakfast on race weekends. You make a good living while you are there, but you make the big money when you sell, if you are able to increase annual gross revenues. Every dollar you raise gross revenue, equals $5 dollars when you sell. We own each Inn for 1.5 years, then sell. If you raise revenues from 100K to 200k per year, then you make 500K when you sell!! Your Inn is basiclly worth 5X the annual gross revenue. Very simple, not rocket science. Our plan is to own 3 Inns in about 5 years, then retire!! So far so good…We are well ahead of the game after 2.5 years.