kosmo886

I've been hearing of people carrying Gorilla Tape in their saddle bags. What is this used for?

Nachoman

Everything.

cyclezen

I put a few wraps of it around one of the small plastic tire levers in my saddle bag. comes in handy anytime you get some tire damage....
caught a sheetrock screw earlier in year, put a nice small hole in my tire... Two layers of gorilla tape.. and the tire held well for the remaining 25 mi. getting back to home...
Thx
Yuri - duct tape works as well...

kosmo886

That held in place of a plug?

cyclezen

Plug ??? this was not a moto...
yeah, 2 crossed layers of tape, inside the tire wall, held fine, warm but not hot day...
no 'bulge' when tire inflated - guessing 70+ish lbs - passed the thumb-press test and held for another 1.5 hrs...
tire scraped after arriving home... thankfully it wasn't a brand new one...
this time of year I carry 2 spare tubes... I live in the land of Goat heads, and it's that time of year...


nasty guyz... gettin to be that time of year...

Thx
Jurij

canklecat

Gorilla tape is too expensive to carry long term on a bike. I might stow some for a bike camping trip or tour. But not long term. I use it for sealing rims for latex tubes, or to hold cables out of the way of my front mounted video camera on a cluttered cockpit.

I've often carried first aid kits on bikes, usually in a plastic jar with screw lid sized to fit a water bottle cage. If I don't replace the tape and bandaids often they're useless after a few months. Too many extremes in temperature and humidity for storing tape long term on a bike. But I buy first aid stuff from the dollar store so it's cheap to replace every few months. Occasionally I see decent generic duct tape in the dollar stores, but never brand name Gorilla tape.

Some types of self-adhesive tube patches appear to be pretty much the same as Gorilla tape, and they don't work very well. The tube needs to be scuffed up well, then cleaned with isopropyl alcohol to remove the dust and any finger oils. PITA, but maybe useful to slow down a leak enough to limp home. Lezyne self-adhesive patches were the best but harder to find now, and those were nothing like Gorilla tape. Hard to explain, but the Lezyne patches were paper thin, very sticky, and over time tended to bond with butyl tubes just like glued patches. I've had some tubes patched with Lezyne patches for years that are still in good shape. Now *those* I would and have carried in my saddle bag for years.

Sometimes I'll use zip ties instead. Those last for years in a saddle bag. Good for some chores, but not a replacement for tape in some uses.

jaxgtr

Works like a champ. I used to keep 2 dollar bills in my bag for the same purpose, anything to keep the tube in the tire.

Vintage Schwinn

Just as JAXGTR mentioned with using Dollar Bills, ......do not forget that those TYVEK (R) material Envelopes will work exremely well also. It can be material from a used envelope or a new one sourced from the post office.

Darth Lefty 

I have a first aid kit that contains some fabric tape. There’s also gauze in there so I could build a bandaid. Although now I think about it a fabric bandaid would be an ok tire patch too.

It’s not duct tape which does not hold up well in this hot climate. Gorilla tape is basically duct tape with double the glue.

CliffordK

A few years ago I blew off about 2" or 3" of bead. We're not talking about a couple of little thorns. But, nothing holding the side of the tire on.

I didn't have any Gorilla tape, but I had my electrical tape.

I struggled with my boot, in part because I had narrow chain stays.

And, of course, it was about 70 miles into my ride, and about 20 miles to the nearest bike shop.



It was suggested that Gorilla Tape would have been better than electrical tape. If I can find my tire, I suppose it would be worth an experiment.

canklecat

For a makeshift tire boot there are lots of options. Those mylar packets used for gels and energy bars will work fine, especially the thicker gel packets. If I didn't have one on me I'd root around the nearest trash -- most snacks are overpackaged for simple sugar bombs.

And I've used aluminum cans scrounged from the roadside to quickly cut a shim to hold a handlebar when there was a slight mismatch between the bar and stem clamp. Still works fine about two years later. Learned that trick from a chapter in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance when I read it in the 1970s. As the author himself said, it's not really about Zen or motorcycle maintenance, but that particular bit from the book stuck with me because it highlighted the value of improvisation under duress.

Yup, regarding Gorilla tape, it's basically heavy duty duct tape with much stronger adhesive. After Gorilla tape sets up folded adhesive-to-adhesive surfaces it's practically impossible to separate. I haven't seen it used long enough outdoors to see whether it eventually dries out and peels away like duct tape will after several years.

Gorilla tape might hold up well enough for an emergency external tire reinforcement as CliffordK described. That sort of tire failure is why I often carry a spare folding tire on longer rides in rural areas. So far I've never needed that spare. But it doesn't weigh much or take up much room. I just Velcro-strap it under the seat bag, or stuff it under the saddle between the rails.

For now the main thing I use Gorilla tape for is to reinforce the Schwalbe high pressure rim strip I'm using in an old aero wheel for use with latex tubes. Last time I used that kind of rim strip I didn't bother reinforcing the valve stem hole. Those holes are punched oversize for Presta valves. Not a big deal with butyl tubes, but after about a year the latex extruded into the oversized hole, past the valve stem, and eventually developed a pinhole next to the valve stem. This time I used the same rim strip but added a bit of Gorilla tape over the hole punched for the valve, and used an ice pick to poke a hole just barely enough to squeeze the Presta valve through. Basically the same technique Vittoria and Silca recommend for latex tubes with tubeless rim tape rather than conventional rim strips or cloth rim tape. With luck that'll hold longer this time.

cyclezen

yeah, if the sidewall isn't badly cut, and the hole is small, most anything can work as a boot...

For keeping a tube from being cut by the rim valve hole (usually not needed on sewups), I cut a piece of old tube into about 1 inch square... then cut a small hole in center - put over the valve stem before inserting into rim... never a cut from the rim valve hole since starting to uses clinchers in '89...
also, stop using that stoopid little round threaded stem collar on outside of valve (also scrap the plastic cover) - not needed when running tubes (needed for tubeless). In fact losing the collar will keep the tube from being pulled too far into the rim value hole...

story....
when I first started riding the training rides and races, late '60s, in Central Park NYC, I would always take break across from the Boat House - where all the old Euro guyz (many who claimed to have been pros in Europe... LOL!) would sit and talk bikes, riding and racing... I would listen in (when I could understand the language)... some times ask a question... late teens learning from the only source at my disposal...
One day, early on, I had my bike leaned against one of the benches - a group of the old guyz came around to check it out (PX10) and started chuckling and pointing... One old guy told me to lose the little valve nut and cover - not needed - mark of the novice... (those days it was always sewups... same story for clincher tubes...) I've not used them since then...
...actually I do have a few covers.... I use them on my spare tubes, when rolled up tight and banded to be put into the saddlebag - the valve cover keeps the sharp edges/threads and point end of the stem from rippin into the tube, when it's rolled up tight...
ride on...
Yuri

chaadster

Shhhhh! Dude, whaddya doin’ givin’ away the best kept secret in roadside repair?!!

Seriously, though, Lezyne self adhesive patches are the best! You can still get ‘em; I just ordered some from Backcountry.com. I also recently used one to successfully patch a Schwalbe Aerothan tube, which is TPU.

Darth Lefty 

Incidentally - if you want something that's kind of like duct tape only more fabric-y and not so gooey, the product is called gaffer tape

Andy Somnifac 

You've never come across a gorilla out on the road? You'll wish you had some Gorilla Tape if you do.

woodcraft

+1 A small roll of first aid tape is more useful overall IMO. Various mechanicals, lashing, clothing and kit issues, and actual first aid.

Duct tape sucks, for the most part.

noisebeam

I keep a few wraps of duct tape around my mini tool in saddle bag. It lasts for years - about a week ago I used a bit as a boot.

Eric F 

Trust me on this...you don't want your gorilla flapping around. Gorrila Tape is the answer.

pgjackson

We had some stuff called "Ordnance Tape" in the Marines. Kind of like duct tape, but it was olive green and virtually bullet proof. I swear you could hang bombs on a aircraft wing with that stuff. Very good for taping people to walls or chairs.

himespau 

I actually used to use 2 of those nuts, one inside the rim and the other outside to clamp the valve in place so that I wouldn't push it in when I pushed my silca chuck on, but so that I also wouldn't pull it out too far and cut the tube. Somewhere along the line, I stopped. I think I had valves that were so short for the rim depth that I couldn't get the chuck to hold on if I had either nut on. I still usually leave the outer one on, but sometimes I lose it and life goes on.

chaadster

I always run nuts and caps because I get color matched ones that make my sh*t look boss.