bkkboy

Recently, I cycled for seven days from Germany to Vienna along the Danube River, about 350 km. The bike rental in Passau only hired bikes with puncture-less tires, which I was not happy with. The shop explained that if I got a puncture, I take the wheel to the nearest bike shop which would repair it for about $15, which they would refund. Considering I could change a normal tire in less than five minutes, this was not a good solution for me. Although I did not have a puncture, the nearest bike repair shop could have been 15 km away, how would I get there and back? Some parts of the track did not have mobile phone coverage, and being away from a main road there would have been no taxis appearing. Since I am likely to cycle the same route next year, is there a quick way I can repair a puncture-less tire? One cyclist said I could buy a pressure container that squirts glue, or something, into the tire. providing a temporary fix. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Thanks

Andrew R Stewart 

I long ago learned to not use "punctureless" as the term if the tire still needed air pressure. Simi pneumatic, solid or foam filled tire are examples of what I consider to be true flat proof tires and all ride pretty poorly compared to the standard air filled tires.

Do you know which "system" the rental shop uses? A liquid sealant? Barrier protection (Mr Tuffy, Kevlar casing plies are examples), other? Knowing what you would need to deal with might eliminate the repair methods that won't apply and save you frustration.

My assumption is that the bikes have a sealant in the tire tubes. If so than the usual removal of the punctured but still somewhat sealant filled tube and replacing it with a common non sealant filled tube should do the trick. One thing to remember that while most all the flat resistant methods will reduce the likelihood of a flat when a puncture does happen there's a good chance the hole will be too large to patch and the tire casing might also see damage. The longer the offending object is allowed to remain in the tire casing it will continue to chew away the tire and tube as the sealant tried to plug the hole. In time this can result is a much larger issue then a tiny poke would.

I would carry the usual flat tire repair tools and such that also match what the rental bike's tires need. Andy

grumpus

Need more information about the tyres, there are various puncture-resistant and airless tyre technologies. Assume they actually meant puncture resistant, otherwise they would not tell you how to deal with a puncture, so could be something like Schwalbe Marathon E-Plus which is an ordinary tyre reinforced with layers of Kevlar and a thick layer of soft rubber, these are very resistant to punctures but rather heavy. If these do puncture you repair or replace the inner tube as normal, but the tyre can be difficult to remove and refit. Otherwise there may be a separate puncture resistant band fitted between tyre and tube, and the tube may contain liquid sealant that is supposed to block any holes - in both cases you can replace the tube as normal, repairing a tube that contains sealant can be difficult as the sealant contaminates the repair site.