sknhgy 

The tires on my 2 year old mtb are really worn. Three flats in the last two days, riding on rough gravel roads. The third was a blowout. I've never had that happen before. For an instant, I thought someone was shooting at me! I was riding on a gravel road thru the woods at a pretty good clip when I heard a loud pop and I felt air rushing by me. Then I saw that the rear tire was flat and I knew what had happened. There was a 3/8" tear in the tire and tube from a sharp piece of gravel.
I put in a new tube and began to fill it with air when I noticed the tube wanted to bubble out through the slit in the tire. So I cut a 1-1/2" square section from a Gatorade bottle and slid it under the hole between the tire and tube. It got me home and its still holding air. I ordered some new tires today. Will have to ride the other bike till the tires get here.
I'm just glad I wasn't zooming down a hill at 25 mph.

RoMad

Good thinking with the gatorade bottle. I will remember that trick and hope I never need to use it. My only blowout happened at about 16 mph on my Mtb and it was from the sidewall of the rim breaking off nearly half way around. I didn't crash but it sure got my attention.

Bill Kapaun

Supposedly, one can use a $ bill as a boot.
EDIT:
https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-mechanics/324888-when-do-dollar-bill-thing-tire.html

doctor j

+1

roccobike

It's little tips like this that make BF a great source of information. I never would have thought of the gatorade bottle or using a dollar bill.

guybierhaus

Well I was thinking about a flat today. Decided to give the Trek 1000 Trail Bike a real trial run and rode about 15 miles, with maybe 13 of it on a limestone trail. Don't bother to check the catalog, Trek doesn't actually make a 1000 Trail Bike. I converted the Trek 1000 road bike to a flat bar with mountain bike trigger shifters. Managed to fit some 28mm tyres. The result is a light weight bike, suitable for the limestone packed trails I occasionally ride. Certainly much lighter then the Trek 7200 hybrid I previously used. Anyway as is my usual practice I left for my ride forgetting something. In this case it was a pump and a spare tube. Last time I did that, I did have a flat. Also noted front tyre was low when I got to the trail. Anyway I gave it a shot. This time I lucked out. No flats, bike handles great and much faster then the hybrid. Although with all the soft spots on the trail, don't believe too much speed is a good idea. Must put together a spares bag and your trick reminds me to add something for a blow out patch.

Yen

Your trick with the Gatorade bottle is ingenious. The things I learn in these forums!

Blow-outs scare me.... years ago a friend and I pulled into a gas station to add air to our bike tires. She added too much air, and KA-BOOM!!!

stapfam

Only ever had one blowout on a tyre and that was on the Tandem- Downhill offroad at 35MPH. First I knew of it was once we had stopped and The pilot was asking me if I was OK. That front tyre was shredded and Not much left of the tube. It was a fairly new tyre but not one of the normal Panaracer Fire XC's that I normally use. They have a Puncture prevention strip built into the sidewalls so "Snakebites" are not generraly a problem. The "NEW" tyre was a continental and Without that extra sidewall strength- It had just blown when we hit a rock too hard.

We did manage to "Repair" the Tyre sufficiently to get us down off the hill to a local pub- and it was only on the second glass of Guinness- we realised how lucky we had been.

bobby c

Another good boot is the casing of a Gu (or other such) energy gels. And $20 bills work better than the much cheaper (and probably foreign made) dollar bill.

The Weak Link

I do think about these issues when blowing down a hill at 35 MPH. Sure hope to keep my wits about me when it happens.

p8rider

In my book that makes you lucky twice. First, you survived a blowout on a downhill with no injuries. Second at the bottom of said hill you found a pub with Guinness on tap. Maybe common where you are, but still a rarity here!

tlc20010

Way to go, Bobby C....I like your attitude.

stapfam

Only way to have guinness is on tap- But the only place in the world that has GOOD guinness is Ireland. They don't export the good stuff.

Trsnrtr

My wife and I had a blowout flying down Vail Pass (Vail side) last week. We were in the middle of a sharp downhill hairpin turn under I-70 when it happened and we managed fine. I've had several blowouts over the last 26 years, many at high speed and it's really not an issue if you keep your wits about you.

For the original poster, congrats on the GatorAde bottle trick. I've used dollar bills, duct tape, and even card board found along the side of the road to boot tires. I've got a rather miserly friend that carries a stiff piece of rubber just for that purpose and has often extended the life of a blown tire for many miles with it.

BengeBoy 

I had my first blowout at speed a few weeks ago. I was coming downhill, just beginning a descent, must have been going 25 to 30 -- the blowout was so loud I thought my rear rim had broken. I just eased on the brakes and came to a stop -- there was no problem riding the bike until the tire was completely flat, by which time I was down to walking speed..the whole thing was over in a few seconds. It was scary but much easier to control than I would have thought.