Pedal-only bicyclists often use "thumb-sized" CO2 cylinders (also used by toy pistols as a propellant), as a way to fill a flat tire after a nail-hole has been repaired on the side of the road. For those who like this method, they seem to most appreciate how tiny and light the CO2 canister is, compared to a traditional air-pump.
Regardless of how the tire is filled after a flat is repaired (CO2 cylinder, or hand-pump), I remember being able to repair nail-holes in my automobile tires (tubeless) after retracting a nail or screw from the tread. There are cheap kits available in auto and motorcycle supply stores (and websites). You ream out the hole to clean it and make it rounder, then you apply goop to a plug that is being held onto an insertion tool. Shove the plug into the hole, and when you pull back, the plug is set. Apply air pressure to the inside, then trim off the protruding "tail" of the plug, and you are ready to drive away. Plugging a nail-hole was faster and easier than changing the wheel with the spare.
I have removed tubes from bicycles and motorcycles to patch nail-holes in the tubes, and then re-assemble everything. On my motorcycle, I began carrying a spare tube instead of the patch kit (I only got flats on the rear for some reason).
Of course, using the tubeless style of hole-patch only works on tubeless tires, but...Karl Gesslein wrote an article on converting a fatbike to "ghetto tubeless", which was very persuasive about the benefits. Basically, you slice the centerline of the OD of a bicycle tube and then lay the rubber edges over the metal rim of the wheel, then seat the tire as you normally would.
I don't yet know if that would lead to steady leakage over the course of a week, but if you pumped-up the rear tubeless tire before every trip, then you could make use of carrying the pocket-cylinder of CO2/compressed-air.
Due to the cost of using a LOT of CO2 cylinders (which are considered disposable) by the air-pistol and paintball industries, there are now a lot of options when it comes to re-fillable cylinders of all sizes. CO2 is a much larger molecule compared to air, so seals that work well on CO2 might leak a little if the cylinder is filled with compressed air. However, air is free, just pump up the cylinder once in a while to make sure it has pressure when you need it for a tire repair...
I'm just starting this thread to have a place to park info I find while I'm bored at work. There are dozens of videos on this, but...this one covers the important points and its only 2-minutes...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72SyjaHxBhI
[youtube]72SyjaHxBhI[/youtube]
Regardless of how the tire is filled after a flat is repaired (CO2 cylinder, or hand-pump), I remember being able to repair nail-holes in my automobile tires (tubeless) after retracting a nail or screw from the tread. There are cheap kits available in auto and motorcycle supply stores (and websites). You ream out the hole to clean it and make it rounder, then you apply goop to a plug that is being held onto an insertion tool. Shove the plug into the hole, and when you pull back, the plug is set. Apply air pressure to the inside, then trim off the protruding "tail" of the plug, and you are ready to drive away. Plugging a nail-hole was faster and easier than changing the wheel with the spare.
I have removed tubes from bicycles and motorcycles to patch nail-holes in the tubes, and then re-assemble everything. On my motorcycle, I began carrying a spare tube instead of the patch kit (I only got flats on the rear for some reason).
Of course, using the tubeless style of hole-patch only works on tubeless tires, but...Karl Gesslein wrote an article on converting a fatbike to "ghetto tubeless", which was very persuasive about the benefits. Basically, you slice the centerline of the OD of a bicycle tube and then lay the rubber edges over the metal rim of the wheel, then seat the tire as you normally would.
I don't yet know if that would lead to steady leakage over the course of a week, but if you pumped-up the rear tubeless tire before every trip, then you could make use of carrying the pocket-cylinder of CO2/compressed-air.
Due to the cost of using a LOT of CO2 cylinders (which are considered disposable) by the air-pistol and paintball industries, there are now a lot of options when it comes to re-fillable cylinders of all sizes. CO2 is a much larger molecule compared to air, so seals that work well on CO2 might leak a little if the cylinder is filled with compressed air. However, air is free, just pump up the cylinder once in a while to make sure it has pressure when you need it for a tire repair...
I'm just starting this thread to have a place to park info I find while I'm bored at work. There are dozens of videos on this, but...this one covers the important points and its only 2-minutes...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72SyjaHxBhI
[youtube]72SyjaHxBhI[/youtube]