5 Tire Sidewall Repair Hacks, Tested

Reifenflicken: amzn.to/2ln0gg0
Our Trip: • We suck at bikepacking...
Even if you ride a mountain bike with tubeless tires, you’re not immune to sidewall tears. To get home, you would need an inner tube, and something to brace the tear. In all cases, significant damage is a death sentence for your tire. Anything you do to fix it is a hack designed to get you home.
A few weeks ago, Alex and I used a rubber patch and some Gorilla tape to fix the sidewall on his road bike. We lucked out, and got to a bike shop 35 miles away in Key Largo. We had our jankey sidewall repair to thank for that.
Today, I’m replacing the front tire on my BMX and destroying my old one in the name of science. We’ll test these 5 hacks from 30 all the way to 120 PSI.
First we have duct tape, labeled T for tape. Alex and I did have this with us during our trip.
Next we have a standard rubber bike patch, labeled P. This is for patching inner tubes and is held on with rubber cement. Alex and I also had this during our trip.
Next, a glueless patch. To me this would be a last resort since it’s not very rigid. It’s labeled G for glueless.
Then we have a dollar bill. This is a well known hack, which I’ll demonstrate in this video.
Then finally, we have a Park Emergency Tire Boot which is made for sidewall repairs. I labeled it B for boot, but changed it to R for Reifenflicken! It seems that our German friends have a dedicated word just for tire patches.
For the full transcript of this video, turn on closed captions.
Support me on Patreon: / sethsbikehacks

[@iskiokay]

Seth, You should sell dollar bills on your website....for this exact purpose.

[@danieltracey6018]

I would buy

[@askbeforeplaying2983]

for $1.01 each. Just to make that tiny bit of extra profit

[@masonpayne8590]

for exactly $20 bucks

[@ericdmochowski6079]

As long as they take cash

[@casualsportshighlights]

1 dolla bill for 5 dollars! it would have the Seth's Bike hacks logo on it and be a special colour. it would be from same material as dollar bill but customised to fit seth's channel. lol that would be cool!

[@paulandrews7573]

I slashed both brand new folding tires on a piece of glass on my mtb years ago, used the dollar bill hack to get home. Then I sewed up the 1" gash with dental floss and rode the tires at 35 & 40psi until the tread was gone. Another hack is to inflate the tube to the width of the tire and then wrap a section of the tube with duct tape so that it can't expand anymore, and line up the sidewall hole with the duct tape... no sidewall bulge.

[@maxl5112]

Seth let me just say, you are the coolest guy on KZbin by far, you are always a huge inspiration by being a great mountain biker in Florida! Which is not the first state that comes in mind when someone say mountain biking. Thank you

[@SethsBikeHacks]

Thanks dude!

[@twawesomesauce5556]

Maxwell Lehrich I definitely agree strongly

[@nicholassmith6544]

definitely agree

[@Yanai_H]

100% correct

[@ryanavery5811]

Maxwell Lehrich agreed

[@gkkamas123]

Damn it! in Europe the smallest bill is 5 euros. So it gets quite expensive to repair a sidewall..

[@WildOutdoorLiving]

You get the bill back. Technically though you will have to replace the tire once you finish your ride so yeah.. it is quite expensive.

[@chuckNORRIS950]

Same with Canada, my go to for a DIY boot is a bit of the tubes box wrapped in electrical tape so it wont get soggy, taped to the inside of the tire so it wont shift. I ran this for about 3 weeks under the tread because I ran over a nail and couldn't afford a new tire at the time (fixed gear too, so it saw some skidding). I don't recommend doing it for that long.

[@vicmacarra]

We allways can use the 500 one XDDD

[@DouglasGardnerTV]

you use it just to get to a place to fix your tire, then you put the bill back in your wallet....

[@pooceq]

Use SIS gel packaging instead

[@tmerrick24]

A 5 dollar bill would be 5 times stronger.

[@jake-8508]

Thomas Merrick yeaaa

[@partyplace15]

A hundred dollar bill is 100x stronger, and also 100x sturdier

[@007kuntasod]

5x0 is still 0.

[@mtbrider8872]

😂😂😂😂

[@robbie5629]

what about a gold bar

[@markhagner6841]

Haha yes that's funny I am from Germany reifen=tire flicken=to patch kommt noch jemand aus deutschland?

[@karlevert1437]

Reifenflicken army

[@schwarnoldnarzenschwegger1886]

Mark Hagner klar 😀

[@lkksr7928]

Mark Hagner reifen ficken?

[@freshnik3545]

Mark Hagner ja ich

[@lucar2]

Mark Hagner ja servus

[@jillf2949]

How about a $1 bill duct taped in place?

[@rileyrohe8322]

That would not be legal, because causeing adhesive to money is vandalism, a federal crime.

[@wodjr436]

Riley Rohe people tape dollar bills when they are ripped tho 🤔

[@kalelinford]

Good idea

[@bassbistrian1783]

@@rileyrohe8322 yeah because your going to get jail time for repairing a bike tire. 🥞

[@huge-dude]

@Riley Rohe obviously its not considered legal tender at this juncture. Come on now

[@stefanopeca6300]

Last week, I was biking back home from work and I got a flat. Like a beginner, I replaced the innertube without figuring out why the flat happened in the first place, I pedal 10 seconds and the new innertube also went flat. That’s when I looked, and I saw a small tear in the sidewall. My memory went back to a bike hack video of five years ago in which I saw Seth use a one dollar bill… All I had was a $20 bill of course because I’m rich and famous. I patched the innertube, stuck in the folded $20 bill, And I’ve been writing fine since! Thank you, Seth from the past.

[@radek5690]

Hey Seth, I keep a 2-3 inch piece of road tire just for this purpose. It really works! You don't need to glue it in, and because it's a piece of tire it's really strong. Take it easy.

[@schwarnoldnarzenschwegger1886]

pls more german speaking seth :DDD

[@dirtyfox3489]

Германии Hendrik jip! its funny how he sad Reifenflicken

[@9SectorsOfSoundTribe]

Германии Hendrik guten tag fuck off

[@BowlGOfficial]

Halo i bims 1 mauntenbaikfara auf main haarteyl

[@sslumpf8631]

Ich hätte nichts gegen mehr deutsch.

[@schwarnoldnarzenschwegger1886]

@@sslumpf8631 digga der kommentar ist 3 jahre alt 😂😂

[@manusk40]

Im from the UK. can i use a pound coin ?

[@Vanadium]

U know that bills actual are not paper? they are more kind of cotton then real paper?

[@johzif5499]

Try the new fiver the plastic one

[@andretsang7337]

@@johzif5499 Everything is more expensive overseas -.-

[@JDBajaBlast]

No

[@dirgharajshrestha]

This hack helped me in a trail... Without it, I wouldn't reach my home... Thanks a lot!

[@andyclarke9751]

Nice one Seth ..... I keep patches made from a used toothpaste tube just cut the top and bottom of the tube and then cut into patches about the same size as the park patches this is never let me down yet.

[@wheatie2506]

Most of the time, I don't watch your videos for the content, just to listen to your soothing voice

[@Anton-kv1ws]

Respect you pronounst "Reifenflicken" nearly perfekt. Grüße aus Deutschland

[@noah.3881]

col ly das dachte ich mir auch, er hat es garnicht schlecht gesagt 😌

[@RentoxCrew]

Für nen Ami sehr gut !!

[@RacingCart]

+Rentox Crew das ist fantastisch

[@Tom-gv7hc]

Um como es sheßbe? Bonfire?

[@treadwelljones]

I tore a side wall on my tire 30 miles from civilization. The first hack I used , An empty GUE packet took me 10miles before failure, I then switched it out for a dollar bill and it took me home another 50 miles. Criticality we only passed 4 cars when I we were out in the middle of nowhere. So this was great information to have. Thank you

[@zacharysandstrom8334]

Great video! I think you still need to address the "Will this get me home?" question. Tires deform on literally every revolution, creating movement in between the tube and the tire (hence you tubes getting slightly fused to the tire after a while. I'd be interested to see how the bill fares against adhesive options, and how those adhesive options compare against each other.

[@carljansevanrensburg2440]

I like this format of videos, informative and fun to watch. I'm a daily commuter and once used a 100NT$ (Taiwan currency) on my road bike. Kept it in there till I replaced the tire 400km later. The best hack of all.

[@lopon12]

Dollar bill was incredible! Thanks for the hack idea, Never heard of that one before.

[@lethal.8903]

I'm From Germany and as you Sad "ReifenFlicken" You just really made my day man you just put a smile on my face. And "ReifenFlicken" Basically means Tire patch So it's something to repair the tire with. Great Vid Man. Hello, Form Germany!

[@TaimoDerBoss]

Deutschland XD

[@69indigoblue]

Very interesting video and a good variation of patches. Although it woul have been more significant if you would have installed the tire and ride it a good bit before inspecting the result. With the stress wile riding the rubber would have had a lot of work to do and the result would have been more towards a real life test...

[@coopedaddy]

I had to use the dollar bill trick to get one of my bikes that a buddy was riding the final 8 miles back to our truck just a couple weeks ago. It had about a 1” sidewalk tear. He and my Dad thought we were walking after the incident and were impressed with the Hack. I did give props to Seth!

[@aldomaresca9994]

oh, and if you plan to use more than one layer of tape, you should do each layer 45 degree rotated relative to the previous, that would help a lot in making the patch more isotropic

[@xcobra7215]

Hey seth! I literally love your videos! I am a kid and I love riding bikes. I can jump on my pedal bike, no gears, and I love riding mountain bike. Thank you for keeping me outside!

[@Edwardlewis18]

You should bike around with some of these patches to see if riding the bike changes the results somehow.

[@BNUIV]

Seth last year I was on a road ride and had a similar side wall puncture. Though it was a little smaller. I fixed it with a dollar bill and forgot to replace the tire when i got home. I rode the tire all season till the fall then went to replace it and realized it was still in there. It just had some small cuts in it. Its the best hack ever.

[@mikeo.4924]

Damnit, Seth, you keep making me buy stuff. Picked up some Parks Reifenflicken, because I'm Canadian and we don't have One Dollar Bills.

[@wanteddeadoralive8798]

Use a 5

[@mellophoneman100]

watching your videos is getting me pumped for cycling season, in a few months!

[@bokatadosev2995]

How much does the dollar bill hack costs?

[@oskarchorazy2222]

saranda dg 1,9922101 dollar

[@Lysergic_]

1.50 from inflation

[@Attackly]

saranda dg 2 dollars

[@danielpfeffer1512]

Lol

[@peterrafeiner9461]

about $1.06 depending on your local sales tax rate :-)

[@michaelschut901]

I think the glue patch was the best it preformed the best out of all of them and I would trust my life on it

[@ChristianJeremyOcaya]

If I hadn't watched this a year ago I probably would've walked home or spend cash I don't have today. I used a Philippine Peso bill and it got me home. Edit: The ride was around 10km

[@matejmanceta1794]

6 miles for americans

[@rgbungee1420]

Tubeless ginamit mo sir?

[@ChristianJeremyOcaya]

@@rgbungee1420 nope 😁😅

[@rgbungee1420]

@@ChristianJeremyOcaya ano pera ginamit pang cover sa sidewall?

[@ChristianJeremyOcaya]

@@rgbungee1420 50 lang ata o bente

[@willharlandknight5603]

seth you are a true legend the whole of the UK mountain biking community love you!!!!!!!!

[@polypaulpylen]

The good old Reifenflicken

[@danieleckert5008]

to 1:31 this is something you can find all over the german language. In english you say tire patch. we germans just put the words for tire (Reifen) and patch (Flicken) together and form a new word. This works basically for every combination of two or more words you can combine in a way that makes sense.

[@brettcameron1]

You forgot to try a cliff bar wrapper or gel pack! :)

[@TheSingingDoctor325]

A Power Bar wrapper worked for me

[@ahidofe]

i have used many bike rubber patches to repair my sidewalls from tubeless tires, they are very usefull. great video Seth! very usefull hacks

[@edwardbarbour2727]

Very nice, I used the sticker from my bike store (that was on the bike) to get home once.

[@pleasetouch612]

I’ve ridden with a dollar holding my tube in for several months, the bill has fractured into many small pieces barely hanging onto each other but it got me through the early days of the pandemic parts shortages!

[@Hike_Bike_Explore]

I've used an empty Gu wrapper and it works great.

[@JoelSmithR1]

Same here. I think it was a High 5 gel wrapper. Got me about 30km home on some rocky roads (hence why it tore in the first place).

[@andreasl5707]

Snickers rapper for me rapped around the inner tube over 50km, but I got home

[@hidigidy]

Jon Lenvik clever!

[@narley1570]

Jon Lenvik what the heck is a guy wrapper

[@narley1570]

Jon Lenvik what the heck is a gu wrapper

[@LucianoSaraivaResende]

You missed the "used gel pack" option! This is very handy as you always have a used gel in your pocket while riding!😎

[@jamesguralski5156]

use the tire boot with a dollar bill behind it a win-win

[@igotmystimmy9241]

I've been riding a bmx tire with a business card sidewall patch job. been fine for a couple months now but I'm only running 65 psi. I secured it with gorilla tape as well so I'd say it is a sturdy setup.

[@scottcarlon6318]

Frank Clark With a credit card you’d have revolving credit !!!!!!

[@yoda112358]

I keep a rolled-up 20 stuffed in my bar end behind the plug. Good for tire repair, good for emergency food, good for paying somebody if i need to hitchhike back.

[@peterrafeiner9461]

Good to know. We will sure keep an eye out for your bike :-)

[@alessandrolazo8139]

I once went on a 50 mile training ride and got my tire puntured 30 miles away from home, luckily i had a park tool regular patch kit to fix it but only pumped my tire up to 50 psi to not risk an opening. Thanks for the great hacks seth!

[@illuminatiparodies7302]

Alessandro Lazo the ride would have to be at least 60 miles to be stuck 30 miles from your house mate

[@alessandrolazo8139]

I was going from a friend's house to my house and I got the problem 30 miles away from my house mate

[@icecreamtrucker6400]

Oh no! Don't tell me you ditched Drama in favor of a more willing trail dog!!

[@monke8797]

Used the duct tape on my road bike. Worked so well I didn't even bother to replace the tyre. Held on for 3 months at 7.5 bars just fine, until i replaced the tyres because they were worn

[@crhinojosa52]

I just put a dollar bill in the toolkit of my riding pack.

[@levicjackson]

I've ridden 40 miles home at 85 psi using a dollar. This hack saved my ride. Never leave home without it again.

[@gustdager6743]

The cheapest and most affectiv Patch is the dollar bill, only costs 1dollar and can be re-used :D

[@lanekaburick6123]

Was riding a century and blew a hole in my sidewall. I used a GU wrapper to brace it and it rode the rest of the 70 or so miles. Would like to see a gel wrapper tested

[@wordreet]

WoW! I'm going to have to buy some dollars!!!

[@valentinlaborde1949]

4 layers of survival blanket got me home through drops and ruff with same method than the dollar bill hack. Another good reason to always carry one! Keep up with the good stuff Seth, love your channels. Cheers

[@spookyboi4123]

The dollar got me home Lol

[@ginomordocco4710]

I keep a 4"X4" piece of dog food bag in my take along tool kit. Its the thick sort of foil type bag that tons of dog food comes in. Actually had to use it and it worked like a charm. Much like the dollar bill if not better. This was on a road bike with a much larger hole than in this video.

[@JohnnyCarlsen]

I have used an empty gel and is works fine. :-)

[@jliepold128]

Hey the $1 trick got me to work and back today thx a million

[@jayefyve9212]

Hmmm, I would use that Reifinfeiger (sp) to hold the dollar in place. Win / Win :)

[@robinvonbraun5207]

Hi Seth! Thank you for this video! Saw this a couple of weeks ago and the dollar hack really saved me the other day. I had a massive tear in the sidewall (about 1 inch long!!) with about 7 miles to go back to my car. But the dollar bill or actually 50 Norwegian kronor bill held up! If you ever decide to go riding in Norway feel free to contact me! We have a good thing going on here in Trysil, Norway!

[@melvinsantak8619]

Reifenflicken is a Noun and a Verb

[@mjfox9577]

hahaha

[@arneflemming2034]

no 2 nouns

[@NickBosshard]

flicken=to patch (verb) Flicken=patch (noun) Depends on the usage.

[@arneflemming2034]

in this case its the 2 nouns combined, i know that there is a verb too

[@melvinsantak8619]

Arne Flemming Yeah but the verb is to flick a reifen. And i think the singular Grundform would be Reifenflicken because its 2parted verb/noun

[@patr10t762]

I love your hack videos. As someone that uses bikes for emergency preparedness I glean a lot from these videos. Thanks and keep them coming.

[@cameronealey3274]

I'd like to see you replace the back tire as well so it doesn't start messing with me

[@treadwelljones]

A twenty dollar bill got me down the road on after a side wall tear on a gravel ride. It took me 40 + miles on quality flint hills gravel. The slash was a solid 1/2" tear on the side walls. running at about 50 PSI.

[@Ausar0o]

Hey seth do you think you could do a review on the diamond back release 3

[@Ausar0o]

It would be freaking awesome!!!!!!

[@Johnroberts2013]

He already did lol

[@cornpuffs9621]

Colin Dorsey it's basically the same as the old one except for color.

[@Ausar0o]

Oh thanks +Iron Platypus

[@brendanmcdonnell2994]

You forgot to mention energy bar wrapper. I've used this on my road bike and inflated with Co2. Got me home from 30 miles away.

[@twawesomesauce5556]

what is the frame size on your mountain bike

[@twawesomesauce5556]

the black and yellow diamond back

[@twawesomesauce5556]

grey

[@jo99ipro]

Thomas Williamson it's a small

[@Johnroberts2013]

He rides a small but it looks like it could be a medium.

[@johnfarr5415]

Seth nice stuff. I'm more of a roadie myself but recently had a sidewall tear on an old tire during a ride. A former racer/roadie friend of mine had given me his version of a tire boot to keep in my saddle bag and it worked great to get my home pumped to around 100 psi. His boot is a section of an old tire (road tire of course) that was cut to be about 3" long. Just put it in place like your dollar bill. Roadies also have used parts of Tyvek bags that you get in shipping from UPS/FedEX/USPS, again in a similar manner to the dollar bill. I was thinking that for the MTB tires you could cut a part of an old sidewall (removing the bead and tread area) and use that as a boot similar to what my friend gave me. One old tire would result in dozens of boots.

[@BeerHandStrong]

This video is worth its weight in gold! What amazing content, been a fan for a while now and just discovered this due to a sidewall cut. Thank you for this 👍

[@mwilson1645]

Hacks like this come in handy where I ride. Thank you Seth

[@aldomaresca9994]

very interesting, i love how you cant stop offering value to your viewers. now i know something new.

[@zacharymcconnell1023]

This is by far my favorite KZbin channel great videos

[@namepending4744]

That new front tire makes your BMX look badass

[@palermo777]

Hey Seth! There's also sewing the tyre back together with dental floss! All you need is a thick needle and a little bunch of floss that you knott on both sides after and before sewing the tear back together. I actually have multiple high quality tyres sewed back together that customers at the shop abandon because sewing them back together for them is not a 'professional' option, but as an example I ride a Schwalbe Big Apple on my rat cargo bike that I've done many many kilometers on and it holds up as if there were no tear at all, best touring solution too as far as my experience goes!

[@billychien9343]

Just yesterday, I was set to ride a century. Less than 20 miles in I had a puncture and found a half inch sized hole in the sidewall of my tire. A single layer of duct tape saved the day and allowed me to ride another 80 miles at 100 psi! I'm currently see if a tape/dollar bill combo hack will get me through until I can get ahold of another set of tires

[@shrutilimbkar1212]

I used a piece of my old inner tube and applied glue and sticked it,it works!!

[@lioncub360]

I haven't had a compromised tire...yet. Good to know what I can use as a temporary solution. Thank you for the video!

[@PkGam]

I had a feeling the dollar would perform well because it's such good material, but dang! It did far better than I thought!

[@MrElbowgrease]

bought some tire boots hoping to fix a nearly new tubeless tire with a tear in the tread. Tried glueless patch, glued patch, and now automotive tire plug... Hoping the reifenflicken finally gets the job done!

[@PuresG1ft]

About "Reifenflicken" - we have a dedicated word for everything, mate.

[@hestonjimmie2]

I've got an old Schwinn 24" S6 tire (hard to find), that had a 3 inch bulge balloon out, like a tumor. So, thanks, for the various hack suggestions, and stress tests. I'll try some glue, then some 4" length of fabric, then about 4 layers of tape. Wish me luck.

[@Iheartdgd]

I got really nervous when you jacked it up to 120 psi lol

[@jameskerr7828]

I turned my volume down on my phone cos I was sure it was gonna explode! 🤣

[@brianhock1033]

dude that new front tire on the bmx looks dope! Great videos seth!

[@littler5185]

great stuff! I have DEF used the dollar bill hack as well as have used an empty Gu gel pack, no I just keep a few small pieces of cut up inner tube in my kit, have used that a few times with great success

[@timquain5341]

Keen to see a tubeless tyre repair video. Hack or actual repair. I just put a tear in the wall of my $120 new Asegai tyre.

[@markbrunning2748]

I've used an empty gel packet as a get me home repair. Double thickness of plastic/foil worked a treat but squeezed every last drop of gel into the tyre.

[@roddinandracin1153]

Impressed with dollar bill, not surprised by the duct tape, need to do these and ride a trail with them

[@bicycle6407]

Nice demo. I always carry a Park tire boot, which I've used successfully, on a tubed tire. Haven't needed to try this on a tubeless with sealant though. I wonder about adhesion, so always carry a few alcohol wipes to clean up the patch area. I've sewn up a big tubeless sidewall gash with hd nylon thread, mostly out of curiosity, and it sealed up and rode just fine w Stans. Not wanting to press my luck, replaced tire soon after... Loved the trail dog vid. Ha.

[@andrewwhite5850]

Since watching this video I've had to start searching or new tyres. My Cheng Shin gumwalls on my daily ride have a sidewall repair that is 12 years old, and now I'm scared they'll blow out at any time. I used a puncture repair patch pretty much like the one in your video to repair a nail hole.

[@MWUBZUK]

i've used a square section of an inner tube as a patch with rubber cement and duct tape, hope it works!

[@stop223]

I love how you pronounced "Reifenflicken" :D Greetings from Germany! :)

[@mannyguerrero7641]

u should use that torture tyre instead a new one just for the good of science. your great and cool and that is a reflect of your humility

[@enterthepc8147]

This video has changed my life. I will always have a dollar in my bike bag

[@TheBudbdd]

Thanks for this vid I watched it awhile ago and because of the vid I was able to save my ride to work I only had a bandaid not a dollar bill but it got me there and that night I went to my local bike shop and picked up a few tire boots thanks man

[@kitten-inside]

Bills are often made of cotton, so you are patching the tire fabric hole with another fabric, i.e. a material with similar characteristics. That's why it holds so well.

[@michaeljin7126]

the bmx at the end is golden

[@danielade9062]

I have glued a piece of fabric and a piece of inner tube to the sidewall of a tire and had it last me the rest of the tire's tread life. Which was at least 2 years. I used patch glue on it. It never stretched and kept the sidewall slice closed.

[@MTB-oy8ls]

The bike looks so cool with the new maxxis tire on it

[@calebjohnson7264]

The dollar bill is the only hack here that will work well in a tubeless tire that has already had sealant in it. Good luck trying to get a patch or a boot to stick to that stuff!

[@saifcathum3423]

I recently had a huge tear (about 6 inches) where the side wall meets the wire bead. Not sure where I got the idea I could sew the side wall back together if only I had a needle and thread. Then I got a crazy idea. I removed my front derailleur cable and using a small hex key as a hole punch I managed to feed the cable through the sidewall and around the bead. It wasn't pretty but I the long gash in the tire was sewn back together using a derailleur cable. Put in a new tube and slowly put just enough air in the tire to hold my weight. I slowly limped home shifting my weight to the undamaged tire and avoiding bumps. I still cant believe it actually worked.

[@Florian-yo4si]

Hi Seth I'm one of your german follower and it's realy fun for me how you say "Reifenflicken" 😂

[@crypttonite]

dollar bill is good, section of an old tire works too..as with using old tubes for patch rubber, a lot of satisfaction racking up miles on a multi patched tube, with a brand new one as a back up