Failed in a hair removing anticlimax….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfZlYQgGkN0

I think it’s the lighter fluid being too slow to burn. I wonder if another fluid would be faster. Any thoughts?

you need an aerosol like hair spray i reckon

Well in theory the lighter gas used was aerosol propelled and I put a good 3 or 4 squirts in. I think it ran out of air as it fired, puffed a little then went down but I could follow it round the rim lighting more bits. If I pumped too much in I had small hotspots develop where the puddles were so I decided to not do that again to save the tyre from damage.

I’d really like to nail this, seems like a possible technique.

if it remains liquid then that is your problem. i reckon you need a more gaseous fuel or a suspended particle in aerosol type thing like hairspray.

maybe

The icelandic guys do it with their 4×4 tyres

mmw – it only stays liquid if you pump huge amounts (emptied half a tin into it), otherwise it expands to gas almost instantly.

Yup TJ – that was what prompted me to try it, in order to remove the need for a compressor either at home or on the trail.

http://www.bicyclestore.com.au/CO2-Canister-pr-22711.html

less hair loss involved

Googling around it seems to be propane the icelandic guys use

You seem quite brave to do that indoors! would be better outside I think.

Can you imagine filling in the claim form for the insurance co 😉 I was just pouring lighter fluid into a bike tyre and trying to light it and …………

CO2 carts work quite nicely when used with washing up liquid etc, bit safer than that method 😉

mmw – too much expense and not enough flair 😀

TJ – could be right. Just did a quick out-of-tyre test of a fraction of a second blast of my gas (butane) and it seems pretty damn combustible 😀

Andy – I tried it outside first with loads of gas, then moved indoors when I was sure I was not going to burn the house down, however I did do it in the bath so I could douse it in water (shower) if the rubber caught 😀 I assessed the risks and determined I was happy with them 😀 Thanks for the added tag BTW 😉

LPG is favourite. it’s a trick used by mobile tyre fitters to get truck or heavy plant tyres seated properly out on site. Seriously dangerous but cool to see it work. Some want it banned as it’s killed a few folk over recent years.

Volumes like a truck tyre I’m not surprised – that is a bit excessive (even I wouldn’t try it with a volume like that!).

I’d have thought LPG, propane and butane were all much of a muchness. Reckon the volumes involved in a bike tyre may be too small to work properly.

Fly spray, hair spray or even deodorant work well. We use them in man toy spud guns. Cheap asda smellies seems to be the biz.

Just tried Lynx. Feeble in comparison with the butane, plus the liquid hangs about and burns which isnt good for the tyre glad I tried this on a cheap tyre 😀

Fair enough

Thanks for the added tag BTW [;)]

not guilty, but wish I’d thought of it 😀 Done plenty of thing involving lighter fluid/pottasium nitrate/potassium chlorate/magnesium powder etc in my youth so know it’s not that dangerous (most of the time) 😉 It is fun though

I remember my grandad had a brilliant setup for fitting tyres (he was a back-street mechanic at one point). Old truck tyre and wheel, which he pumped up to ridiculous pressures with a foot pump. He then used a double-ended tyre hose with a valve at each end, attached one to the new wheel and one to the old truck tyre. DIY compressor! He did the compressing, it was the reservoir. Hard work though.

LOL nice method Northwind – not sure I could carry the truck tyre round the trails though, would take some serious fitness work first 😀

It’s not all that portable, no. What you need for reinflating on the trails would be some sort of secondary tube, which you could fit inside the outer one, and which would hold the air. Someone should produce such a thing, it’d be way better than fannying about with lighter gas.

😀

Nahh, I’ve already tried one of those. I’ve found they tend to get trapped between the tyre sidewalls on impact with rocks.

<this all stems from 14 punctures in one ride despite running ~50psi>

But thanks for the tips!

No problem, I can always be counted upon for completely unhelpful tips, come back soon!

Spud gun testing using ASDA ‘Orbit’ deoderant.

Bang.

Why’s there a camera above the bath?

dave – like it 😀

vinnyeh – Because I put it there to take the film 🙂

I used my gorillapod to hang it off the curtain rail:

It has nothing to do with a permanently installed camera. Honest. 😀