You need this

[jeffcoslacker]

There are certain things that once I realize just how handy they are, I wouldn't leave home in or on a machine without it. This is one of those. If you don't already have it in your kit, go to Walmart and get some for $6.

It's crazy what you can do with it. It can easily handle coolant temps, hell if you cracked an engine case in a spot where this could be wrapped around it, this would keep the oil in and get you home...oil only runs around 300°. Good for wrapping chafed wiring and plug wires that suddenly start throwing fire to their neighbor or to ground, and I bet if you got shot for some reason, it would be better than nothing [emoji2] ...since it sticks to itself, not the surface being repaired, the only requirement is that it can be wrapped back on itself. You got that, you got a repair.

When it first came out they claimed you could replace a serpentine belt with it in a pinch. I tried it once while I had mine off for replacement. I wrapped it around all the pulleys three layers deep, stretched pretty tight. It did work, at least as far as driving around gently close to home for a few blocks..but then I had to find the limits...higher rpm with the alternator loaded up and turning the A/C compressor on did it. It lost traction and burned through. So you'd have to rough it and drive slow, according to my not so scientific test.

But this could really get you out of a jam.

[jeffcoslacker]

OK fine, fuck it. Maybe you don't need it. Don't expect to use mine though. I tried to tell you...

[SuzyRidr2]

Jeffco, automobiles are too dang dependable these days for the average person to worry about break downs, limping home or even flat tires. Nowadays, in the rare event we do experience a breakdown, we just press the Onstar button or use our phone app to send our coordinates to the roadside service provider. Get with the program, man. [space] [emoji106]

[jeffcoslacker]

Jeffco, automobiles are too dang dependable these days for the average person to worry about break downs, limping home or even flat tires. Nowadays, in the rare event we do experience a breakdown, we just press the Onstar button or use our phone app to send our coordinates to the roadside service provider. Get with the program, man. [space] [emoji106]

Well...I was kinda saying it would be great for your bike kit....

[jeffcoslacker]

I HATE getting stranded and knowing that if I just had [X] with me, I could be on my way....Second day I owned my Sporty I turned a corner, blasted the throttle, and she just went pop pop POW and the engine quit and every damn thing electrical was dead.

Found a mis-routed battery cable that grounded out on a piece of P.O.-installed bling and shorted the electrical system. Luckily, there seemed to be some kind of circuit breaker at work, because even though it was still dead after I found and isolated the bad spot from grounding, a few minutes later there was a click and everything came back on, engine start, etc.

But I still couldn't ride it home, because the way I'd separated the cable from the short was only good enough to verify, not to ride. So I still ended up walking home and coming back with some tools and stuff. If I'd had this with me, I could have just wrapped the cable and the naughty edge and kept them apart long enough to ride home anyway...

[old time rider]

I take a screw driver or wrench middle and wrap a foot or so of elc. tape and duct tape on another.All so a bit of good wire warpped over it self to tool bags length will all fit back in it.Really handy sometimes.If you need a roll better haul it in. [emoji2]

[SuzyRidr2]

Well...I was kinda saying it would be great for your bike kit....

Wouldn't hurt. Especially if you have a water cooled bike. I worry about breaking down too much and tend to carry too much. I've been carrying tire plugs, DC volt air pump, fuses, jumper cables, pen lights, tape, wire and an array of tools in my LC for over 15 years. So far I've not had to use anything except a wrench or screwdriver to tighten something up that worked loose. I did have a plug stop firing once and had to ride home on one cylinder. I thought about including a spare plug in my kit, but while riding home I found the LC ran so well on one plug that I decided not to. It was surprisingly smooth at speed. The biggest difference was it felt like I was starting off in second gear. Plugs are pretty reliable, so I figured that'll never happen again and even if it did I could ride to the nearest auto parts store.

[jeffcoslacker]

I take a screw driver or wrench middle and wrap a foot or so of elc. tape and duct tape on another.All so a bit of good wire warpped over it self to tool bags length will all fit back in it.Really handy sometimes.If you need a roll better haul it in. [emoji2]

When that happened with the Sporty it reminded me of a time years before when I was sitting at a red light behind a guy on a sweet ol' rigid panhead and it sounded awesome until it started misfiring and popping and then just shut down...and I'd seen the tail light do some strange things when it first started misfiring, wondered if the battery was getting rattled against the frame or something...

He stood up and tried to kick it a couple of times, then smoke started pouring out from below the seat...he reached in and grabbed at something, then threw it down suddenly, it looked like a cable end, and it was hot as hell, sat there smoking on the asphalt. Apparently he'd had a failure similar to mine, years later.

I stayed behind him with my 4-ways on as he pushed it across the overpass to a gas station lot, and offered help/tools but he showed me that a large part of the wiring harness had melted down, and he said when reached in there he was only trying to see if he had a connection, and the cable end came off the battery and cable it was so melted, that's what he threw down. Burned his fingers pretty good...

Anyway, he was beyond what my car's kit could handle. Offered a ride but he said he had a buddy with a truck he could call...

Thank God for whatever they put in 'em now, that keeps that from happening...

[BlacktopTravelr]

You can also use this stuff.

[jeffcoslacker]

You can also use this stuff.

Yes and no, depends what you're doing/fixing. Silicone sticks to itself, doesn't have adhesive, rubberized tape doesn't stick to anything if there's any wet or oil involved. So there's that. And silicone can resist temps that stuff just can't deal with. Any tape adhesives start to fail long before 200 degrees.

The only drawback to silicone tape is that it has to be wrapped in order to work. And the price, it's not cheap. $6 for 10' is pretty pricey. But I'd find it priceless in a jam.

Edit: OK I just watched the commercial...it is pretty surprising it will stick (at least initially) when wet. I found the patch from inside submerged to be pointless..with water pressure holding it against the surface, ANYTHING will stick and stop the leak, but from the outside is pretty neat.

I wonder if you have to bitch-slap it on, as demonstrated