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review
£5.00
VERDICT:
Brilliantly effective tyre boot that can also be used to buy cake
Weight:
1g
Contact:
At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.
What the road.cc scores meanGood scores are more common than bad, because fortunately good products are more common than bad.
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Stuck in the middle of nowhere with a gert big gash in a lightweight tyre? The Bank of England Five Pound Note is an excellent, robust tyre boot that will get you home, and then you can pop out and spend it on well-deserved cake.
On Sunday's ride, about 8km from Saffron Walden, I hit a patch of completely trashed road. All the tarmac had been scraped off in preparation for resurfacing, leaving the concrete slab base and lots of sharp stone chips. I hit one with the rear wheel, resulting in an instant puncture and a centimetre-long gash in the tyre.
All around me were fields. It looked like a long walk to the nearest village, and a quick look round yielded no roadside debris that I could use as a tyre boot. Lightbulb! I have cash, in the form of one of them new-fangled plastic fivers. I'll try that.
When the bank of England put its new fiver into circulation on 13 September last year, one of the proudly touted advantages of the new plastic note was that it was stronger and more durable than the previous paper version. The Bank said: 'Each new polymer note is expected to last at least 2.5 times longer than the current paper notes. This is because polymer is stronger than paper so the notes can better withstand being repeatedly folded into wallets or scrunched up into pockets.'
Surely a banknote intended to withstand that sort of day to day abuse could also hold my inner tube in place enough to get me home.
I slipped the fiver between the tyre and tube, and held it in place with one hand while I pushed the bead back over the rim with the other. That's a bit tricky, but I can hardly complain that the Bank doesn't supply some sort of adhesive to help keep the cash in place. I might pop a bit of double-sided sticky tape in my ride pack for future disasters though.
> Money-saving tips for cyclists
I pumped the tyre up, inflating it to about 70psi – enough to hold the rim off the ground, keep the tyre in shape and keep the fiver in place, but not so hard that it was likely to bulge the note out of the tyre. The new fiver may be durable, but it didn't seen sensible to find out if it could stand being rubbed against the road.
I carried on into Saffron Walden, stopping at the excellent Bicicletta cafe for cake and cappuccino. It's a bike shop too, so I considered buying a replacement tyre. But the fiver had held so far, and it's not like I'm short of spares at home, so I pressed on.
Another 25km and I was home. The tyre was still inflated, and when I took it out the fiver was hardly marked. Not only had it got me home, but I'm confident I could have safely done a much longer ride and it would have held up.
Make sure there's a new fiver in your wallet every time you ride. If you don't need it as a tyre boot, you can always spend it on cake.
Verdict
Brilliantly effective tyre boot that can also be used to buy cake
road.cc test report
Make and model: Bank of England Five Pound Note
Size tested: N/A
Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?
The Bank of England says quite a few things about the five pound note, but for our purposes the important bit is:
"Each new polymer note is expected to last at least 2.5 times longer than the current paper notes. This is because polymer is stronger than paper so the notes can better withstand being repeatedly folded into wallets or scrunched up into pockets."
It can also withstand being used as a tyre boot, and it does so admirably.
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?
The plastic Five Pound Note is an upgrade from the previous paper model, using high-tech plastic to make a note that is sufficiently tough and waterproof it can be very successfully used to reinforce a damaged tyre.
Rate the product for quality of construction:
10/10
Rate the product for performance:
10/10
Rate the product for durability:
10/10
The note was almost unscathed after 35km of riding. I'd happily trust it for a much longer ride.
Rate the product for weight (if applicable)
10/10
It may say one gram up there, but that's because our system demands you put in a weight. In fact it doesn't register on our scales at all.
Rate the product for value:
10/10
Taking a Five Pound Note out of the cash machine my reduce your bank balance by five quid, but when you've used it as a tyre boot you can take it out of the tyre and use it to buy cake at its full face value. Try doing that with an old bit of tyre!
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
Brilliantly. It allowed me to finish a ride as if nothing had happened.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
Being able to use it to buy cake afterward.
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product
The veneration of Winston Churchill, a figure who deserves to be far more controversial than he is.
Did you enjoy using the product? Yes
Would you consider buying the product? I have.
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes
Use this box to explain your score
The Five Pound Note weighs next to nothing, stops the tube bulging out of your tyre after you've picked up a tyre gash, and can be used afterwards for its alternative purpose as a means of exchange. It's perfect!
About the tester
Age: 48
I usually ride: Scapin Style My best bike is:
I've been riding for: Over 20 years I ride: Most days I would class myself as: Expert
I regularly do the following types of riding: commuting, touring, club rides, general fitness riding, mountain biking
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
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Add new comment
45 comments
Thank Australia for this one. Aus developed the plastic bank note and exported the technology. Our A$5 is cheaper
I keep several in my tool kit for slashes or emergency cash.
I've used the A$5 note in several tyres for a year or more on each tyre. Beware that the sharp folded corner might eventually cut through the tube causing a puncture after several months so you have to move it occassionally if you don't get a normal flat. And when you do get a flat be careful you don't lose it or forget to put it back in the right place.
I'm genuinely confused, or is spending a penny significantly more expensive down there?
I have the Brooks leather version... works on the elbows too. £56
Wow. 68 comments, and no mention of helmets, though disc brakes have got a couple of mentions. Definitely not a thread for experienced cyclists
Currently £4.90 on Rapha site with code.
Come on John, own up. You spent time in Oz where they've had plastic banknotes for years that were very usefully pressed into exactly this service. Don't tell me you didn't do it there too
I carried one or a Hong Kong note round for years for this exact purpose. In fact I have in my wallet at this very moment a crisp plastic HK$10 (£1) and Aus$5 (£3) notes ready and waiting for service. And for the Rapha-lites there's always the Aus$100 note to show off with.
once again lazy modern cyclists allways looking for a shortcut. With alittle organisation you can get halfords tyre boots and a full cake from asda and still have change from a £5.
Been doing this since 1988 in Australia. We can do it with 5, 10, 20, 50 and even 100 dollar notes.
Been doing this since 1988 in Australia. We can do it with 5, 10, 20, 50 and even 100 dollar notes.
Excellent bodge/fix for such an issue and the flexability aligned with its strength makes it ideal without impinging on the ride. A folded up crisp packet can work also.
On longer rides I tend to have a small strip of tyre liner in my kit, weighs more but you can inflate to higher pressures/more resilient.
What flavour?
Monster munch pickled onion are best IME, turn it inside out first though so the shiny side is up.
Roast beef, surely
Roast Beef packets never work purely on the basis that the contents are the devils work
pRickled onion...
or maybe Bacon Wheels...
These have been available Down Under for years, though they seem to cost a fuck of a lot more than they did 20 years ago...
Good comments. Thank you.
I knew the old style linen paper could be used as the tyre boot, had wondered how good the new fiver might be. Properly throwing away money on the Park Tools ones myself.
I realise trusting a bank from Glasgow is risky, but the Clydesdale also do polymer fivers. Northern Bank (now Danske Bank) have been doing so so long their first ones can now buy beer themselves
Rapha may not have released one of these yet, but there is a new start up called The Bank of Scotland. Their offering will do the same job, just with more of a local flavour to the design. Please be aware that if you do intend to swap this handy item for comestible goods you must utter the mystic manta 'It's Legal Tender,' in the voice of Scrooge McDuck before exchange can be made.
You forget to mention that the new note (at 0.7g) is more than 20% lighter than the £5 note it replaces and is also considerably stiffer.
I would however be interested to see the power savings and difference over a 25 mile TT before being totally convinced that this not simply another marketing hype by the manufacturers.
I'm with you right up to the point of inflation - surely that part makes it worth less.
I'll get my coat....
As luck would have it, half day today and had the same issue on the way home, unfortuntely I only had 5 £1 coins.
Seems to have done the job but think the bearings might be gone - terrible rattling sound back there!
I got mine from Wiggle and, as a platinum customer, it only cost me £4.15 including free delivery and a free bag of Haribo
Brilliant!
article and comments LOL
The design is way too fussy though, I've blacked mine out with Sharpie. More pro.
Another review that reads more like an advert.
Will stick with €5 note. Pure cotton fibre, and only £4.38.
Might as well carry one of your own. The ones marketed to cyclists will come in a fancy box and cost £24.99.
That's the Rapha version I think you are referring to...
I see from the lack of braking surface in the picture you must have disc brakes, obviously the cause of the cut in your tyre...
Cannot understand who would pay a fiver for one of them. Must be for the stock broker belt MAMIL's who work in the city. I'm waiting till Aldi bring one out for a fraction of the price. Some people have more money than sense.
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