The Cargol Turn & Go, aka the Gryyp Tire Tool, is an easy-to-use carry-along device that can plug a tire in a limited range of situations.
It’s more useful for car or trike tires than for motorcycle tires, but it’s cheap enough and easy enough to carry on a motorcycle, so why not?
I’m kind of embarrassed to call this a review, because it’s not really.
I haven’t had the — shall we call it an opportunity? — to try the Cargol Turn & Go, otherwise known as the Gryyp Tire Tool.
And that’s a good thing actually…
Knock wood, I never had a flat on the road, or at least when riding in any situation where it wasn’t easy to fix, as in the garage (the best place to get a flat if you have to get one).
I suspect most motorcycle riders are like me, having put the thought of a flat tire somewhere in the farthest reaches of those little gray cells, hoping it’s something that only happens to that other guy.
You know, the dude foolish enough to ride over the Nail, Metal Shard, Broken Glass Bottle, Screw or Staple.
Honestly, I have no idea what I would do if I did get a flat out in the middle of nowhere.
That’s what cell phones are made for, right? Call the toll-free number provided by the insurance company? Call the wife? Push the bike over the cliff and thumb a ride home?
That’s why nimrods like me are attracted to the potentially easy fix that is promised by a gizmo like the Cargol Turn & Go flat tire repair tool.
The Cargol Turn & Go Flat Tire Repair Tool.Cargol Turn & Go Flat Tire Repair Tool
This thing is as simple as it gets: a 5-gram plastic thing that looks like the key to Satan’s bung hole. You can carry it on your key chain or lose it in a pocket or fit it in your wallet.
Just make sure if you’re choice is B or C that you keep the tip protector snapped on…
So how does it work? All you need is the perfect flat tire (UPDATE: Tubeless tires only, of course!). That is, a flat caused by a simple hole that is perpendicular to the tread and less than about 5 mm in diameter. If you have that, then all you do is screw in the Cargol Turn & Go, snap off the end and keep riding. Oh wait — you also have to fill the tire up with air! Which is where the Cargol Turn & Go kits come in handy…
You can carry just the Turn & Go tool, which is made by Gryyp in Spain and also sometimes referred to as the Gryyp Tire Tool, but you will also need some way to inflate the tire after your hopefully safe and gentle deflation.
To do that, simply use one of the many small tire air pumps reviewed on webBikeWorld and hopefully everything will turn out fine. Or you can buy the Turn & Go in one of their motorcycle (or car) specific kits, which include several Turn & Go tools, some CO2 cartridges and an inflator.
The larger Cargol kits also include the other types of tire plugs that look like a twisted tweed of tar, but once you get over a certain sized hole in a motorcycle tire, there probably isn’t a plug made that will work.
The Cargol motorcycle-specific kits include the basic version: the Cargol Road Bike & Car kit (Kit K004) with four CO2 cylinders, four Turn & Go tools, a storage bag, the CO2 adapter and a pair of pliers to snap off the end of the Turn & Go tool.
They also have a smaller kit (Kit K008) with two Turn & Go tools, four CO2 cylinders and the CO2 tire adapter and other kits with or without the Turn & Go tools and/or the old-fashioned rope things to stuff into the hole.
The Cargol Turn & Go tool is made in Spain, by a company called Gryyp. The tool is apparently certified by the tough German TÜV standards organization and it’s ECE 75 High Speed approved for up to 10 minutes at 200 KMH.
According to the company, the device was also tested on U.S. DOT tire endurance tests and at 42 PSI with a 355 kg load, it went 70 hours and 4,220 miles.
About That Review…
Now the sort-of embarrassment comes because I’m writing a review of the Turn & Go tool without having used it (but since this is a webBikeWorld “Quick Look”, technically, I’m covered!). And I hope I never do, as I’m sure you’ll understand.
Maybe Murphy will help me — so if I carry all the tools needed to repair a flat, I’ll never get one — that is the way it’s supposed to work, right Mr. Murphy?
In the meantime, all I can say is that it looks like the Cargol Turn & Go will fix a flat, but only for very specific types of flats — and I’ll bet Mr. Murphy will ensure that when I carry this tool, I will never get the type of flat that it can fix.
So I’ll turn that over to you, webBikeWorlders. If anyone has used this flat tire repair tool for real, please let us know if you were able to cheat Mr. Murphy out of his daily dose of mischief.
Owner Comments and Feedback
See details on submitting comments.
From “N.C.” (03/11): “I have used these before on my FZ1 Fazer after taking a big screw out of my tyre, I rode around for a week with the Cargol in the tyre while I saved up money for a new back tyre.
It is ok for a quick repair very simple really screw the key like plastic into the tyre where the puncture is and snap off and use 2-3 CO2 canisters to inflate the tyre. Be careful — the canisters are hot after use (*See response below).
If you ride around with (the Cargol Turn & Go) in you will find you will have to pump the tyre up the next day. I keep my kit under the seat it’s a godsend.
Over in England they retail for £29. I have rode up to 120mph but obviously around the 90mph or below is advised.”
Response from “B.L.” (03/11): “N. C.’s comment, “Be careful — the canisters are hot after use,” is incorrect: the canisters are super-cold, cold enough to cause a severe freeze burn. I know what he meant, but it is a little inaccurate. I would hate for someone to think he was wrong, and grab onto one of those canisters after emptying it, and receive a severe frost burn on their fingers. The makers of the CO2 kits warn users against grabbing them, but a reminder never hurts. Cheers!”
From “P.C.” (03/11): I know it should be obvious to all that this is for tubeless tires only (long pointy screw in a tube, probably bad) but you should probably state that in your ‘review’.”
Editor’s Reply: Good point! (Ah, there’s that pun again!)