Bicycle Mechanics - Changing flat

So far I've been lucky only ever had one flat per ride, so I just put my spare tube in and off I go again. I figure some day my luck will not hold and I'll get multiple flats in the same ride. I understand how to patch a flat etc, but how long do I leave the patch on to dry before i put the tube back in the tire?

Let the glue get tacky, then press the patch FIRMLY onto the tube. You can generally ride a few minutes thereafter, because the air pressure will continue to squeeze the patch between the tyre casing and the tube. You can try glueless patches, but I have had very bad luck with them.

Originally posted by John E
You can generally ride a few minutes thereafter, because the air pressure will continue to squeeze the patch between the tyre casing and the tube.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who subscribes to this idea. I stopped with another cyclist recently who insisted on holding onto the patch for some time before reinserting the tube.

I mentioned that it'd be right to go if he whacked it in and pumped up but he wasn't convinced.

I've been doing it that way for years with great results.

I never thought of that.. I just don't trust glueless.. I'll stick with the smelly sticky glue :)

If you use a tube that is significantly undersized (like, say, a 23mm tube in a 32 mm tyre), you can blow your patch off before it seats. Good reason to avoid using undersized tubes!

As far as glueless patches go-a friend of mine swears that little square pieces of heavy-duty duct tape work just as well! He carries 3 or 4 of them, stuck to bits of wax paper. I know that once he went 35 miles on one of them during a club ride. He says that you can feel them through the tyre, though.......

Some other tips here. (http://yarchive.net/bike/inner_tube_patching.html)

Good tips, Roadbuzz!

On a related note, I've never had trouble patching my Hybrid or MTB tubes. When it comes to Road tubes, the smallest patches I have are slightly larger than the flattened out tube, so it's hard to get the edges of the patch to stick.

Anyone else have this problem, can you get smaller patches for road tubes?

Smaller patches are available. My LBS couldn't get any for a while so I had the problem you mentioned. They recently got a heap of the smaller ones in so I grabbed a pack of 100. Should keep me going for a long time.