Bicycle Mechanics - Clueless on the glueless?

Do the gluless patches really work and adhere to the tubes? I am going through the free worlds supply of tubes (glass shards are fun to pick out of the tire with your fingertips!) and would like to reuse them more. I carry an extra tube when riding but really do not want to carry two. Just in case I get a second flat on a ride, do the glueless hold or am I risking ditching thee bike and hitching home? Thoughts, experience?

As long as you follow the instructions you should be good to go. Or try these instructions from the Park Tool website www.parktool.com I've used the glueless patches on several tubes and they've worked fine for me.

a. Locate hole marked during inspection. Using fine emery cloth or sandpaper, clean the tube by lightly abrading area around hole. Excessive sanding or heavy pressure can cause grooves in the rubber, which may lead to patch failure.
f available, wipe the area with clean rag and alcohol. Allow it to dry completely.
b. Peel patch from patch backing. Handle patch as little as possible and by edges only.
c. Center patch to hole and lay patch on tube.
d. Apply pressure to patch to assure seal. Roll patch and tube between thumbs and forefingers.
e. Tube is ready to install. DO NOT test patch by inflating tube while outside of mounted tire. This may stretch tube body and weaken patch bond.

Some people have used one tube after several patch jobs.

Do the gluless patches really work and adhere to the tubes? I am going through the free worlds supply of tubes (glass shards are fun to pick out of the tire with your fingertips!) and would like to reuse them more. I carry an extra tube when riding but really do not want to carry two. Just in case I get a second flat on a ride, do the glueless hold or am I risking ditching thee bike and hitching home? Thoughts, experience?
They work fine. In fact my girlfriend's been running a tube patched with a Park glueless patch for 4 years now. We switch her tires between high pressure road slicks and MTB knobbies every other weekend and haven't needed to replace the tube yet. Please note that we do carry a spare tube apiece as well as patches on any ride just in case, but it's pretty cool just to see how long that sucker will hold.

One of the keys to the glueless jobbies is cleanliness. Wipe the area around the hole with one of the alcohol type wipes. Your fingers/hands also. Since discovering this hint, I carry a couple wipes around in my saddle bag.

Yes the patches work, but I carry an extra tube as the first line of defense. Patching on the road is the backup to the backup.

>e. Tube is ready to install. DO NOT test patch by inflating tube while outside of mounted tire. This may stretch tube body and weaken patch bond.

Here's my point of failure! Thanks for the heads up!

[QUOTE=jqnj]Do the gluless patches really work and adhere to the tubes?

Yes they work and work just as good as the glue type. I started using Park glueless patches just about when they first came out about 7 years ago. Over that period of time I literally used at least 18 patches until about 3 years ago when I switched to Armadillo tires and the goatheads and thistles could no longer produce flats. I have used these patches a permanent patches, and I currently have a 4 year old tube that has 2 glueless patches on it; one was put on almost 4 years ago and the other about 1 year ago (result of a bald Armadillo), and those patches still work.

I obviously like these patches A LOT!! I know longer have to worry about dried glue tubes, and I eliminated the glueing step which of course saves time. I also carry a spare tube, but I always first try to fix the tube before I replace it...I ride alone so no one cares how long it takes, but is 5 minutes all that long?

[QUOTE=jqnj]Do the gluless patches really work and adhere to the tubes?

...I ride alone so no one cares how long it takes, but is 5 minutes all that long?

Gads Froze, you are fast! Like you, I seldom have flat and when I do, I'm out of practice.

Strange thing about the Park patches: When I ran my 23 mm tires at 120 psi, the Park patches worked great, lasted a long time. When I switched to 25 mm tires at 95 psi, the park patches would hold only about 20 - 30 miles on a hot day.

Now I carry Parks in the seat bag, in case of multiple flats, and use Rema patches for long-term fixes.

I have had extremely bad luck with glueless patches, but perhaps it is time to try them again. At any rate, I strongly recommend against using Skabs or other budget-priced glueless patches -- splurge on Park, or else stay with Rema Tip-Top glue-ons, which do work well.

Gads Froze, you are fast! Like you, I seldom have flat and when I do, I'm out of practice.

That's the front wheel. There is a method I learned when I use to ride on tubulars and it works on clinchers and saves time. Remove wheel, then you find where the hole is before removing tire, then remove one side of the tire but only about 6 to 8 inches of the tire with the hole being in the center, pull out about 3 inches of the tube, run your hand where the hole is to check for objects and check the entrance on the tread for objects and remove, buff tube just a little bit larger than the patch, apply patch and press hard for about 20 seconds, reinstall tube, reinstall tire, reinstall wheel, pump and go. On a good day I can do that procedure in about 5 minutes; the rear takes me about another 3 minutes.

[QUOTE=Da Tinker]When I switched to 25 mm tires at 95 psi, the park patches would hold only about 20 - 30 miles on a hot day. QUOTE]

That's odd! I lived in Bakersfield California where the summer temps got over 100, I use nothing but 700x26 for the 8 years I lived there, and used the Park patches, and it's on those tires that I still have a 4 year old tube with a Park glueless patch that rode in that heat for 4 years! Plus a second one was applied 1 year ago to the same tube and no problems. I use Specialize Ultralight 65 gram tubes, these tubes are sized smaller for 19-23 tires if that means anything, but I doubt it. I run 100psi in the rear and 90 on the front. I rode all the time in that heat range from short 12 mile rides to longer 100 milers and into mountains; I also did 2 158 mile rides going from the desert heat west into the mountains and down to the coast on that same tube. I since moved to Indiana this last January so I no longer ride in this sort of heat.

Park Tool GP-2 Super Patch Kit is a must have in your emergency repair kit, at about $2.50 and 1 oz weight every cyclist can afford to carry these and they really work !
As for clocking up hundreds or thousands of miles with them, FGS they're emergency patches, just change your tubes once in a while ! :mad: :D

That's the front wheel. There is a method I learned when I use to ride on tubulars and it works on clinchers and saves time. Remove wheel, then you find where the hole is before removing tire, then remove one side of the tire but only about 6 to 8 inches of the tire with the hole being in the center, pull out about 3 inches of the tube, run your hand where the hole is to check for objects and check the entrance on the tread for objects and remove, buff tube just a little bit larger than the patch, apply patch and press hard for about 20 seconds, reinstall tube, reinstall tire, reinstall wheel, pump and go. On a good day I can do that procedure in about 5 minutes; the rear takes me about another 3 minutes.

Outside of spotting the obvious slice or thorn, any clue on how to find the point of failure?

Do the gluless patches really work and adhere to the tubes? I am going through the free worlds supply of tubes (glass shards are fun to pick out of the tire with your fingertips!) and would like to reuse them more. I carry an extra tube when riding but really do not want to carry two. Just in case I get a second flat on a ride, do the glueless hold or am I risking ditching thee bike and hitching home? Thoughts, experience?


I've never had any luck with them. I prefer having a little tube of glue that makes a patch bond, instead of glueless patches that you can peel off.

Outside of spotting the obvious slice or thorn, any clue on how to find the point of failure?

If I can't find the point of entrance (usually I can-about 90% of time), I then will remove the wheel and reinflate the tire, then I pass the tire tread by the bottom of my nose and upper lip area while listening, I will either hear it first of feel the air on my skin. If not, then I spit on the valve to make sure it's ok. If I still cannot find, I'm know now it's going to go over 5 minutes, because then I remove the tube and blow it up about 4 times it's normal size to get the hole large enough to detect; don't forget to mark the tire and the tube in alignment with each other before you remove the tube so that when you do find the leak you know real close to where the hole in the tire is so you can check for pertrusions easier. If I still can't find it then I replace the tube. At this point the largest time consumer is deflating the old tube compact enough to either put in your seatbag or jersey pocket; I find rolling it firmly working towards the valve works best for me. But if I have to replace the tube and deflate the old one, I'm looking at about 10-13 minutes total to get back riding again; which hopefully is about as long as you should ever stop while cycling.

I've never had any luck with them. I prefer having a little tube of glue that makes a patch bond, instead of glueless patches that you can peel off.

Margo; I'm old enough to remember having to repair flats by vulcanization with fire! I'm also old enough to remember when the first glue on patch came out (I rushed to get them). And I still remember to this day, hearing the older timers saying they preferred the fire method because they had no luck with the glue and the fire method was far better. It's amazing how little people's minds have changed since then!!!

I use Park Glueless all of the time, although my primary backup on the road is 2 spare tubes, then secondary backup is a park glueless patch kit.

One word of advice - don't use a tube in the rear tyre that has glueless patches on it, if you are using a wind trainer. The heat of the wind trainer melted 3 off in about 10 minutes, giving me a flat right before a race. Luckily I borrowed someone elses bike (a bit small but was faster than my bike - if the seat had of been up far enough).

I think I've said enough this time.....

Margo; I'm old enough to remember having to repair flats by vulcanization with fire! I'm also old enough to remember when the first glue on patch came out (I rushed to get them). And I still remember to this day, hearing the older timers saying they preferred the fire method because they had no luck with the glue and the fire method was far better. It's amazing how little people's minds have changed since then!!!

I carry a few stick on patches with me, because they are so small they fit in my topeak alien tool but I just haven't had any luck with them. Granted I didn't try them but a couple of times but it's not that big a deal to carry that little tube of glue with me. After reading all the posts by the people that have had those patches last a long time I may reconsider. I don't get as many flats as I used to for some reason, so I'm a little rusty. I hope I have enough luck to stay rusty!

I carry a few stick on patches with me, because they are so small they fit in my topeak alien tool but I just haven't had any luck with them. Granted I didn't try them but a couple of times but it's not that big a deal to carry that little tube of glue with me. After reading all the posts by the people that have had those patches last a long time I may reconsider. I don't get as many flats as I used to for some reason, so I'm a little rusty. I hope I have enough luck to stay rusty!


With glueless patches, the tube has to be dry (the same is true with glue type), and you still have to buff the tube just as you would with the glue type. Once you do that apply the patch and squeeze the patch and the tube between your fingers as hard as you can for about 30 seconds.