Touring - Patch or Change?

When on a tour do you usually patch or change tubes?

I change them until after I set up camp,then I patch them.

Ditto.

Ditto +3

I patch immediately on the road if it's easy to find the hole and it's not raining and I'm not running late. Otherwise, I plan to patch in camp, and then I forget to do it, and then I have to patch next time I get a flat, which, if I haven't bothered to find the hole to begin with, is usually 5 minutes later.

Patch on the road. I've only ever given up on finding the hole once, and that was after the tube had 11 (patched) holes in it already. I usually retire(haha, get it?!) a tube somewhere between 8 and 15 patches. No reason to pay for a new tube if you can fix the one you've got.

Hm, I'm surprised so many of you swap it out on the road. Interesting!

OK, here's a variation on the OP's question. When you patch, do you use the (what seem to me to be) newer "glueless" variety or do you go "old-school-glued-down-patch"????

Inquiring minds want to know.

Glueless=worthless. If you want something temporary they will work until I get it done properly.

When you patch, do you use the (what seem to me to be) newer "glueless" variety or do you go "old-school-glued-down-patch"????

I've given up on glueless patches. My last batch ovear-heated in my black under-seat bag during the summer and the glue was worthless: the patches would start to fail before I could get the tubes back into the tires! I've gone back to old-school-glued-down patches. They haven't let me down yet...

Glueless=worthless. If you want something temporary they will work until I get it done properly.

I agree with the worthless part,I went through about six or seven,all I had left,and still couldn't get the tire pumped up before they pealed off.Luckily it was only about a six mile walk to the house and it wasn't a tour.

Old school glue and rubber patches all the way.Never had a problem with them.

I will patch on the road if I am not in a hurry, quite often I won't even bother to pull the wheel if I can see where the puncture is. I use the old fashioned glue on patches.

If I am on a tight schedule or the weather is crappy, swap in a new tube and patch the old one first chance I get.

Aaron :)

Most often I change the tube and patch it in camp. I do find the source to be sure the offending object is out of the tire and usually mark the tube so that later I can find the spot to patch.

Depends. If I can see the obvious source of the hole, like a big thorn sticking out of the tire, and it's safe, comfortable and convenient to do so, I'll patch.
If I'm in a spot I don't like for whatever reason, I'll change.

Thus far, I can say that I've never had a flat while out on the road touring. Thank you Continental and Schwalbe. Good tubes, good tires, goodbye flats for the most part. If we had a flat then we'd most likely fix it in camp or at the night's hotel.

I actually love patching tubes...





sadly, after switching to Schwalbe tires three years ago, I haven't had a single flat. maybe I should go back to kendas or something.... nah. :)

Can't recall ever patching, even in camp.

I always patch right away, but I have, on occasion, missed a second hole and had to stop for a second time. That sucks!

I've also run into problems because I tend to patch until the valve stem starts to tear out of the tube. That totally sucks!

So, I always carry a spare tube, but I make a game out of getting as many patches as possible. Weasel9 mentioned getting 8-15 patches before replacement.. Wow! I'm impressed! (Seriously... I think my all-time record was 8.)

It's interesting to read that glueless patches do not work. I switched from the old-style patches about 12 years ago, have used glueless patches maybe five or six times, and had no problems.

Weasel9 mentioned getting 8-15 patches before replacement.. Wow! I'm impressed! (Seriously... I think my all-time record was 8.)

Yup. You ever put a patch on a patch? Not for the faint of heart.

It's interesting to read that glueless patches do not work. I switched from the old-style patches about 12 years ago, have used glueless patches maybe five or six times, and had no problems.

Let them get hot or old in your saddlebag,thats all it took for me.
I've never had a problem with the older style and will never use those stick on's again.
Besides it only takes an extra five minutes.

patch. new tube is my last resort. Patching a tube is taking a rest break and when touring I am never in a hurry to finish riding unless its raining then I get under cover and try to patch.

I'll usually patch the tube on the road, since I want to make sure I understand the source of the leak and address it, e.g. a wire left in the tire. However, then at least half the time I'll swap the tube and wait to use the patched tube next time.

Change the tube, then patch the puncture when it's convenient. After two or three patches, I'll discard the tube. Usually start with two new reserve tubes on extended tours.

We change, then later that day at camp we patch.
I don't like patching much, even less so when it's raining (ever tried to patch in the pouring rain?).

I think our patches are with glue, however, that don't matter as we ALWAYS use 'glue' (or 'solutie' as it's called here).
We tend to take a roll of patchrubber, NOT the prefab ones, although that depends on availability.

I use the Park peel and stick patches, and they've always worked for me. I had a flat on tour today. I patched it.

Varies...it depends upon the flat...if I can see what caused it, will patch, if at a comfortable place to work on it...........always bring small needle nose pliers now, too many instances in the past where I had trouble getting the radial wire out of the tire.........if late in the day, will just replace tube and always, always patch the tube that night...after 2-3 patches will discard the tube when I come across a bike shop and restock with new....for local commuting, will put new tube in and save dead tube/tubes for a rainy weekend and will then patch several. Generally, I discard tubes after 4-5 patches.

Personally have not had good luck with peel and stick patches, have gone back to the "OLD" glue method....may be more "my" problem then the products though, as the lot I used were stored thru the summer in the non-airconditioned garage..

When on a tour do you usually patch or change tubes?

I don't think I've had a flat on a tour (knock on wood). I would however patch unless it was raining hard in which case I would then patch the spare later on.

I put in a new tube and save the old. If the new tube fails before I get to a bike shop I'll patch one and use it. When I get to a bike shop I jetison the tube with a hole and buy a new spare.

I'm starting to rethink this, however. Patching and re-using seems more "green".

I change the tube AND patch the punctured one straight away. This gives the patch time to be really stuck before inflating (hopefully a long time in the future).

Please correct me if I'm wrong but isn't modern glue not as strong as the old stuff that you could also use to fix rubber dinghies, diving fins, wellies or anything else rubber? Probably gave you nasty diseases aswell...

I put in a new tube and save the old. If the new tube fails before I get to a bike shop I'll patch one and use it. When I get to a bike shop I jetison the tube with a hole and buy a new spare.

I'm starting to rethink this, however. Patching and re-using seems more "green".

yes

I use the Park peel and stick patches, and they've always worked for me. I had a flat on tour today. I patched it.

I've changed my mind. I just had three flats in a day and these peel and stick patches are impossible to use in pouring rain. On my last flat I was out of spares, and I ended up walking to a tire patching place. Luckily this is China and these are everywhere. I have a normal glue patch kit with me now.

I put in a new tube and save the old. If the new tube fails before I get to a bike shop I'll patch one and use it. When I get to a bike shop I jetison the tube with a hole and buy a new spare.

I'm starting to rethink this, however. Patching and re-using seems more "green".

A properly patched tube is just as good as new. There's no reason to toss a tube just because it's got a little hole in it. Or even a dozen. Or four dozen, for that matter. Use tubes until they tear, get a huge gash, or otherwise catastrophically fail. Bike innertubes live an easy life, and will last a long, long time. (I've got a thirty year old one on my bike right now, with repairs that are that old. Works just fine. leaks down slower than the new tube in the other wheel.)