melloveloyellow

..I'm surprised nobody's brought up the weight issue.

A failure @ the stem, or a puncture thru a patch means curtains for my tubes. I check pressures weekly (at least), and when a patched tube is losing more air than usual, I'll likely toss it as well.

I don't like those 25mm cheapo patches. The REMA 15mm patches rule, IMO.

ColaJacket

But doesn't that add to the rotational weight of the wheel/tire?

Of course, weight weenies probably go tubeless or tubular.

GH

ltxi

I threw out a tube this year that had close to a dozen patches on it. Came across it in the bottom of an old bike parts box. It was from the mid-80's. I don't do that no more.

rex615

I am more likely to throw out a tube due to its age than to the number of patches it has.

Also, new tires get new tubes, though i usually keep the old ones for spares if they are in good shape.

Atakuweh

Good lord, people. How much is your time worth? A brand spanking new tube costs about $5. Carry one with you, and if you have a flat replace it with the new one, and discard the old one, or recycle it as you wish. Multiple patches on a $5 tire tube is absurd. One may be acceptable if you don't happen to have a new tube, but beyond that you're wasting your time and effort.

bikemig 

You obviously don't subscribe to zen and the art of bike tube patching . . . .

one4smoke

^This 1000 times!

If I get a flat, that tube is history. Invest your time and money in a quality tire (instead of patching tubes) and the punctures are few and far between. Far enough that a $6 tube isn't squat.

SpeshulEd 

Run latex tubes, live on the edge!

unterhausen

A couple of years ago, I was getting lots of flats because I was riding gravel on 30mm tires, and we have some really nasty rocks around here. I would carry 3 or 4 tubes. I patched them because it would have driven me crazy to buy that many tubes. I have one tube with a lot of patches, I guess it took me a while to slow down, and there were a number of pinch flats. I kept patching one hole and finding another. I finally gave up on that one, should have figured it out on the 3rd hole. I had a batch of old patch kits then, so the costs didn't really matter.

I don't really see the time argument. I do watch TV occasionally, and I can fix tubes at the same time. So fixing tubes is not displacing time that has any particular value.

rex615

I actually enjoy sitting down and patching a tube at home. It is one of the few things we have left these days where we get a sense of self sufficiency. Also practicing every now and then gives you confidence (and speed?) when having to patch a tube in the field. I carry a spare tube, but a second flat requires me to patch.

cyccommute 

Look at it another way: If I happen to have as many as 25 patches on a tube, that's $125 I've saved. Many of the tubes I carry have patches, although fewer than 25. Every patch costs me about $0.14 and about 5 minutes of time. At minimum wage, that's $0.60 so a patch job costs me about $0.75. Twenty five patch jobs cost me about $18. Which is more economical?

unterhausen

Yeah, fixing something is a nice feeling. I have to build a couple of wheels, I also like to do that while watching TV


that's a good way of looking at it. I don't think I would bother after some number of patches though. Probably around 5, so we're talking $25-50.

pdlamb

I'm a confirmed patcher, but all this posting about $5 tubes has me scratching my head. Where do you get those? I haven't seen any less that $6-7 for a few years.

RPK79

If your patches cost $1 each you're paying too much. Mine were 11 cents a pop so I would have to get around 50 holes before the cost became prohibitive.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o00_s00

RPK79

Let's take it one step further and assume a 6 figure salary earning $50/hr instead of minimum wage.

A five minute job utilizing 14 cents in materials and $4.17 in labor ($50 / 60 Minutes * 5) is $4.31 which is still less than the cost of a new tube.

So, @Atakuweh how much is your time worth?

ltxi

One mebbe two flats a year...$7 for one new tube annually...I can financially handle that.

Atakuweh

I've had exactly one flat in the last 4000+ miles running Continental Gatorskins in an urban environment. I keep those 700C x 23 tires inflated to 110 psi, and check the inflation before every ride. Bike Tires Direct has Kenda tubes in that size for $5.09 each. Less a 50 cent credit per tube that's $4.59 each. I carry a spare tube but no patches. Cost effective. I'd rather do needlepoint while watching TV at night than spend my time patching tubes — and I don't do needlepoint.

one4smoke

Ha!

Where are all these guys riding that they are having to patch a tube 20+ times?!? I average about 120 miles weekly, and maybe one flat per year (once I got the proper rim strips and good tires) if I'm extremely unlucky.

cyccommute 

Just about anywhere west of the Mississippi is goat head country. If you've not been introduced to these little marvels of invasion, take a look here. Particularly, look at the foot picture...Ouch!!!!! I grew up with the damned things and have never been able to walk bare footed anywhere.

The article also underestimates the size of the plants. A 1 meter (3') diameter is on the small size. I've seen them spread twice that size or more and each plant has can have thousands of seeds. In some places, the points on the seeds will break down and not be a problem but where it is drier, the seeds can last with the points for up to 50 years and still germinate.

On a bike, you can avoid them if you stay out of disturbed areas but they do tend to grow along the sides of most all trails including hard surface, packed or single track. Someone new to the area venturing off the trail will pick them up on their shoes or in their tires, often both, and spread them out on the trails for others to pick up.

And, finally, there is no known method of avoiding flats from them entirely. Getting a flat from one is part luck of the draw and part knowing how to avoid them. I've been on rides with 4 people, some of whom were not familiar with the area, and we had 27 flats between us. One rider had 2, one rider (with tubeless) had 5 and one person had the other 20. I happened to come out of the canyon ride with zero which I crowed mightily about. The next time I went on that ride was when I got I stopped counting at 60. Never mock the goat heads!

Gresp15C

I certainly appreciate the point. Repair / Replace is always an interesting dilemma.

In my case, my time is worth what somebody is willing to pay me for it. My day job is salaried, and my side business is in a very low growth market. I'm also just not disciplined enough to always be doing the most productive possible thing. So I doubt that 5 minutes patching a tube is really a big deal either way. Ordering new tubes takes more time.

Most of the time is spent finding the leak, which is good to do anyway. Saving 5 minutes might cost you 15 minutes on the road when you get another flat because you didn't find the root cause of the first flat.

Glad we haven't gotten goat head thorns in Wisconsin... yet.