I've had a rash of flats in the past few weeks...damn glass. So I had five flats I'd saved up to repair. Easy enough, I had latex glue, a patch kit, a needle and some dental floss. All five went fine, even though one was opposite the value.

One I opened up, it was wasted - too big a hole. The other four I patched. Afterwards, I pumped them all up to 40 pounds and let them stand. One leaked right away, so I tossed it. Of the three, one went flat a day later, so I tossed it. One I swapped into use when I rebuilt a wheel - the tube burst thru the tread. Then next has started to bulge thru the tread, so that one is a lost cause. That leaves one possible good repair.

Not so good. The two leakers, well, this was the first time I patched a tube in 35 years and I haven't improved much in that time. But of the three I did patch correctly, two burst right thru the tread - and these holes were little tiny pinpricks, no doubt from glass.

Is it hopeless to even try and patch such wimpy little tires? Are they just not tough enough to hold back 110 pounds of pressure after getting a few threads cut by a flat?

And in case this is important, they were all Servo Corsa specials from Yellow Jersey. I've had a rash of flats just this month, but over the past year or so, I've had an acceptable flat rate, so I can't say frommy experience I find these tires too delicate.

Am I doing something wrong? Should I patch the tread, too?

Almost all my flats are in the rear. Maybe I should pop for one of those $40 tires with a kevlar belt?