Best patches for a flat?
 

Hey guys, how do you guys take car of flat, do you uses patches? or do you just change the tube?

Anyone use these patches? I am stuck between which ones to get.

http://www.rei.com/product/605460/pa...less-patch-kit

or

http://www.rei.com/product/747197/novara-patch-kit

The ones with the glue are almost always better.

I carry spare tubes and patch them at home with the 2nd type patch kit.

Can you elaborate more on how the second one is better? I have never used patches before, so it is new to me. But I rarely get flats, so I usually just change the tube.

The glue in the 2nd kit makes the patch as strong as the rest of the tube.
Just make sure you let the glue dry 5 minutes before applying the patch.

Because while the glueless patch kits are less messy and faster to apply, the vulcanizing cement in the traditional patch kits hold better, so you're less likely to need to reapply if you're careful the first time. I also carry a spare tube and patch the flat one when I get home.

These patched tubes lasted untill the valves wore out.

Patched tubes views:

outside:
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...ckyards001.jpg

Inside the tube:
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...ckyards002.jpg

Ok awesome, how many kits should I get? REI currently has FS on order till the 8th, so I want to take advantage of it. Also, I should pick up some Rim Tape as well, they come in ATB, Wide, and Narrow, which ones should I pick up? I will be riding on 700x32s.

This Rim Tape: http://www.rei.com/product/545060/velox-rim-tape

Also for anyone needing this type of stuff, may want to jump on it as REI is selling with FS. And I am pretty sure those prices are cheaper than my LBS.

You can never have enough patches; they don't expire either. Just store them as you would for any rubber goods, cold, dark, and dry.

Yougot it, Velox is the one to choose; if you're running road rims, get narrow, the skinniest roll.

I got 2 sets of the patches, now I am trying to decide on the tape, either Wide or Narrow, it will be on Road rims, but as for wideness, I will have to measure it.

Edit: I ordered 2 sets of Wide. Reading the reviews, they said these work fine with road rims. If not, I can always return them, I have a local REI store nearby.

Excuse me when I said skinny, I forgot they came in a bunch of sizes; 17mm (green words) would be the right one to get most times with road rims.

That is wide, I am pretty sure at least. Narrow is 10mm, while ATB is 22mm, at least when I Googled the names it is what came up with.

I use the green one on nearly all road rims. The skinny, blue-lettered tape hardly covers the spoke nipple holes since they are alternatingly offset from the center of the rim. If the skinniest rim tape gets shifted a little while mounting a tire (which is certainly probable) you may get a flat when the inner tube gets stretched into the partially exposed spoke nipple hole. The green-lettered tape covers more than adequately and almost never interferes with bead seating.

Pre-glued patches don't last. They have failed me every time I have used them : they don't hold the pressure of small tires for long (usually a few days). On the other hand I have almost a 100% success rate with the patch+glue combo. Get those.

good old glue on patch kit

Not a SSFG issue. Moving to mechanics.

10 mm is for "drop center" single-wall road rims. 17 mm is for most double wall, box section road rims. 22 mm is for most MTB rims.