I noticed that none of us has mentioned that the surface of the tube needs to be cleaned of any lubricants or silicone products. Often soap, tire foam, or butyl rubber preservative is on the surface of the tube.

What ever you use to clean the tube it should not have any lubricant left over after evaporation. I have used Simple Green with water, Denatured alcohol, Acohol pads, Gasoline and others.

If on the road I will put a thin layer of vulcanizing cement in the area of the patch then wipe it off using the cement as its own cleaner. I then apply the patch normally.

Further note that I put vulcanizing cement on both the tube and the patch. Many of my patches are pretty much died out and need to be revitalized by the cement.

It might seem like a waste of cement that I carry in my little kit but I consider the little tubes one ride use cause when once opened they are usually done for.


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AliExpress 5 USD (Contain Toluene)

I often pickup old cruisers and find they did the double sided glue patch just using cut patches from old tubes. A little lumpy but they seemed to work.

Something I have noticed, is that matching the tube size to the tire helps reduce the number of failed patches. When the tube has to stretch to fill the inside of the tire, it puts more stress on the patch and they start to pull away. I use the skinny tubes in my 25 mm tires and wider ones in the 28 and 32 mm tires.

I always use a kitchen timer to make sure the glue in thoroughly dry. I have also made patches out of old tubes, as well as rejoining the ends of a rubber rim strip. When gluing two pieces of rubber (vs. a patch), I put glue on both surfaces and let it dry before joining them together.

Those old Camel heat vulcanizing patches were the best, although I don't think they made any small enough for bike tires. My parents owned a truck stop in the 1970s and I put a lot of them on truck inner tubes. The second-hand smoke from one patch was probably equivalent to a pack of cigarettes.:twitchy:

I do this, too, but only with enough air for the tube to resemble a slightly-limp donut. That way, it's not placing any shear stress on the patch. With how lazy I am, it might be a week or longer before I take the tube off the peg and deflate it for storage. If it still feels about the same after that time, I feel pretty good about the patch job.

Not a lot of work if you cheat. :D

I use a sanding drum on a cordless dremel-type multi-tool for surface prep. Takes only a few seconds to get a nice clean area of virgin rubber. Using this, my patch success rate is 95+ % using Rema fluid & patches, even with the newer tubes.


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If it's not a roadside repair, I'll wait 15-30 minutes. I'll inflate them, run them through the bucket again for bubble-check, and leave them for 48-72 hours to check a) for patch integrity and b) to see if there are any other holes or slow leaks in the tube (which can often be the case, especially with salvaged bikes).

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I think this is right. the stuff that comes in patch kits now is so de-natured / watered down that it won't vulcanize the tube.

What you can do is go on ebay and buy tire patch solvent FROM CHINA, wait 3 weeks, and then what you are getting is the "good old stuff"

guaranteed knock a buzzard off a S**T wagon at 50 meters.

/markp

I've used this sometimes, but found it's easy to go through the tube wall, unless you use very slow speed.
I've seen people rubbing tubes on a concrete curb or wall as abrasive too.

After I patch, I put the tube inside a tire/wheel combination kept on hand for such purposes. I then air it up to typical-use psi, and if it holds overnite, then the tube is good to pack in my saddle bag.
I found that just airing up a patched tube outside a tire/wheel only lets you put in ~5psi, which is not enough for a real-world test.

*******
www.https://njgreyheadbikes.blogspot.com

IMHO, this is the primary reason why many people have trouble patching tubes and many don't understand that this is the primary reason for sanding. You MUST get that compound off or your patch job WILL fail. I always aggressively sand the tube all the way to, and beyond, where the patch edge will be using sandpaper, not those worthless metal scratch thingies that come in some patch kits. The second reason that patches fail is that folks don't wait long enough until the vulcanizing fluid skins over. I have noticed zero difference in recent vs prior patch job experiences. They all work perfectly as long as you do it properly.

yup, I've done that too. Works well.

In case you are wondering....

Like.

​​​​​​​Do they make small ones for bicycle tubes??

No... I can't even find the big ones. They still make Heat Vulcanizing devices that you plug in and electrically bond Raw Rubber patches to tires.

Think I'll try a few experiments and see if Heat can be used to bond one of our regular bicycle patches...

You live in goat head (and numerous other pokey stuff) land and you stop bubble checking at the first bubble!?:eek: Every patch job I do I bubble check, mark the first one, and continue on. I check the entire tube…which had been inflated to quite a bit larger than it would be in the tire…sometimes twice.

I really do think that a lot of the problem that people have with a patch job is the “checking your work” step. I’ve seen lots and lots of people pull the new patch off by over inflating the tube right after the patch job. If they had left it to cure for that 48 hours and then checked the patch, they would be less likely to pull the patch off the tube.

If you are ordering your patch kits from China, I guarantee that all you are getting is rubber cement. That is not vulcanizing fluid. Frankly, I don’t know of anyone who actually makes “vulcanizing” fluid outside of REMA. REMA’s fluid and patch use a chemical reaction to actually do cold vulcanizing. They use an accelerator chemical and a vulcanizing chemical that is a two part system…can’t recall which has which…but once they come together, the accelerator activates the vulcanizing chemical and they start making actual new rubber.

The vast majority of patch kits have rubber cement and a rubber patch which make an adhesive bond but they don’t do the same chemistry as REMA. The patch fails because it is just a contact adhesive.

You misunderstand.

I was describing the follow-up post-patching check, not the initial bubble check. On the first pass, yes, I go all the way around and clearly mark every discovered hole. If a tube has more than two holes, I usually discard it as the economics of patching goes way down (I consider Slime a hole for this evaluation, as it can temporarily mask holes and gum up valves). Exceptions can be made for uncommon or hard-to-find tubes.

My experience has shown that all of [MENTION=21724]cyccommute[/MENTION]'s advice in this thread is dead on. Do everything he says. Rema glue is expensiver than the others but worth it. I experimented with other glues and came back. I keep a can with a lid with a built-in lid. I also keep the little tubes in my seat-bag toolkit. Once I open it, it starts drying out, so I check the tube periodically. Since I generally patch tubes in batches, opening a little tube might allow me to fix only one inner tube before it dries out. Hmm, maybe next time, I should use up the glue in the already-open little tubes before I open my can.

When a tube of vulcanizing fluid is opened and used on the road, I typically will replace it in the bike's patch kit with an unopened tube when I get home, and place the opened tube in the home patching supplies for use.

Better get a can as quick as ya can...

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Thanks.

I remember watching my dad do that in the basement. Probably wheelbarrow tubes.

I doubt Rema fluid is available in my country. And I can never bring it down on thd plane. I should do some looking around though.

I go full Hank Hill and sand thoroughly in multiple directions, let the cement dry dry-dry, and after patching I stick it in a c clamp between a couple round-cornered pieces of planed-flat wood for a day or so.

no issues.

However, the glue I just bought claims to be vulcanizing. I bet that’s not true though.

That's how my dad taught me to patch tubes, in the '60s. They used a specially-made small C-clamp that held the whole contraption tightly against the tube, then you lit it with a match. Super smelly, definitely outdoors only. I doubt they were intended for bicycle tubes, but that's what we used 'em for. I think I still have the little C-clamp around here somewhere, lot of good it does me without the patches...

I was being facetious and my joke fell flat. Sorry

I put far more patches on a tube before I discard it. It’s not that expensive for the patch and job ($0.75 to $1.25 per patch) but putting more patches on keeps the tube out of the waste stream. Since rubber really isn’t recyclable, any amount that you can keep out of the waste stream is better. 30 is probably too many but 2 is too few.

Recycle? They come in handy for wrapping when grafting trees and adding supports. Wrapped the bike rack to protect against accidental rear door opening. There is a thread on here somewhere.

There are NEVER misunderstandings regarding intent in electronic communications! Everyone knows that! This is the future, you see!!

:D

The "more than two" is typically at one time, as I figure at so much per patch + my time that putting 3 or more patches on at once isn't efficient. But if the tube already has 8 good patches and I add one or two more, that's no biggie.

(here is where an economist would come bursting in and say "There's no difference!!" This is why we don't invite them.) :)

I was on a ride with Jacquie Phelan, and when we came to a scenic spot to rest and have a bite, she admonished the people who parked their bikes in the sun. She said "don't join the Park It In The Sun Hiking Club" as in you'll be walking home if you need a patch and the glue is all dried out. Though I question whether sun versus shade makes all that much difference for the little time we spent looking at the scenery, when we'd been out in the sun all day before and after the rest stop. I'd generalize the advice to "think about how old your glue is, and replace it before it dries up." Words to live by — or at least to ride (not walk) by.