Are these available at your LBS, or are they vintage-ish and hard to find? I'll try most anything once, especially if they have the [MENTION=124730]SJX426[/MENTION] seal of approval ;)

DD

For a long time (decades?) they were the most common and often only brand sold in bike shops. Nowadays they are a little hard to find. Usually bike shops sell a cheap knock off version that don't work as well. My local LBS doesn't carry Rema. Probably some still do.

I buy them from Amazon.

Dopey me, asked before I Googled; I remember those kits. The type where you had to rough up the tube and use glue with the patch. Yeah, the good ol' days :)

I could work with those again (God knows I had to use them a lot when I lived in AZ - goatheads aplenty there). I'll search around for some - thanks!

DD

I got rid of my Vredestein Fortezza's because I kept getting flats on the rear. Front was fine. I had one Gatorskin, and ordered another. I may end up with some blue trim Serfa Secas (The Vredestein's had blue trim which went well with my bike). I had the Sefas Secas before and they wore like iron. I sold the bike they were on. Never did replace them.

Hmm, I don't have trouble with patches coming undone. Perhaps a bit at the edges but I don't necessarily run glue out to the full edge anyway.

The only patch kits I see at the LBSs here are Velox. I run through patches before I run out of glue. When I ask about more patches they tell me most people want more glue so that's what they have. Hmph, I figure that's 'cuz most people ride once, patch a flat, don't ride again for 6 months, then find their tube dried out 'cuz they didn't close it tightly. In any case, I guess I should scout around for patches on ebay.

As for mileage, DD, I dunno' about that. Been doing about 8000 miles a year lately, half of which is commuting so it's on roads that sometimes have debris. There are folks here who ride a lot more them I do!

Had the flat today, front tire. Not a problem...until I realized that the fix kit I knew was in my Carradice apparently was NOT.

Made the call. Got the kit. Rode it home.

REMA patch kits are the gold standard. But in my experience, any patch kit where you have to scuff up the tube and use glue with the patch is good enough.

Assuming you have fresh glue, good scuffing technique, and patience (use your cell phone timer and surf the web for five minutes while waiting for the glue to dry) what can possibly go wrong?

My Look 753 has been collecting dust because I'm too busy and unmotivated to patch a tubular. I spent about 1.5 hours repairing/stitching a flat the night before I rode it last, only to get another deep gash in a new place on the same rear tire. What a deflating fleeting (very punny, huh?). The tire was pretty worn out anyway, so it's probably time I retire it (ugh, groan). I have lots of spare, cheap, slightly used tubulars I could mount to get the bike back on the road, but would prefer not to go that route. Instead, I have an almost-new, matching and better quality tubular I could mount, but first that tubular needs a repair as well, and the leak seems to be coming from close to the base of the valve stem, typically a difficult repair. I keep putting it off and riding my other bikes. The garage queen is neglected.

Jeff [MENTION=168558]Drillium Dude[/MENTION], Thanks for your endorsement! Now I will have to come up with a "Seal of Approval!" I ordered 5 kits from Amazon yesterday. 5 because I needed to order $25 worth of stuff to get it to process! Anyway, I probably need that many to cover all the failed patches!

All my research, and the supporting comments here, indicate they (REMA) are one of the most popular patches and reliable. I have also used Performance patches with the same results as the Park. Funny, Park also offers a foil backed patch and glue kit too. The failure of the stick on patches has been the propagation of the failure from the hole in the tube to the edge of the patch.

So my last resort, in the last three days of trying to get my wheel ready to ride, was to install a tube where the rubber to stem bond failed. I super glued it together and let it sit for several days. Last night I installed it and this morning it is still holding pressure! I really don't trust it so the Langster will be the commuter today. Tonight the wheel will go on the Pinny and ridden around close enough to walk home. If it doesn't fail, I will wait for the order of new tubes to show up so I know I have a good back up.

[MENTION=175208]gaucho777[/MENTION], in case you haven't heard of them, and I'm sure you have, check out tirealert.com.

On the subject of rim strips, I usually use Velox cloth. It seems to come in at least two widths, 10mm and 16mm. Last year when I was at the LBS I picked some up but couldn't remember what size, and since my rims are pretty narrow I opted for 10mm. After a flat or two from the tape shifting I replaced it with 16mm which fit with no room to spare. Problem solved.

[MENTION=190941]jimmuller[/MENTION], yes, I'm aware of tirealert.com. Their prices aren't bad and I've been tempted give them a try, but I'm still too much of a cheapskate and like to do things the ol' fashioned way.

Oddly enough, the narrow 10mm Velox tape was/is meant for the relatively wide Super Champion 58 and similar rims that had an open center channel well. 16mm is for most narrow box section rims.

I know a bunch of time has passed since this post, but can you elaborate on your tire-stretching procedure? :)

Hmph. I didn't know that. Makes sense, I suppose.

I took a ride today and guess what I got? Three guesses and the first two don't count :)

Had to walk 2 miles to Redmond and find an LBS. I then had to suffer the embarrassment of having them fix it for me because I didn't have my reading glasses. Without them I wouldn't have been able to find the culprit. Small shard of glass.

Like a dope, I'd forgotten I'd switched over my saddle wedge to the Sparrow for yesterday's ride. Oops. At least I didn't have to make the call and have someone rescue me :)

DD

Uh, you got wet. Well, they don't call it the Pacific NorthWet for nuthin'.
You got cold because you climbed Mt. Somethingorother again and it is still snow covered.
And um, wait, wait, gimme a minute, I'll think of another...

Got home and the tire was still up to pressure! Mounted it on the bike and went around the block. No pings from truing and no flat. I will likely ride to work on it today. I do have a spare that is good.

@goucho777 - I held on to an vintage Clement that had a sheet metal screw in the center of the tread. After a couple of years, sent it to tirealert. He did a great job, couldn't tell it had been damaged.
[MENTION=168558]Drillium Dude[/MENTION] - I always carry a small pair of reading glasses with me, that and a phone minimum. What I have not always carried is a 15mm wrench when riding the Langster that has solid axles. Don't know what I would do if I had a flat without one! Same goes for the tandem.
[MENTION=424205]Salamandrine[/MENTION] - That is good to know! I think that is the root of more than half my flats on this wheel! Although I ordered another package of Veloplugs, the next will be 16mm velox.

Same here. Our tandem's rear axle has 19mm nuts and sure don't want to carry one. Plus, I'd need a 10mm to detach the drum brake cable and two 8mm (or is it 7 or 9?) to detach the drum's anti-rotation arm.

On the one or two times we've had a rear flat I was able to pull the tube from the tire and patch it while it was still engaged with the bike frame and the wheel was still mounted.

[MENTION=190941]jimmuller[/MENTION] - ahhh I forgot about that method! Thanks for the reminder!

There's one type of flat you gotta love: The one that waits till you're safe at home to show.
I rolled over in bed, looked at my rear tire, saw that it had "held its breath" on the day before's ride, and got me home, snug and secure before it went flat. I said, "Yes..!"
Not that fixing a flat is any big deal, at least in the summer when its not raining. Now, with the glueless patches from Park, its easier than ever. Oh.., and bring a pair of nitrile gloves, especially if you are inclined to over-lube your chain like me.

I've avoided this thread but as it keeps coming to the top of the forum, will share one from a month ago.

Rode my Viner to a club event plus did the century and was rewarded with 'three' flats. I usually ride with tubulars but this bike rides on clinchers with Slime lite tubes. Never experienced the punctures in the cool to moderate temps but that day was a scorcher. My rule is never to use those rubber rim strips but for some reason thats all the LBS sells. Well, the heat got to both front and rear rims and the eyelets had just enough to penetrate through the strips and into the tubes! The Slime didn't work either. The third flat happened as I was riding back and with under a mile to home -lol.

Curse those rubber strips. Also, with two nicely stocked bike shops in town, NEITHER had the 10mm width - cloth tape strips! Arghhhh

I call that the "Mopar" flat. It's like any Dodge car. They never breakdown on the road. You get home and they just won't start the next day.

I thought you were going to say that you had ridden over new asphalt. That can do it in the heat, too.
Thanks for the warning on melty plastic strips: I have a few of them in operation, and had not thought of that.

I was wondering why I woke to the sound of my roommate's (in the early 1980's) Sebring Plus. That Dodge starter
with it's characteristic "cheee chee chee cheee chee...Chee chee chee chee chee..."

"This piece of junk is going to get us home!!!" Pill Paxton in Apollo 13.

Remember how a month or so ago the rear tire on my Centurion went BANG? I wanted to ride the Centurion to work tomorrow but the rear tire was flat again after I'd put a new tube and tire on it. A week ago I'd noticed it flat and found a pinhole leak at a seam in a new tube. This time I found another, same seam. Put in another tube, one with five patches already. Pumped it up. a minute later it went BANG! Made my ears ring, I can tell you. Rats, grabbed a different bike, the UO-8 just to be ornery.