The Patch of Honor Roll
 

Participate in the poll by finishing the following sentence:

"As a C&Ver, my current workhorse has

A: no tube patches
B: one or two patches
C: 3 or more patches

because....

1: I'm super thrifty."
2: I see it as part of C&V culture."
3: I'm the real deal and ride tubulars."

Extra credit: Explain your answer.:speedy:

"...my current workhorse" varies from day to day so I don't ride any one enough to get flats. They all have newish tubes so there are no patches.

I know, this negates any modicum of C & V "cred" I was earning around here. :(

I don't keep track. Assuming the puncture is small and not on a seam, I generally patch a tube at least once or twice.

You start at the bottom again.

Kind of like Chutes and Ladders.

C, 1.
I patch tubes until they aren't repairable anymore, even replaced valves, so sometimes I ride tubes with 10 patches on them. No problems.

C, N/A
I patch them until they will no longer inflate. I do this because quality tubes in the sizes I want aren't easily available here.

...I got a few with patches, and I know all the "tricks" and "secrets" for successful patching.

But in all honesty I suck at patching. :( I think after one or two I just move on. Like marriage. So B.
In my defense, we collect and recirculate tubes from a couple of bike shops here at the bike co-op.

So the bulk of my tubes are previously used. It's absolutely astonishing how many people put in brand new
tubes with a tire change, just because. I guess I understand it if you simply cannot change your own.

B, 2
My current workhorse has one or two patches, because (sort of) I view it as C&V culture.
I also grew up patching tubes, and really don't see any reason to change now.

Actually, I'm superstitious.
I believe that once a tube has been properly patched and holds, it has learned it's lesson, and will never fail you again.
Unless I pinch it right away re-installing it, or the tire is defective, that seems to be the case, so far.

Hey, don't look at me like that!



PS: My tubulars, well, that's always a case, so far, of valve core leaks, not flats.
PS: I don't see any tubeless tires in my future, period, or chemicals inside my tubes.

I don't patch tubes because after several attempts, both on the side of the road and in my shop, most do not hold air and when they do I suspect that they will stop holding air in the middle of a ride.

I do not throw the tubes away though. I find other uses for them, such as bar wrap or sewing projects. On the other hand, I average about one flat for every 1000 miles or so don't have a lot of bad tubes.

I do carry patches though, and if ever I come upon someone with a flat, offer them a choice of my tube or the patch kit.

I am sometimes surprised by how many patches I have on a tube I've pulled to repair.

"Well, one more ain't gonna hurt anything!"

Nine out of ten are patches I've made by cutting little circles out of junk tubes; using glue-both-faces technique. I haven't bought a conventional patch kit in years, just little tubes of rubber cement.

My record is 22 patches before the stem pulled out. All through a continental 4000 23mm tire.
When I was a kid, I lived pretty far out from civilization, so getting new tubes was pretty rare.
For a while I was doing organized rides! with "serious" roadies, who were flinging their flatted tubes away when changing a flat. I picked up several, all higher dollar tubes than I buy, and I think I still have a few.
Right now almost all of the spares in every seat bag has a couple patches, I won't dig into the "new" drawer unless I have to.

Interestingly, I once offered a tube to a guy on a ride who was out, he refused it as it had a couple of patches:cry:

So, it's kind of like this: My patches have a tube...somewhere... I think.

No patched tubes here. I do carry a patch kit and an extra tube when I ride.

Another reason, is patched tubes look so cool when you blow them up,, er, inflate them, outside the tire.

Original poster here. Some great comments; keep them coming. I think being able to patch your bike tube is akin to being able to change out a flat on your car. Which, if my memory serves me correctly, about 113% of auto drivers in the USA cannot change a car tire (don't quote me on that though). Being self sufficient with your wheels seems like a pretty old school/C&V concept.

I'm a C1/C2. My 2 current tubes have five patches amongst them, with the spare tube having three of it's own. I'm not the best mechanic, but I can switch out a tube and get patches to work (sometimes). I will never ride with thorn proof tubes nor will I put goop in tubes.

I was the second one back from a major collision, and the debris stream was still flowing as I rode through it. I got one flat from it. I pulled into the nearest parking lot and fixed it. The onlookers were completely amazed at such a spectacle.

A.
My other bikes have tubulars and don't have patches either.

It isn't that I wouldn't do it, it is just that I haven't needed to patch since changing tires which required different size tubes. I keep patching till one doesn't hold.

Never thought about using a tube as patch material! Don't know if that is a good idea or not. So [MENTION=201510]AZORCH[/MENTION] how heavy is that patch tube?

Hopefully the following statement doesn't anger the puncture gods.

I haven't had much need for patching lately (a year or two prior to this summer). This past weekend was spent camping on a friend's farm for a music festival he's been throwing for a handful of years now. I brought my MTB for transportation and general shenanigans (I need to ride in the woods more, man it's fun). Sunday am I grabbed the bike to head down to the house for some water. Flat rear. Shoot. Replaced the nice tube with a heavy Kenda later in the day, but I'll be patching the original soon.

That will make the grand total of patches for all 12 of my wheels exactly...one.

It works OK, but I prefer ready made patches because ideally you'd need to make the patch just before use, and you have to prepare 2 surfaces. Still I'll use them for very big patches, pressing the patch/tube in a vise overnight.

This reminds me....the workhorse has 2 punctured tubes in the saddlebag......hope it rains soon so I can spend an evening patching

My daily commuter is a 92' Trek 950 with downhill tubes. I have had one flat in 6 years! Wife patched that in 2008. Only have to air up about 3 times a year.

All my other bikes need air about monthly.

Now that I jinxed myself I will likely get 3 dozen flats a week for the rest of the year.:lol:







Jon

A, 3. No patches, mostly tubulars, and a few clinchers with new tubes. I don't flat very often, and I don't patch, patches have let me down too many times. Life is short. I just throw them away.

No patches presently but I recently used three patches over the course of two punctures on a Tandem ride and had to bail early after the third....i ran out of patches.

I have no idea how many patches are on my tubes at the moment, but next time I have a flat tire I'll try to remember to count.

Most of my tubes have a few patches. I always try to distribute my flats so the tube stays balanced. Ideally I suppose you'd want two opposite the valve stem.:)

I once complained to a guy at the LBS about self-stick patches; that they would only last about long enough to get home. He looked at me kind of funny and said "well yeah, you'd never want to ride longer than that on a patched tube anyway." I'm more a "wear it out" kind of guy, and after that I use them to tie up x-cords, tie stuff on the roof rack, and a bunch of other stuff.

Now that this thread has morphed away from it's multiple-choice origins (I very dislike multiple-choice questions, almost as bad as picking politicians, grrr), I'll offer up what I know and do.

I almost always patch tubes, but not usually during a ride.

Purpose-designed patches have one particular feature besides having a prepared, clean surface and a feathered edge; these patches are designed not to stretch except around their edge(s)!

Why?

It's so that the tube itself won't be put in tension near to the hole, as since air can get between patch and tube, the tube itself slowly peels itself off of the patch, starting at the hole.
The first (stretchy) glueless patches were particularly prone to peeling themselves off for this reason, particularly when the tube's width didn't come close to filling the inside volume of a relatively-larger tire.
While the patch remains pinned to the inside curved surface of the tire, the tube slowly peels away as a flat membrane with a small hole in it, until the peeling reaches the edge of the bond, allowing air to escape.

Next thing about tubes is that I judge them. There are some much better than others, so some I will discard when first flatted.
Others, even if 30 years old(!), I will carefully patch and return to service.

What's to judge you say?

I like tubes with short valve stems, and I also like tubes with a bigger cross-sectional diameter but with thinner walls, the better to contain air once punctured, since a larger-sized tube doesn't have to stretch much to fill the inside of the tire casing. So, the bigger tube may allow you to ride home on a slowed leak(!), since the hole doesn't get stretched out but instead almost seals itself.
Michelin actually sells dimpled tubes that put the tube wall in 3-D "planar" compression once inflated against the inside wall of the tire, but I get the same benefit by putting a bigger tube into my tires (which may require a more careful installation, piece of cake).

Secondly, the rubber on some batches of tubes does not take well to patch adhesives. When I notice that a tube doesn't abrade cleanly with the sandpaper, that's a red flag that the balling-up (instead of abrading like dust) rubber is not a good candidate for patching! I toss tubes that don't abrade cleanly, since the patches on these so often peel and fall off.

So what else to say. I mostly use round Rema-type patches cut into quarters, which of course requires more "quality control" to do reliable patching with. I use fresh-appearing glue, avoiding thickened glue, and I whirl the tube to accelerate glue drying before applying the patch. Breathing on the glue has been known to cause problems, as has not allowing the glue to dry thoroughly before applying the patch. I once conversed with Jobst Brandt about this, together with the Rema booth rep at Interbike, but my conclusion is my own.

I've patched perhaps over one thousand punctures, having applied as many as seven cut patches at one time to a single tube, and feel that it is reliable and worthwhile (those seven patches got me home).
And I've found glueless patches to also be reliable, but depending greatly on the material and size of the tube. Some have failed within minutes.

I have saved many, many of the ~30-yr-old Specialized-branded tubes that have such thin walls and generous width, after finding them in old tires, and they have proven to be at least as reliable as new ones.
BTW, I measure tube width with the tube flatted, measuring straight across, and try for at least a 25% greater "folded tube" width than the listed tire size. I use the tube size listed on the box as only a reference to the minimum tire size it can be used in, but have at times actually installed undersized tubes (usually without problems) when only a narrow one was available.
I also find it useful to put tubes on the scale, and use width vs. weight to judge how good of a tube it is.