lxpatterson

Ive had it with patched tubes. I used to religously patch tubes and have a collection of tubes with 3 or more patches, but now I am done. I flatted today (ok it happens bc i forgot to use tuffy liners). It's -2 with freezing rain and 30-50kmh winds, so that's unpleasant enough. Into a bus shelter I crawl and put in my spare. Well the spare has 2 patches on it. 2-3 km later i flat again, and this time no more spare. When i got home i find out it is slow leaking at one of the patches. I am done with using patched tubes. From now on it is all new tubes and punctured tubes go in the trash. At MEC they are something like 4 bucks for continental tubes, and in my opinion it's 4 bucks well spent. Does anyone else have a no-patch policy?

zonatandem

Nope!

michaelnel

Patch them correctly, and they won't leak.

ken cummings

I like the no patch policy. I find so many tubes with one leak on the road side that I don't salvage them unless they are the right width and stem length. Have not bought tubes in years. Found a tire iron and a 6" crescent wrench last sunday next to a useless (to me) 700x23 tube. Thanks No-Patch guy.

CTAC

I bought a road bike with Kenda Koncept tires and had to patch tubes twice a week and now I'm pretty good at it. Later I replaced these tires with puncture resistant ones and had only one flat since then (about 1000mi). But I still carry *two* spare tubes and patches with me.

2manybikes

+1

Patches done right don't leak.

Switch to kevlar belted tires, you might not get punctures.

Bizikleto

I know everybody knows it to some extent, but I tossed many patches before I saw an lbs owner do it:

1. Wait 5 solid minutes before applying the patch on the sanded and glued puncture area.
2. Press firmly and evenly on the whole patch for a long minute (use pliers with two wide wooden plates to press the tube, not for strength, but for evenness).

Since then, patched tubes work as good as new ones for me.

But the most important thing with patched tubes is the contribution to waste reduction, more so with something polluting and difficult to recycle like tubes. It's worth learning the skill and patch, tube permitting, as much as one possibly can.

All the best.

-=(8)=-

Im a treehugger and wont discard a tube unless it blows.
I have 6 patches on some tubes. A correctly applied patch
'becomes' part of the tire and will never leak. I have even
fixed the base of a presta stem tube using a creatively cut
patch and it still holds air. Ive probably save at least 50.00
over the last 40 years

mrkott3r

that $50 has probably been lost to inflation )

gear

no patches

lxpatterson

ive never used pliers to squeezethe patch. usually i just put it under a heavy book. maybe that is theproblem. but i also find that it is hard to get good replacementpatches. the kind i buy at my lbs are really ****ty, like the patches are melted on to the wrapper and dont come off well, or they just arent tacky. is there a good brand to look for? the glueless patches are popular here, but i find they are ****.

max-a-mill

glueless patches do indeed suck and are not a permanent solution....

thes guys right here are the best i've used.



if your lucky you can find a bikeshop that sells just individul patches like mine.

BananaMan

The first time I used Park glueless patches I thought 'Wow, that's so much easier'. I'd patched two more tubes before the first patch sprung a leak, the second followed a few weeks later, then the third. Each patch only seemed to last about 1000miles.

I've made a return to glued patches which have never failed me.

michaelnel

I think one of the keys to successful tube patching is to not do it (if you can avoid it) under adverse conditions. Carry a patch kit, but also carry a known good spare tube (I carry TWO spares). When you get a flat, find what caused it, fix that, and put in the replacement tube. Take the tube that needs patching home.

Then, under good conditions (you're warm, good light, not rushed) patch the tube and test it. If you do it right (sand the area first, dab on some glue with a fingertip to an area centered on the hole but larger than the patch, let the glue DRY until it's no longer glossy looking, apply the patch WITH the clear covering still on it, hold it down for a minute with your fingers or something else, set aside for a while, test under water).

I tend to gather up several that need patching, then do them while watching TV. Any tube that's been patched well under these conditions then goes back into rotation as a spare tube.

I use the Rema patches. They are available in several sizes. The Touring kit pictured above has patches that are sized for touring tires. They're too big for the 700x25-28 tubes I use in my 700x28 Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires. I found that the Rema "Sport" kit has smaller patches that are suitably sized for my tubes.

Last, if I open the glue tube in the patch kit I carry, then that glue tube goes into my HOME repair kit and a new unopened tube of glue goes into the patch kit I carry. If I'm going to discover a dried up tube of glue, I want to discover it at home, not on the road.

oldguy52

"I think one of the keys to successful tube patching is to not do it (if you can avoid it) under adverse conditions. Carry a patch kit, but also carry a known good spare tube (I carry TWO spares). When you get a flat, find what caused it, fix that, and put in the replacement tube. Take the tube that needs patching home."

Yes, I can't argue with this logic at all......... very sensible.

BUT , I don't hear anyone here mentioning the use of a patch roller. If you really want a patch to stick well, you need to work all the air bubbles out from under it so the whole patch is properly adhered to the tube. For this you need a patch roller. You apply your pattch, then lay the patched spot on a hard flat surface and starting in the middle of the patch, roll the whole surface of the patch from the middle to the outsides. This works the air bubbles out and forces the patch into good and complete contact with the tube.

If anyone is just laying patches on with their fingers, it's not real surprising that they have trouble with them.

As much as I hear talk about patching tubes, I'm kinda amazed that no one seems to know this. I haven't had the need to look, but don't they sell these things in bike shops??

rule

Better tires perhaps?

Yeah, use glued patches, properly applied, which probably means warming them up first this time of year if you are using them out on the road, then ride the tubes until they look polka-dotted. I've been doing this for years.

oboeguy

FTW! The best way to save on discarded tubes is not to flat. I have some very fast Vittoria tires on my road bike which flatted all the time. I almost never flat now that I've switched to Vredestein tires. The Scwalbes on my folder (both the Stelvios and Marathons) are very tough too. Between the two bikes I've had one flat since September, and that one was due to a bad rim taping (since fixed).

GTcommuter

This is a sore subject for me. Got my new single speed wheel installed last night, got a flat on the way to pizza, got home and patched the flat, got up this morning and the tire was flat again. I'm perfectly willing to patch a tire and reuse it, but I like having a supply of spare, new tubes for emergency situations. I prefer to save up a few blow tubes, patch them all at one time, and then put them back into circulation.

Derailed

I spend a ridiculous (according to many...) amount of money on my bikes, but for some reason I'm a super cheap skate when it comes to tubes. If I can find a way to patch them, I do. Until recently, my tubes averaged 4 patches, with some at 6.

However, it all came back to haunt me when I recently got some studded tires and went to install them on my commuter:

The front went on fine, but for the rear I was doing my final inflation and the tube started to leak air from the valve stem. The rubber had become brittle and was clearly beyond repair. So, since my CX bike is sitting in the basement for the winter, I decided to steal a tube from it, thinking I'd "treat" it with a new tube come spring.

Unfortunately, the same thing happened: the valve stem started to leak during final inflation. WTF? Perhaps questionably, I then decided to grab its other tube, only to find the same thing happen once again! WTF???!?! I'm fairly experienced with changing tires, but after the third time I was pretty flustered. At first I thought I must be rushing and doing something VERY stupid (which is always a possibility for me...), but then it occurred to me: all of these tubes, covered with "patches of honor", were four to six years old!

At that point I decided to break out one of my "emergency" brand new tubes. Guess what? It went on just fine, and I'm happily riding it daily.

Moral of the story, for me, is that patching is great, but I'm going to start occassionally dipping into my "emergency stash" prior to Revelations.

-D

MMACH 5

I replace the tube and take the old one home to patch it. I then use the patched tubes on the bike I ride to the store, (it has baskets). Since I don't ever go more than a few miles from the house with this bike, if a patch fails, I'm not pushing my bike for the rest of the night.

Sometimes even a patch that has been applied correctly will fail. Just like a brand new tube will sometimes have a leak.

So yes, I patch tubes. But I don't use patched tubes on my commuter.

ItsJustMe

I've never had a patch leak, and I run with 3 or more patches on some tubes. Then again, I learned to patch tubes on the farm at the age of about 10, and if a patch blew on a tractor, it meant a long trip back to the barn, and using an overhead hoist to take the tire off after unloading the 300 pounds of water/salt mix from inside the tube, so you tended to try to do it right.

As far as a patch roller; actually, when I put on the patch, I clamp it between two pieces of wood in a vice for a couple of hours. The patches DO NOT come off; I tried to peel one off of a tube I was discarding once and I had to pull with pliers, until finally it tore the tube; the patch and glue was stronger than the tube itself.

Fred Smedley

One could argue that using glue that releases toxic vapors into the air is a questionable practice also. (I'm only kidding here).

cyccommute 

Or you can buy a box of 100 at Loose Screws. Unless you live in an area that has been invaded by goats heads, 100 should be a life time supply. If you do live in the land of the puncture vine, 100 might be a year's supply

You can also get glue at Loose Screws.

As for me, I patch... and patch... and patch. I'm proud of my tubes with 25+ patches! But then again that's only about 3 month's worth of riding (we have a lot of goats heads here

cerewa

I've never used a patch roller, or a vise to get my patches to stick. I never knew it was necessary, and obviously it's a little bit of extra effort.

I also never waited for the glue to be dry befor patching, because it's so darn counterintuitive!

I don't think I've had a flat in over a year, but maybe next time I have a flat I'll go back to patching instead of throwing away the used tube. If I do it right, maybe the patches will last for more than a couple months.

Mr_Super_Socks

I carry one spare and the crappy stick on patches with me. If I flat, I put in the spare. If I flat again, I use the quicky patch since it's quick and easy (and the good patches can't be done right in the cold on the way to work anyway.) THen I patch the tubes properly with the glue patches in the green box (from max-a-mill's post) at home, where it's warm.