HELL YEAH I built my entire bike so why pay someone else to do it

If you use them right, which isn't hard, glued patches are very reliable, work wonderfully well, and last forever. There's no reason to toss a tube because it's got a hole in it. It's a waste of money and resources.

Nice to see you !

Was wondering if you were coming up for the TdA this year ?

I come across people trudging along pushing their flatted Wally World bike shaped object all the time. You know, their one ride a year sort. They have no tools and mostly no brains and if I think they could be having a safety concern (far from help or bad people about) I will try to help but it is like this, when we take our boat out, I only tow people when there is a safety concern, otherwise I call the CG or a commercial tow company for them. My time is valuable and I have very little free time to myself and I don't want to use it helping the "helpless" as tha tis why they have Darwin Awards.

Learn to fix flats if you ride a bike and you don't have to remove the wheel to patch a tube on many bikes. The tools are minimal.

Before I started using Mr. Tuffies, I'd patch like a madman. Maybe replace a tube after 10 patches or so. Nowadays punctures are so infrequent, that patch kit glue dries up on me before I use all patches. Tubes are just over $2.00 USD when I get 'em by the 5-pack. I don't think spending $2.00 to replace a tube and not deal with finding hole, sanding, glueing, waiting and patching is an egregious waste of resources or money.

It's absolutely ridiculous to say they have "no brains". A lot of these people do indeed want to just go for a bike ride once or twice a year. If they spent that time learning to change a flat, they wouldn't have time to ride, and the truth is they wouldn't even remember how to do it next year.

For their kind of riding, I think it would be far more beneficial for them to buy and install flat resistant tires, buy a home tire pump, and carry a cell phone in case something happened. 'course they would probably be shocked that all that stuff together costs as much as their whole bike cost.

I've been offline for a while - probably coming to TdA, possibly with a tandem biking partner. You?

And to get back on topic - NICE JOB with your daughter fixing her sister's flat

How could you be a commuter that doesn't fix their own flats? :-\

On the patch vs tube debate. I always carry a patch kit, I don't always have a spare tube. When I do have a spare tube and I'm in a hurry, I'll change the tube and throw it on the "Patch me Please Pile" when I get home.

Tubes (on my budget) are too expensive to just replace without trying to patch them first. Not to mention it seems to me like it would be a waste not too.

I *always* carry a spare tube and a patch kit after, I've had at least 2 tubes fail right by the stem where you can't patch it.

As someone else said, a $2 to $5 tube doesn't seem like it's to expensive for me to avoid going through the hassle of trying to apply a patch - I could go along with it depending on your budget, but when you consider that the patch kit costs $5 itself, it seemed like half the time when I used to patch my tubes it seemed like the glue would dry out and render the whole patch kit useless after a single use, leaving me with no cost savings. :-(

I wish there was a way for me to buy used tubes with holes in them that people are throwing away at pennies on the dollar so I can patch them. I'm thinking of getting narrower tires but still have two unused spares, so replacing all four good tubes is just too wasteful.

Maybe someone with a couple of bikes/tire sizes would trade you.

Two flats within 2 kilometres today. Both front, tiny silvers of glass. Pouring rain. While fixing the second flat I noticed that a cut in the sidewall of my rear tire, which I had previously booted, was bulging dangerously. I took out the sewing kit and sewed the cut shut. It now bulges only slightly. While sewing my rear tire, a front spoke nipple failed (spontaneously). I took a nipple from one of my spare spokes and replaced the failed one. Total time spent on the side of the road: two hours.

I fix everthing.

When it rains, it pours... literally and figuratively. Glad you got it fixed up. Sorry you lost so much time.

Cuz she's an idiot. Did you kick her ass?

Same here, including my dogs. DIY spay/neuter FTW.

Don't get me wrong. I've had plenty of tubes fail in an un-repairable way. Valves rip off, occasionally they go *BOOM* right after inflation. Those usually get recycled in some other way, such as mounting accessories.

My LBS charges $6 per tube. They sell awesome patch kits for $3, which have about 10 patches in them. With those prices its a no-brainer for me to try and patch everything. I have one tube in my Motobecane with 4 patches on it right now.

I wouldn't personally call it a no-brainer...to me, if you have a tube with 4 patches on it the no-brainer is buying better flat resistant tires.

(that isn't entirely accurate for everyone as I'm definitely willing to pay more money to not have to fix flats than I am to save money but deal with more flats ).

My thoughts exactly.

I normally fix flats, but I think I need to replace some flats now. Third day in a row w/ "flat" tire - not from debris either. I think I've managed to damage two Presta valves since this weekend. They just leak out the valve very slowly as best as I can tell. Odd b/c I've never had any issues before. Placed an order for a replacement head for my Planet Bike pump this afternoon just in case something's wrong w/ it that's causing issues. Guess I'll pick up some new tubes at the co-op tomorrow night, too.

Argh!

*snerk* That's actually why I was able to count the patches. Replaced the crappy (not to mention old) Specialized tires with Pasela TG's a few months ago. My budget may not be large but tires and saddles are something I don't want to cheap out on.

LOL! I see we're in agreement then. Great minds think alike, right? :-D

I just suggested ordering a pair of the Pasela Tourguard's myself for my brothers cheap bike - they're the cheapest-but-durable-and-flat-resistant tires I know of.

Ha, Indeed.

I like the TG's, but prefer the Vittoria Rando's on my T700, they were priced rather closely when hunting for online sales. The Vittoria's have a thicker sidewall, but don't come in 27".

Which model of Vittoria Radoneers do you use?

And is that a Cannondale T700?

Folks don't repair their own flats???? Blues Frog