Have not a huge amount fo riding this year, maybe about 60 miles a week but I had my first flat of the season today. However what I wanted to write about was not the flat, but rather what cam after. This was a slow leak so I was able to put air back in the tire and ride home without changing it. When I got home I looked in my toolbox and had one tube left. I don't think I have restocked in a few seasons. The tube I had in my tool box had been patched but that's OK. I fixed the flat and then pulled out my bucket where I toss the tubes that have punctures and a patch kit and went to work restocking my supply. I patched 6 tubes and tossed three away, two had a bent valve and one had a stick on patch that failed. I found that the stickon patches last about 1 year and I don't trust the glue residue to not interfere with a regular patch cement so I did not want to re-patch it, I stopped using them 3 years ago so that tube must have been in the bucket for awhile. I also noticed that some of the repaired tubes had been patched 3 times now. I will probably order some new tubes and a another patch kit. Regular tubes run about $5 and a kit with 6 patches runs about $1.50.

I don't know why I patch old tubes, but it feel like it's the right thing to do. I also don't mind riding on tubes repaired with regular patches, they hold up just fine. But I also don't carry a chain break tool - just say'in.

I patch tubes all the time, after I patch them, they wait a day for the glue to set, then they get water tested, I let the air out, roll them up, and put them in a ziplock bag, which is labelled as to the size and number of patches. They then go in the spares box.When I replace a tire, I get a new tube, which gives me an extra spare, if I have more then 3 in that size, I toss the one with the most patches. Now there are other uses for old tubes, for example the big chain lock in the garage has an old tube over it (that has two patches).

I remember as a kid, we had a tin of rubber cement, you would cut pieces out of old tubes, put some cement on them, and on the tube you were patching, wait until it got tacky, put the two together and you had a patch. The tin of cement probably had 100 toxic chemicals in it, but for a dollar it probably contained enough cement to fix a couple of thousand flats.....

How do you measure the risks? As a kid the bike I had and the tubes would probably go up to 40 psi. Now it can go up to 100 psi. Does that make a difference? As a kid the kind of material used in tubes, and where it comes from, does that make a difference?

The risk of a major failure is the loss of control of the bike and into a traffic lane. Or just no traffic but on a fast descent resulting in a fall. How much money would that cost?

We patch tubes also. We keep new tubes in the seat bag and run the patched tubes.

I patch my tubes. After about 3-5 patches, depending on tube condition, I toss them.

I guess I'm lazy, but for the $5.99, I just keep a new tube in the seatbag.

I put the risk of a flat (patch or no patch) well above a chain break and the risk of a sudden flat from a catastrophic patch failure well below that of a chain break.

Never had a patched tube go into catastrophic failure mode. Usually just a slow leak after a couple of years.

I have never had a patch go bad except the stick on tape type, I have glueons that have lasted years. As I said - I have tubes that have three or four patches. I usually destroy the valve first.

Generally when a traditional patch fails, it fails because it wasn't given enough time for the solvents to evaporate, before it was encased in a tire, so it never dries properly. If you patch a tube and then give it a good 24hrs for the solvents to evaporate, before packing it up, the chances of that patch coming loose, is between slim and none. I always water test patched tubes before packing them, because I have seen where a tube has more then one hole in it, or the patch didn't take. I have never seen a catastrophic patch failure that would result in a crash......

Oddly coincidental, since my 10-y-o nephew just got HIS first flat of the year this evening. Popped a fresh tube in it to get us home, and proceeded to the patch pile -- 5 tubes needing attention. One was a schraeder valve tube with a missing core. . .set aside for now. Three more patched right up, no issues. But, the LAST one. . . . . . . .

4 -- count 'em, 4! -- snakebite holes, from a 'rim ding' on a sharp-edged pothole about a month ago. One patch, my last one, didn't take, so I wasted my last 4 patches -- GGRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! Oh well, $2 will re-supply me. . . . .

Ok, then chain break risk. Operator failure by cross chaining and by stomping on the pedals while shifting. Then there's the sudden broken spoke on a fast descent that gets tangled into the drive train.

At a rummage sale, there was a box labelled FREE with hundreds of these packages:



I took a bunch, so I'm set for life. Quality of these, who knows?

Anyone know what those little rubber tubes are for???

I get good quality tubes when on sale for about $2.99 each, but I still patch, especially when I can find the puncture, and patch it without removing the wheel from the bike.

There used to be another valve format that was popular at one time, and the little rubber tubes were used with it. I've never seen that valve in use, and they seem to include a couple of those with all patch kits....