Bike Forums - Is Patching Tubes Now Obsolete?

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A six-minute patch job that will never fail? That certainly wasn't my experience, back when I would patch a tube.

Nowadays, at $5 a tube I don't bother. Life is too short.

I carry a spare tube and a patch kit, and patch on the road while I'm putting in the spare tube - that way I've got another spare tube for the next flat.
I go through a fair amount of tubes, since about half the time I can't patch the tire and half of my patch jobs leak.
A sharp enough piece of glass will puncture armadillos - It's just a matter of time until you find one!

I'm a patch guy. Don't carry a spare tube. Once got a flat front tire going down a steep hill at speed. Threw my weight back as far as possible and used my back brake only so I wouldn't put any more weight than absolutely necessary on the flat front tire. When I finally got it stopped I had so many pinch flats from riding the rim that I wound up cutting my patches in half so I'd have enough for all the holes. Worked fine all the way home.

Being a minimalist, I can't bring myself to carry the extra tube.

I usually cram the old punctured tube into my seatbag and replace it. Then I ride home and patch the tube and use it later. At $5-6 bucks a pop, tubes can get expensive. Keep your tires properly inflated (my road tires usually stay well over 100psi) and you won't get pinch (snakebite) flats, I guess. Cali has a lot of thorns and dry brush though. Never use Co2 though. Seems like a royal waste to toss a crummy metal container just to hold some air, but in the scheme of things it probably doesn't matter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merriwether

A six-minute patch job that will never fail? That certainly wasn't my experience, back when I would patch a tube.

Nowadays, at $5 a tube I don't bother. Life is too short.

I rarely had flats so never patched, but after getting about 5 flats in less then 3 weeks it was getting expensive and I tried the self adhesive patchkit not expecting it to work but it works amazinly well. Both my front and back tubes are patched from last year, no flats this year thankfully and have 3 spare patched tubes just in case.

Quote:

Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike

You never know where patching some distressed damsel's tire might lead.

Perfect. That was the kind of post I was reading through this thread to find.

I got 14 flats on a rainy double century once. Ever since then I have carried a well supplied patch kit an extra tube, and carry a pump religiously now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMF

I've always patched, but with these 700x21C tires there's not a lot of area to hold a patch so I bought some cheapo tubes. Haven't had to use them, fortunately. A couple questions:

1) These tubes claim to fit widths from 19 to 27. Isn't that a pretty big range?

2) I've always put newly-patched tubes in the tire and reinflated, reasoning that the air pressure would compress the patch and mould it to the proper shape as it cured. Those of you that patch a tube without putting it back in a tire - do you find that your patches last as long?

3) What's a good (and light) on-road patch kit? I have a heavy one for my off-road bike but I'm trying to keep the road bike light as possible.

2) We patch tons of tubes, all sizes at Back Alley Bikes in Detroit. Patched tires hang on the rack until needed as they teach us to use the patched tubes first and save on giving out new tubes. I don't know of any problems with them patched and hung up for future use.

3) Any brand seems good (grin). Send some to the afore mentioned establishment! We always run out!