ahh but in these hard economic times who wants to buy a new tube?

I put new njs tubes in after every ride. nbd.

When one applies a glued patch they need to realize that the patch and tube undergo a chemical vulcanizing process and if done properly, will not cause any failure. The tube and patch will become one and you will not be able to remove it.

After you prep the area with a light sanding apply a thin layer of glue and allow it to set and by this, it should not feel tacky. This setting time depends on ambient temperature and in cooler environments the set up time for the glue increases.

Apply the patch and roll it out with a tyre lever to ensure no air is trapped, remount the tyre, inflate and ride.

There is no need to wrap tape around a patch if it is installed correctly.

The time it takes to patch a tube is not much more than swapping a tube, very economical, and environmentally friendly.

I carry a spare tube in the event I suffer a catastrophic tube failure and in many cases the "new" tube goes in and the old tube gets patched when I have time to mend it. That tube then becomes the new spare.

I experience very few flats... I run Schwalbe Marathons on my high mileage bikes and have been flat free for many thousands upon thousands of km.

I went 12,000 miles without a flat and then had several that all happened to my old cruisers that picked up big assed nails... one short nail embedded itself in the tyre and went through one side of the tube and on every rotation was just long enough to punch a new hole on the opposite side of the tube.

The tube looked like swiss cheese but was still patchable.

+1

I have about a 1 in 5 success ratio with the glueless patches. Never had a problem with the old school shiz though. I've ridden tubes with several patches. I only through tubes out when my Stan's Sealant gets hard inside the tube. That has saved me from patching many a goathead puncture!

Pro Tip- The automotive section of many stores sells cheaper patch kits than the bike shop.

I'm finding that the difference between the Elmer's rubber cement and the rubber cement you get in the tubes that come as bike tube repair kits is that the cement in the tubes is a lot thinner and more likely to go into the small poors of the rubber. The cement in the small tubes also contains ethyl alcohol and heptane to make it thinner. Does anybody thin their elmers glue? I have seen where the cement peels off the rubber. Is there a chemical which actually loosens or thins/desolves the rubber itself? Also is a thicker or thinner layer found to be better to make a better patch?

This.

Also, I have two patches in the back and one in the front. The first two were at the same time (pinch flats I believe, with 2 holes) and I think they were due to improper installation and over-inflation of the tube. The other one who knows but all the patches have been holding for months.

I can't tell if you guys are being serious or you're joking about the fixed gear specific patches because that sounds like a bunch of BS

it's no joke

Definitely use fixed specific patches, the color of mine match my spokes.

Yeah, it's no laughing matter- because it isn't very funny.

I suggest the older style of patch with rubber cement over any kind of glueless patch. With a little patience when installing them (apply cement in a larger area than you need, wait several minutes after applying the cement, and hold the entire patch on the cement for a couple minutes), they NEVER fail.

i patch tubes until they blow at the valve... you can patch patches too. its ******** to buy new tubes

Inner tubes DO NOT hold pressure, tires do.

I've never been a fan glueless patches, they seem to high failure rate.

Vulcanizing patches as mentioned by sixtyfiver are the best way to go.

Make sure your tube size is very close to your tire size. Running an 18-20c tube in 28c tire is bad. As the tube streches to fill the tire the patched are doesnt stretch as much and stresses the patch which can lead to patch failure.


Its a sad day when some of you believe there's such a thing a fixie specific patches. Back to tricycles for you!!

Oh my god. Are people really asking whether or not it's ok to patch a tube? Seriously? Holy *****.

Mommy, Daddy, buy me a new bike! This one's got a flat tire!

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Your shopmonkey from a reputable shop is trying to sell you tubes.

:roflmao2:

one thing ive noticed when patching tubes is that the tube doesnt expand as much at the area of the patch when inflating. could this be a problem?

Never been a problem for me. Using the right size tube helps too.

Ok I run 100 psi on my tubes and are finding that the patches should be round in shape so as the tube expands it does it evenly around the hole in the tube. I am applying my glue to be as thin as possible as not to trap any undried glue under any thick areas. And I am making sure that the glue is even and is as flatly distributed as possible as not to allow any "canals" where air might escape through. Sometimes I notice some areas of the dried glue surface to not have as much glue, this may be caused by the "sticky stuff" not being dissolved as it should have been in the container. I am not using any vulcanizing glue because I have not found any and am using elmers rubber cement and a cut up old tube, to be as cheap as possible. What have you found to work best for you? Thanks.

I'm curious about how long one of those patches will last you. I know you can't use vulcanizing glue for tube on tube patching (i've tried) and I want to reuse some dead tubes.

A good patch will last forever but I should clarified that does not apply to a fixed gear.

For that you need to use special patching materials to withstand the lateral forces causes by skidding and colour matching them to your bike improves their reliability.

I carry a couple spare tubes in my kit so I can just swap them out quick if I'm on the go, but also have a patch kit on me for those really bad days where you can seem to go 5 minutes without getting another flat. The punctured tubes I just keep together until I have a bunch of them, and just patch them all up at once.

Also, you can get the patches really cheap online, and a tube of vulcanizing glue lasts forever.

I think it's unamerican to buy a new tube when you can fix the one you have with your own two hands. What america did you grow up in? real americans do for themselves.

not trying to start a debate, what i mean is that you should patch the tube instead of driving to k-mart for another one. it takes 5 minutes and then you can ride again.

Baloney!

I've been patching bicycle tubes for 40 years with zero such failures but I've never used glueless patches. I stick in a different tube while I'm on the road and save the old tube to patch when I get home. I used to save up a half dozen or so tubes and patch them all at one time on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

woo, some seriously misinformed guy, no he wants to sell a tube maybe, because retrogrouch is right, a proper patch job holds air in, if it leaks at any psi it wasn't done correctly.

maybe that LBS guy has leaky patches, but mine dont leak and i ride at 120-130 psi

strange that someone would tell you that if they work at a shop

i had a (twice) patched tube in my rear tire for almost a year. the only reason i got a new one was because i got a new wheel and tire.