Author Topic: Do you patch tubes? (Read 13247 times)

mattc · « **Reply #50 on:** 31 December, 2014, 03:48:45 pm »

Quote from: Ham on 30 December, 2014, 11:10:32 pm

'ang on a sec folks, is there anyone who - having had a puncture - replaces the tube without locating the puncture and making sure the miscreant object is no longer there ? ? ?

Oh yes - I see this about once a month on group rides! I suspect its more to do with the performance pressure of 20 blokes waiting for you, than sheer sloppy workmanship.

Plus SOMETIMES you can't find the bloody thing in the wild. And some slivery bits only seem to cause one hole - maybe they fall out before you can find them? Or they're like bees, they die after one attack? WHo knows - but it does happen ...

mrcharly-YHT · « **Reply #51 on:** 31 December, 2014, 04:39:00 pm »

Quote from: orienteer on 30 December, 2014, 04:33:45 pm

Quote from: urban_biker on 30 December, 2014, 04:25:43 pm
I always swap to a new tube, or known good repaired at the roadside and then fix later in the comfort of my own home.

Similar, but wonder whether it's worth bothering to repair any longer. Experience of my own and others' punctures suggests patches don't endure that well these days, probably due to the rubber composition these days not being so amenable to rubber solution.

Tubes are no longer a significant expense in the overall scheme of things.

eh - I tend to dispose of tubes when they have 5 or more patches.

That's about £20 or more of tubes. Dunno about you, but £20 is £20.

mattc · « **Reply #52 on:** 31 December, 2014, 04:56:02 pm »

But it's not a "free" £20, is it? If I told you I'd pay you £20 to do an undemanding job, you'd want to know if it was likely to take 30mins or 10 hours; rather than leaping at the chance of £20!

Even putting aside varying laziness, £20 has different value to different people. There will be YACF members who earn that in 10 minutes. Some who take 4 hours. And then we all have different amounts of unpaid demands on our time (be it family, or just a bastard commute).

Now that PlanetX do tubes for under £2 - which is a big step from the £4 which seemed to prevail for decades - I'm almost sucked into the wasteful option. Please forgive me fellow treehuggers $:-\$

Bledlow · « **Reply #53 on:** 31 December, 2014, 05:11:58 pm »

Quote from: delthebike on 30 December, 2014, 04:30:14 pm

Except for leaks around the valve stem I patch all tubes.

Until the weight of patches gets too great, or the rubber starts perishing, or there's a great big split . . .

I almost always put in a sound tube (new or patched at home) on the road, & patch in the comfort of home. I patched two MTB tubes in front of the TV a couple of days ago, for example.

One of our MTB tubes has 10 patches. Perhaps I'll bin it next time it leaks.

Buying new tubes takes time & faffing (as much as patching, IMO) as well as money, so even £2.50 Chain Reaction tubes don't seem to me to be a waste of time patching. And as said, patching can be combined with other activities.

I have a big (15g) tube of Halfords rubber solution. The previous one lasted years. This one's several months old, & seems as good as new. Halfords sells sheets of patching material which can be cut to size, & is cheap compared to patches. No feather edge, & maybe not the best for very light high pressure tubes, but works OK.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #54 on:** 31 December, 2014, 05:15:48 pm »

Quote from: mattc on 31 December, 2014, 04:56:02 pm

But it's not a "free" £20, is it? If I told you I'd pay you £20 to do an undemanding job, you'd want to know if it was likely to take 30mins or 10 hours; rather than leaping at the chance of £20!

Even putting aside varying laziness, £20 has different value to different people. There will be YACF members who earn that in 10 minutes. Some who take 4 hours. And then we all have different amounts of unpaid demands on our time (be it family, or just a bastard commute).

Now that PlanetX do tubes for under £2 - which is a big step from the £4 which seemed to prevail for decades - I'm almost sucked into the wasteful option. Please forgive me fellow treehuggers $:-\$

Matt, you are aware that those cheap tubes are made by children held in the political prisons of Burma and North Korea, that the rubber used comes from intensive forestry with plantation workers paid in opium on land stolen from indigenous tribes, and that they will cause the death of the LBS and therefore of cycling culture as we know it? Aren't you?

mattc · « **Reply #55 on:** 31 December, 2014, 05:22:46 pm »

Hadn't thought of that.

Hopefully I can balance it out by giving up opium. (I'll then save a fortune in smoking jackets - win/win!)

bryn · « **Reply #56 on:** 31 December, 2014, 07:03:07 pm »

Had my last puncture of 2014 today. Hooray!

Patched it when I got home, only to find it still wouldn't hold air. Found the large bit of flint that caused it had gone right through to the other side of the tube and made another hole. One flint, two punctures, economical or what? Not enough room to get another patch on without overlap, so it went in the bin.

Still, just managed to get in my 52 weeks x 100 miles plus a bit. And then at midnight, the counters all go back to zero again. Bother.

Bryn

Vs4b · « **Reply #57 on:** 31 December, 2014, 07:53:10 pm »

Please forgive me...
I just bin em and put a new one in. Mainly because I find when I fix them it often fails, either immediately or on a cold wet commute and frankly it isn't worth the risk of sitting byt he road in the dark and rain for the sake of 2 quid. I'm probably the least capable fixer of most stuffy to do with bikes which also doesn't help!

hellymedic · « **Reply #58 on:** 31 December, 2014, 08:47:44 pm »

I should have mentioned always checking a patched tube for leaks before storage or putting on bike.
Apologies.

trekker12 · « **Reply #59 on:** 05 January, 2015, 11:01:33 am »

I usually throw a spare tube in and patch at home but on new years eve Mrs Trekker punctured and we found a stone through the tyre and heard it hissing so we knew exactly where the hole was. Peeled away that section of tyre and inner tube only, stuck on a instant patch and put it all back together. Much quicker than faffing with replacing the tube with cold fingers. It's not been ridden since (she's picked up a cold) but was still inflated when I went to the shed last night.

Just before Christmas in a local LBS I tend not to use very often the shop owner seemed rather surprised anyone (me) would walk into his shop and even ask for patches or a puncture kit - he never repairs them on road bikes.

EMnut · « **Reply #60 on:** 04 February, 2015, 12:16:38 pm »

Sorry to breath life into an older thread, but such a great topic.

Was on a group ride the other day, when my front wheel p**ctured. Problem was the quick release had seized, and no matter how hard I tried the front wheel would not come off. Thankfully I had some self-adhesive patches and managed to fix the puncture by just taking the tube out from the tyre and fixing it without taking the wheel off (as I used to do with my old old bikes without QR). I as lucky because I was the only one with a repair kit, but a lot of riders just carry spare tubes and C02 thingys.

The gluesless patch repair got me 20 miles home, but was flat the next day. I used glueless on an MTB and the repair has been good for over a year. But I'm also old school, and prefer to use Tip Top patches, the ones that vulcanize and generally are a permanent repair. Like Holly I repair at home in batches, its like polishing shoes, something nice and relaxing to do. Recently I've found it harder to buy a decent old skool repair kit, the poundland ones are probably OK for an MTB, but small patches are harder to find, our LBS does not always have them

trekker12 · « **Reply #61 on:** 04 February, 2015, 12:23:57 pm »

I parked my bike at work yesterday morning. At 5 o clock when it was time to go home I found the rear flat. With the tube removed and dipped in our testing tank (handy having an engineering workshop on site) the bubbles emanated from a glueless patch already on the tube. I should have been more suspicious when it was down to 60 psi on Sunday evening.

I can't recall how long the patch had been there but I do wonder if the cold had affected it. They certainly don't last as long as a proper vulcanised patch. Fortunately included in an order from Wiggle last week I bought a Park tools traditional patch kit for £1.50 so home repairs can now be done properly.

hellymedic · « **Reply #62 on:** 04 February, 2015, 12:31:02 pm »

Cycle Surgery stocks Tip Top at most branches, it would appear.

EMnut · « **Reply #63 on:** 04 February, 2015, 06:14:52 pm »

Tip Top rule, I'd love a cycling jersey with their logo on!

(scuse my earlier typo Helly)

hellymedic · « **Reply #64 on:** 04 February, 2015, 06:48:59 pm »

I don't think these are for sale...

LEE · « **Reply #65 on:** 04 February, 2015, 07:19:21 pm »

I fit a spare by the roadside and repair at home. I always carry 2 spares.

Rema Tip-Top patches (15mm) and glue are the best for this, no question about it.

I use Schwalbe tubes so, even though they aren't the cheapest, it probably only saves me about £20 a year.
That's not the point though, I can't stand the waste of throwing a perfectly good tube away for the sake of 10 minutes repair.

hellymedic · « **Reply #66 on:** 04 February, 2015, 07:26:36 pm »

I was forced to patch a tube on the roadside once, when the valve stem refused to leave the rim.

rabbit · « **Reply #67 on:** 04 February, 2015, 07:32:43 pm »

MTB yes. Although I am tubeless on the trail bike now so hopefully never again *crosses fingers

Road bike? Never. Stuff that. My patching is poor at the best of times. I'm not sure it'll withstand 100 psi!

hatler · « **Reply #68 on:** 04 February, 2015, 11:31:53 pm »

I reckon about one in twenty punctures I get are failed patches. Rema patches seem to do the job for me.

I had to fix the Mrs' rear tube this evening. It has Marathons on it and has done two miles each way, three days a week commuting for about five or six years. This was the first puncture on either wheel in all that time.

I think I counted ten patches on the tube. They've all been there for five or six years. This puncture wasn't a failed patch.

Applied right, patches last forever as far as I can make out.

Deano · « **Reply #69 on:** 04 February, 2015, 11:39:45 pm »

I found a tube with sixteen patches on the other week. It still seems ok, so I'm keeping it.

My general rule is to replace the tube on the road, then have a go at fixing it at home. If the patch doesn't hold, it goes in the bin - narrow tubes are a pain to patch, so I can see why people would just bin them.

Biggsy · « **Reply #70 on:** 05 February, 2015, 10:12:29 am »

I find it easy to patch narrow and wide tubes.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #71 on:** 05 February, 2015, 10:13:59 am »

I got a big bag of Tip-Top-alikes from IIRC Mike Dyason an æon ago. Seem to work just as well as the kosher ones. Replace tube on the road, fix at home/jbex. For extra stickadurability I put something heavy on top of it for a few hours for e.g. A filing cabinet or the kitchen table.

Blodwyn Pig · « **Reply #72 on:** 05 February, 2015, 10:25:49 am »

I only stop patching tubes, when the new patch would half cover an old one, although i do still have one like this, and its fine. Money does't grow on trees , and 'make do and mend again' is my moto. Its not as it you can even see it, its a rubber bag to hold air, once punctured and repaired, its ''as good as a brand new one out of a box!''

EMnut · « **Reply #73 on:** 05 February, 2015, 04:00:24 pm »

When I first really got into cycling, it never occurred to me to take a spare inner tube, just a puncture repair kit, so all repairs were by the roadside. I rode like this for years, and it was never really an issue, new tubes for a puncture seems a terrible waste.

sg37409 · « **Reply #74 on:** 05 February, 2015, 04:01:44 pm »

Quote from: Blodwyn Pig on 05 February, 2015, 10:25:49 am

I only stop patching tubes, when the new patch would half cover an old one, although i do still have one like this, and its fine. Money does't grow on trees , and 'make do and mend again' is my moto. Its not as it you can even see it, its a rubber bag to hold air, once punctured and repaired, its ''as good as a brand new one out of a box!''

Surpised you dont find new ones by the roadside

Poll

Do you patch inner tubes after punctures?

Author Topic: Do you patch tubes? (Read 13247 times)