gloomyandy wrote:I: if you expel all the air before capping it doesn't deteriorate.
All the same, I'm thinking about the Lezyne Smart patches for use on the road. When it's cold as charity and blowing half a gale, simple is good. Most of my punctures are slow ones, discovered the morning after, so I'll keep the others for the workshop.
How do you manage that with expelling the air? Sounds tricky.
If the nozzle isn't full go on squeezing until it is, then keep gentle pressure on the tube while you're putting the cap on. You might get a bit of overflow but who cares?
For the few punctures I get in a year, I use the Wilco's repair kit, which I'm pretty sure is re-branded Weldtite. Never had a problem with patches or glue, though I always carry an unopened one. I also carry some Park stick on patches in case I need to patch at the roadside, but haven't used them yet. On tour I'll repair a tube in the evening with a traditional patch.
PH wrote:For the few punctures I get in a year, I use the Wilco's repair kit, which I'm pretty sure is re-branded Weldtite.
Wilco sell Weldtite as such. Or do you mean Wilko's aka Wilkinson's? They chop and change their own brand suppliers, presumably seeking the lowest cost for their spec. For a long time, their instant patches seemed to be Weldtite Red Devils but then suddenly changed to shinier ones that didn't stick on my impac tubes, which was annoying, to put it mildly!
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
Samuel D wrote:... I don’t see the point in trying to save money here, there being hardly any scope for saving and great potential for hassle. ...
NUKe wrote:Tip Top are pricey but the patches can be bought in bulk. from EBay. you will then need a tube or two of glue.
I end up fixing lots of punctures (hardly any my own BTW) and if I used Tip Top patches it would cost me about £50 a year. The 'thumbs up' ones I mentioned earlier work just as well and cost less than 1/10th the price. The packs I buy also each contain a tube of effective rubber solution, as well as the patches.
cheers
Please tell us where you get them brucey?
I did find the brand online but not really in convenient packs. Save me digging.
Been using these for a while now. Used in conjunction with the supplied solution they appear to be self vulcanizing which means they stay on.
PH wrote:For the few punctures I get in a year, I use the Wilco's repair kit, which I'm pretty sure is re-branded Weldtite.
Wilco sell Weldtite as such. Or do you mean Wilko's aka Wilkinson's? They chop and change their own brand suppliers, presumably seeking the lowest cost for their spec.
I meant those sold as Wilkinson, though it's been at least a year since I've bought one (Touch wood) those I've bought over the last decade or so have all looked identical to the Weldtite kit that came from a LBS for three times the price. I have been caught out by Wilcos changing suppliers and spec, I picked up to galvanised brake cables without looking properly as all those I'd had before had been stainless.
Pete's e-bay patches are not wildly dissimilar to the ones I use (which I get from the LBS, BTW).
Vulcanisation is what differentiates any tough rubber from something that is more like latex or natural rubber (think elastic bands). Typically sulphur cross-links the rubber molecules, and that makes the resultant rubber strong and tough. Rubber patches are often described (rightly or wrongly) as 'self-vulcanising' or 'cold-curing', implying that the chemistry of the bond is at least partially assisted by a cross-linking reaction of some kind. This reaction is assisted by the chemistry of the rubber layer on the underside of the patch.
It is probably not complete hyperbole, either; if you make 'patches' from pieces of old inner tube (which I have had to do in an emergency), they certainly don't stick anything like as well as the real thing, no matter how well you prepare the parts to be bonded.
When I was younger you'd hot vulcanize patches onto tubes using a machine with a heated pad. It bonded patch to tube very well. Nobody bothers much with that now because solutions and patches appear to bond as well without the application of heat. These were generally called self vulcanizing when they first appeared. All the vulcanising patches I've seen seem to consist of two different types of rubber - a harder black outer and a softer inner, generally orange, which is usually featherd around the edge of the black rubber.
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
Which will probably last a hell of a long time as I get very few punctures.
and by the bye, if someone could set up qn online swap shop fuelled by folk who proudly throw their tubes away after a puncture I need never buy a tube ever again.
Grrr... Wilkinson's is a homewares shop also known as Wilko, but Wilco is a chain of car and bike parts shops. Please stop confusing them.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
ANTONISH wrote:I learned to mend punctures when I was at primary school - that's over sixty years ago. When cure-c- cure patches became available they were a remarkable improvement on previous types (were they marketed as "Tip Top" at some stage?) In the past the backing celophane material which readily split and peeled off seemed to have been replaced with something harder to remove -or maybe it's just an impression. In recent years I've tried various self adhesive patches with varying success (O.K as get you home) but still found the traditional patch better.
In the last couple of years I've been using Lezyne self adhesive patches which I find very good - in fact I don't bother with the traditional type now. If you want the traditional feather edge patches I've found Decathlon patches work well.
I've used Tip Top, Cure C cure as well as a few unbranded supplied with kits, I always leave the backing on when repairing roadside. Most LBSs no longer sell strips, just kits. It's enough to drive you to tubeless I've also used the Park self-adhesive ones when MTBing but not at road tyre pressures.
I got fed up of finding the rubber solution had dried up making it unusable. I now open the tube at the sealed end and carefully refold the end after use. Someone on the forum recommended this as a tip to keeping the rubber solution usable for longer, and it works.
Undoing the crimped end sounds a bit tedious. I bought a large tube of rubber solution about 3 years ago and it is still fine. Before then I was using up Cure c Cure patches bought in the 1980s stuck with 15 year old (at least) rubber solution. It was a bit thick but worked till I got a fresh tube of glue.
I was mountain biking with a mate and he couldn't fix a flat because his solution had dried out and I had none. Even tried cutting the tube open in the hope there was a smidgin left. We ended up walking home. Since then I've seen a YouTube of someone tying a knot in a tube as an emergency repair - has anyone tried that?
You only live once, which is enough if you do it right. - Mae West
knots, insulation tape, all kinds of things can be done in a pinch to slow the air enough to be able to ride home. It is an excellent idea to carry a few glueless patches with you, even if you intend to use a conventional patch; that way you won't be stranded in the event of dried rubber solution.
