Glueless Patches

[iandusud]

I have to admit to being old school when it comes to puncture repairs and have always been very sceptical about glueless or self-adhesive repair patches. However I've just repaired a puncture on one of the family's bikes and discovered that I'm very low on patches. However I do have some self-adhesive patches from Wilco that someone gave me so I thought I give one a go. I was pleasantly surprised that it stuck very securely. Time will tell if it holds up, but I was wondering what other peoples experience of them are?

Over to you...

[simonhill]

Did you sand (paper) heavily or just stick on?

I have a box of Schwalbe ones bought to make up postage on bigger order. Not sure if I should take them touring.

[Brucey]

in a nutshell;

-better than you might expect
-but not as good (and usually not as long-lived) as a 'proper' patch.

cheers

[iandusud]

Did you sand (paper) heavily or just stick on?

I have a box of Schwalbe ones bought to make up postage on bigger order. Not sure if I should take them touring.

Yes I did sand the tube. Ian

[iandusud]

in a nutshell;

-better than you might expect
-but not as good (and usually not as long-lived) as a 'proper' patch.

cheers

That what I would expect in the light of today's experience. One thing I didn't like about the patch I used is that it didn't have a feathered edge.

[foxyrider]

in a nutshell;

-better than you might expect
-but not as good (and usually not as long-lived) as a 'proper' patch.

cheers

+1

I've had some success with the Park Tools version, not so good with Scabs. Some have done the job and stayed in place for hundreds of miles but i had a session last year, on my Swedish tour, where they lasted a day at best!

A get you home fix that may last longer.

[Eyebrox]

I found the Park ones to be suitably thin and pliable - which helped when tucking the repaired tube back into the tyre at the roadside. Not cheap though at £6 for six. Maybe cheaper elsewhere.

[ossie]

Ideal for a quick roadside repair but they don't last I've found.

[David9694]

I found the Park ones to be suitably thin and pliable - which helped when tucking the repaired tube back into the tyre at the roadside. Not cheap though at £6 for six. Maybe cheaper elsewhere.

Glued or glue-less, I find that on tubes for thinner tyres, where the curvature is greater the ability of the patch to bend and stay bent matters the most. There’s a lot of for-glue patches out there that will come unstuck.

[Eyebrox]

I found the Park ones to be suitably thin and pliable - which helped when tucking the repaired tube back into the tyre at the roadside. Not cheap though at £6 for six. Maybe cheaper elsewhere.

Glued or glue-less, I find that on tubes for thinner tyres, where the curvature is greater the ability of the patch to bend and stay bent matters the most. There’s a lot of for-glue patches out there that will come unstuck.

Glued. They were very tacky and better IMO for thin road tyres than the thick rubber patches (which have their uses moreso with MTB tubes). The Park patches are as thin as electrician's tape.

[slowster]

I carry the Park patches as a backup against running out of tubes, and on one occasion they saved me an 8 mile walk home. However, I read comments by some of the earliest users of the patches that they were only suitable as a temporary repair. I came to the same conclusion the first and only time I left a glueless patch in place, only to have to stop to fix a slow puncture several weeks later and find that the patch was peeling away from the tube and allowing air to leak out. The patch had curled back on itself into a tight roll, and I reckoned that the lack of a feathered edge on the Park patches was a major factor, since it created a point where there was greater friction than between the inner surface of the tyre and the rest of the inner tube. That greater friction and the tiny movements between the tyre and inner tube when riding resulted in the tyre gradually rubbing and pulling the edge of the patch away from the inner tube.

[iandusud]

Interesting feedback which generally seems to indicate that they are only a temporary fix which means, as far as I'm concerned, that I don't see much point in using them if it only means having to do the job again properly. I will keep an eye on the repair I did yesterday and feed back if there is anything to report.

Cheers, Ian

[ANTONISH]

I think we've had this thread before.
I've been using Lezyne patches for some years now. I no longer bother with the traditional feather edge patches (which I first started using in 1955).
The Lezyne patches IME don't deteriorate like some other self adhesive patches.
I did use Park patches perhaps about fifteen years ago - I found that they didn't last and had to be replaced - ok for a temporary fix.
I don't suffer many punctures and when I have it's often cold and wet - not good conditions when waiting for adhesive solvent to evaporate.
Preparation of the tube is essential for either type of patch.
Materials have changed over the years.

[mercalia]

if they dont last why bother at all? whats this good for a temporary repair, how much more effort does it take to do it properly with rubber soln and patch? All the effort is taking the tyre off? if the weather is bad you just change the tube. I dont get it.

[Jdsk]

Four pages of discussion from 2018:
https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=121128

Are there any comparative studies that go beyond anecdote?

Jonathan