cyccommute 

Yes that is the one. Oddly, when I posted that in February, it was a good link.

Duragrouch

Hmm... wet glue might harm the glueless sticky, but doing standard op by letting the REMA glue dry... I don't know. When a glueless patch fails on me after months, there is a bubble "line" from the hole to one edge, like pressure just slowly worked its way to the edge, so failure of the sticky. The patch material seems to hold up.

JoeTBM 

We use the large cans in our volunteer shop, we typically go through 1-2 cans per year

pdlamb

My first can lasted maybe 8-10 years before the contents polymerized in the can. My second can (TBH, may have been old stock) was still about 2/3 full when it did the same after 3 years.

OTOH, my current Slime rubber cement can is doing fine, although it's only about 5 years old. Still sticky, patches glued with it the other month are still holding. Half the price of the Rema and available at my local auto parts store.

2_i 

If Rema vulcanizing fluid or rubber cement thickens, diluting them is not difficult. Naphtha, camping white gas, heptane/bestine, and Trichloroethylene all work. The last two have health warnings. Mineral spirits may work, so trying on a small quantity is best. I poured a solvent even into a tube that dried out. In my experience, Rema polymerizes for good after 6 years. It is good to put the date on the can upon purchase. Rubber cement has lasted for me with dilution over 10 years.

Rick_D

Yep. Anybody who found themselves doing graphics or prepress layout boards had a can of rubber cement and another of rubber cement thinner. MSDS for this one indicated heptane.
https://www.artmaterialsonline.com/b...ner-pt-14.html

rekmeyata

I use to use Park Glueless patches for about 30 years, but then they stopped working about 4 years ago. I contacted Park thinking I got a bad batch, even though I bought another box, but they failed too. Park told me that the tube industry changed the composition of the tubes and now they're patches will not hold for more than few hours. Park used to last the life of the tube, now they don't so I switched back to Rema after all those years.

But I have a junk tube, so I'm going to try using Rema glue on a Park glueless and see what happens.

Duragrouch

YIKES! I'll have to ask my LBS about that. Because all I carry now is Park stickies, well, and a spare tube, but the latter requires taking the wheel off, which is a PITA on my bike.

Duragrouch

I used to have a can of white gas/naphtha, in addition to camping fuel, fantastic solvent for dry-cleaning and thinning varnish, but the price tripled (even before the pandemic), used to get a gallon can of Coleman fuel for USD$5, last I checked it was USD$15. Same stuff, MSR stove fuel, was always overpriced in small cans, but not Coleman until recent years. Might be due to hazardous transport costs or new regs, or just diminished demand, a lot of folks have gone to canister stoves, but I hate them not being refillable.

rekmeyata

Don't ask your LBS, they don't know anything, ask Park

Duragrouch

I'll look online and then ask. My tubes are 4-5 years old, both on bike and spares.

EDIT: From Park website:
I looked for latex tubes on amazon, mostly TPU came up, Thermoplastic PolyUrethane, but did see one tube labeled at latex. Would be good to know about glueless patches on TPU, and advantages of the material. Says 100% recyclable, that may be one. EDIT: TPU is lIghter, a bit more puncture resistant. Latex is lightest with best ride, but less puncture resistant.

cyccommute 

I’ve been dabbling with TPU for about 6 months now and gotta say I’m (very) much less than impressed. I haven’t tried any of the ridiculously expensive TPU tubes yet because I don’t really want to invest $30+ in a damned tube. I’ve tried RideWell because they are cheap enough to try. They are very light. But I haven’t found them to be any less puncture resistant. In fact, I installed some in a tire that had been on my bike for a while and they flatted immediately. I had checked the inside of the tire for anything prior to installing tubes…it’s a habit you pick up here in the heart to goathead country…and could find nothing. However when I went out to ride the next morning, the tube was empty. I replaced the tube and checked again before going for a ride. The tire was soon flat again.

This time I checked extremely closely and I found one very, very small burr inside the tire. The burr wasn’t long enough to puncture a thicker butyl tube but it went right though the TPU tube. The TPU tube came with a stick on patch which I used to “fix” both tubes and put one back in a brand new tire. Half way home from my volunteer job (5 miles), the tire was flat. I put in the other TPU tube and rode home. The first TPU was leaking right at the sticky patch. The second TPU tube made it home but was flat the next morning…at the stick on patch.

I did this dance twice more and had exactly the same result. I did eventually get a chemical patch which is uses REMA camplast cement and bits of TPU. It’s not a quick fix as it takes at least 30 minutes of clamping to make it hold but it did seem to hold better.

Also be forewarned that TPU tubes have to be properly sized. Do not try to use a 23-28mm tube in a 32mm tire. TPU doesn’t stretch much and will just blow holes in the over stretched material.

grumpus

Latex was considered more puncture resistant than butyl, it's a lot stretchier than the TPU tubes I saw when they first came out, I don't know if they're more elastic now - used to be you needed a tube the exact same size as the tyre, putting a 700x25 tube in a 700x28 tyre could cause early failure, and I've seen a larger tube that was in a smaller tyre and developed sharp creases and a slow puncture. Latex loses pressure quicker than butyl - I used coated latex tubes that held air better for a very small weight penalty.

rekmeyata

The Latex tube ad showing some guy stretching it over a broken bottle is false advertising! A latex tube under pressure inside a tire is NOT going to stretch like that, what will happen is if anything puncture the tire it will also puncture the tube just like butyl, and just like TPU as was discussed by Cyccommute and by me. Latex under pressure is very taunt, there is no give to it inside the tire, like I said, this is true with any tube material.

If you want lower rolling resistance with a bit less weight, and you want a slightly cusher ride, as well as old school, then go with latex. If you want the latest thing, though not the greatest thing, then go with TPU. If want to save money with a wee bit less hassles patching, go with butyl.

If you want a tube that is a bit more flat resistant then go with thorn tubes, BUT, those thorn resistant tubes are extremely poorly made. I bought a SunLite and Bontrager thorn resistant tubes for my wife's E-Bike so she would hopefully have less chances of having a flat, (I also installed a pair of Clear Motion Rhinodillos liners), what a joke both tubes were, both tubes failed at the base of the valve! They simply came apart under pressure. I reinstalled the old tubes that came with the bike and they were fine. Those thorn resistant tubes are freaking heavy too at around 260 grams for the Bontrager and 480 for the Sunlite, the Sunlite is heavier because it's thicker than the Bontrager. So you have been warned.

noglider 

Some youtubers like TPU tubes. I'm not impressed, for the reasons @cyccommute listed. The only advantages are that they are very light, and they are compact in a tool kit.

rekmeyata

By the way, my secret to fixing flats fast goes like this. In order for this to work you need to be able to find the penetration point in the tire, which I can do about 75 to 80% of the time.

So assuming I found the penetration point I don't take the wheel off the bike, front or rear it doesn't matter, the wheel stays on. I simply remove half of one side of the bead with the hole in the center of that half, then pull about a 4th of the tube out with the hole in the center of that 1/4th, stretch the tube, width and length wise if necessary to find the hole, patch like you would normally do, reinstall, easy peasy.

I was 10 or so years old when some older neighbor in his 60's saw me fixing a flat in the driveway at my house, he showed me this technique, which I've been doing for about 60 years. Evidently fixing a flat like that was necessary back then due to the wheels were nutted on instead of quick release, so that method came out of necessity back in the day but also works great in this day too.

Duragrouch

I use the above technique, especially for the rear wheel. With a claw-mount rear derailleur, taking off the rear wheel is an oily mess. I can't invert the bike in the field due to the aero-bars making it unstable. I just lay the bike down on the non-drive-side.

pdlamb

That assumption, that you can find the penetration point, bites me in the a$$ about 90% of the time. Broken glass shards look an awful lot like harmless limestone chips outside the tire. Michelin wires are almost invisible. But for the other 5-10%, the logging staple, the sheet metal screw, the big nail, that tip can work great.

2_i 

I did it with a rental bike that came with a drum brake in the rear and I had no time to figure out how to take that wheel off. Normally, however, finding the reason for the puncture is just as important for me as the patching. The glass, rock or some problem in the wheel may come back with a repeated puncture. If made an error in mounting the tire, I better be alerted. If I do not carry out the inspection right away, I need to do it later with possibly fewer clues and just add to the time spent on the puncture. If the puncture comes back due to skipping the inspection, it gets even worse. Brompton has nuts on the rear axle, and the tensioner needs to be removed. I still prefer to take off the wheel and get done with it thoroughly right away. After you practice, the process is not that costly timewise - I have done it in the snow and still made it on time to my destination.

rekmeyata

I know I can find the puncture in the tire about 75 to 80% of the time, I'm not talking about nails either, but small holes like from wires, or glass, etc, with practice you can find the hole, and if you're not sure if something is just harmless limestone as you said, simply remove it and check the tire then you'll know if it's harmless or not.

icemilkcoffee 

Two TPU tubes going flat one after the other- I am going to go with installation error. TPU tubes are very easy to get pinched between the tire and the rim during installation. You have to make sure the tube is well inside the tire when you work the bead over the rim. When you get to the last section where the tire starts to get tight, you need to slightly inflate the tube to about 2-3psi. Just enough to hold shape but no harder. Then, with your free hand, push the tire and tube hard towards the other side while you are prying the bead over the rim.

And when removing the tube- don't just jam the lever in there. The tube tends to cling to the inside of the tire. If you just jam your lever in there and pry the tube will get trapped between the lever and the tire. You need to gingerly pry up on only the tire. Pry it up and down several times until the tube no longer clings to the tire. And then continue on removing the tire like normal.

cyccommute 

Not my first rodeo. I know how to install a tire and I don’t use tools. Personally, I haven’t inflated a tube for installation for over 25 years (or more). Never saw the benefit. The tire goes on much easier without air that with it.

Also, I know how to identify punctures and where punctures occur. The punctures were related to very small pokey items in an older tire. Not long enough to puncture thicker butyl tubes but certainly long enough to puncture the TPU tube and difficult to find. I did eventually find the pokey stuff but it took very, very, very careful inspection.

Again, not my first rodeo. I don’t find any issues with a tube that is clinging to the inside of the tire. The puncture didn’t happen on removal…the tire was already flat. TPU tubes shouldn’t really bond to the inside of the tire like butyl tubes will. Different material.

t2p

and they hold air fairly well - better than a latex tube - similar to a butyl tube

I saw an Aerothan tpu tube come out of a wheel where the rim strip had moved and exposed a number of the spoke holes in the rim bed … the tpu tube was still holding air / functioning properly (although it looked a little clunky where it had contacted the exposed spoke holes) … I’ve seen butyl tubes fail when they contacted exposed spoke holes

Kai Winters

I have a couple of Tubolito tubes...dang they are expensive. I patch them when I get a puncture. The patches work great and the glue does not dry out in the tube as the butyl glue does.
I patch butyl tubes too.