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Do you put patched tubes back in your saddlebag?

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Do you put patched tubes back in your saddlebag?

Old 01-03-21, 08:27 PM
  #101  
cyccommute 
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Originally Posted by dscheidt
There's lots of environmental and work safety pressure to eliminate the use of cyclohexamine, and there are alternative chemistries that work just as well. the zinc thiocarmates require an activator, which is usually stearic acid, or zinc oxide in combination with stearic acid. None of these require use at levels that show up on SDS, because the SDS is about work place and transport safety, not reverse engineering the trade secrets of products.
The link I provided goes into the chemistry pretty extensively (I’m still working through the article). It does seem to be about hot vulcanization rather than cold. But it appears that stearic acid and zinc oxide would have to be used but that is seems to be for natural rubber. There are about 150 different accelerators and stearic acid and zinc oxide seem to be the most innocuous of the bunch. Apparently there are about 50 that are commonly used in the rubber industry. The ones listed in the paper are particularly safe and would likely have to be listed in the MSDS.

Zinc oxide, by the way, wouldn’t be in any vulcanizing fluid for patching. It’s not soluble in the organic solvents used in any of the fluids, whether rubber cement or vulcanizing fluid. It seems to be used in the hot vulcanization

I know that the SDS isn’t for reverse engineering a product but it can give valuable information on what’s in a substance.
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Old 01-04-21, 12:17 PM
  #102  
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The spoke bolts inside all wire wheels I ever had sooner or later make pin-hole leaks in the inner-tube. I tried care in placing the rubber gasket in place which is supposed to prevent this but it still did not work. I purchased a set of smooth interior mag wheels which have no wire spokes and no spoke bolts and it has been almost two years with never a leak since. The wheels came from China and claim to be lighter than wire wheels but since I do not compete in races to ride into town for my groceries I don't care.
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Old 01-04-21, 12:37 PM
  #103  
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unless you know of a problem with your patching technique - they should be better than new

(now one place is 2 layers deep )
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Old 01-04-21, 12:39 PM
  #104  
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Originally Posted by drbarney1
The spoke bolts inside all wire wheels I ever had sooner or later make pin-hole leaks in the inner-tube. I tried care in placing the rubber gasket in place which is supposed to prevent this but it still did not work. I purchased a set of smooth interior mag wheels which have no wire spokes and no spoke bolts and it has been almost two years with never a leak since. The wheels came from China and claim to be lighter than wire wheels but since I do not compete in races to ride into town for my groceries I don't care.
I had a problem like that once. Plastic rim strip deformed enough to let the spokes poke through the nipple and the rim strip. That was about 20 years ago; the problem has not recurred with proper Velox rim strips.
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Old 01-04-21, 12:41 PM
  #105  
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Not to jinx myself, but I must be living a charmed life as I've gotten maybe a half dozen flats in the past 11 years (5,000 miles this year and one flat). And, most of my flats have been because the stem broke away from the tube (two of them I noticed while the bike was in the garage so no need to change on the road). So, my view is skewed based on my experience. I carry a patch kit but have never used it, partly because I'm a klutz and would probably screw up gluing it on, but mostly because my tubes have lasted a long time without flatting due to a puncture. So, I don't have practice patching and, given my infrequency of flats, I wouldn't be surprised if the glue hasn't dried up and become ineffective (I'm assuming that happens??). My position is to just toss the tube when it flats, even on the rare occasion it's a puncture - up til now, they've always lasted a long time.
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Old 01-04-21, 02:15 PM
  #106  
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Originally Posted by the sci guy
Replaced a flat during a ride with a new tube from my saddlebag. Brought the flat home and found the hole. Patched it. Is it safe to put it back in the saddlebag for next time or does folding it ruin the patch or cause it to tear or or anything?
I would obviously roll up the tube so the patch wasn’t on a bend but...

Thoughts?

and to be clear sure I could take out the tube I replaced with yesterday and the put the patched tube back in the tire and roll up the spare tube again and put it back in my bag but man I just don’t feel like it!
Safe? Sure. Worst case, you put a leaky tube back on and use up an inflator or some arm strength squeezing the mini pump. I reused previously punctured tubes all the time in my college days (some with more than 1 patch). Now, the $2 for a new tube seems like a cheap alternative to patching, rolling, and hoping on an already punctured tube is road worthy.
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Old 01-04-21, 05:14 PM
  #107  
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We need a link for these $2 tubes...
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Old 01-04-21, 05:32 PM
  #108  
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I only put a patched tube back into my saddle pack on my touring bike, never on my
road bike. I'm running tubeless on my gravel and mountain bike.
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Old 01-04-21, 06:46 PM
  #109  
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Originally Posted by the sci guy
Replaced a flat during a ride with a new tube from my saddlebag. Brought the flat home and found the hole. Patched it. Is it safe to put it back in the saddlebag for next time or does folding it ruin the patch or cause it to tear or or anything?
I would obviously roll up the tube so the patch wasn’t on a bend but...

Thoughts?

and to be clear sure I could take out the tube I replaced with yesterday and the put the patched tube back in the tire and roll up the spare tube again and put it back in my bag but man I just don’t feel like it!
Yeah, that would be a lot of work for absolutely no reason. I'd check to see if the patch worked with the water test and pack it with no reservations. I've had tubes with 4 patches but I usually draw the line there. A guys gotta have some standards.😁
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Old 01-04-21, 06:47 PM
  #110  
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My patched tubes go back on the tire, I'll only use a spare if the patch job fails. If that happens I re-patch the tube at home and it goes back on the tire. I don't get many flats fortunately.
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Old 01-04-21, 06:49 PM
  #111  
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Originally Posted by WinterCommuter
Safe? Sure. Worst case, you put a leaky tube back on and use up an inflator or some arm strength squeezing the mini pump. I reused previously punctured tubes all the time in my college days (some with more than 1 patch). Now, the $2 for a new tube seems like a cheap alternative to patching, rolling, and hoping on an already punctured tube is road worthy.
Unfortunately cheap tubes usually hold air for a week or less. I'd rather use a quality patched tube.
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Old 01-04-21, 07:09 PM
  #112  
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Originally Posted by the sci guy
Thanks all. Tube is patched and currently waiting overnight inflated to see if it holds. But it'll go back in the saddlebag after. thumbs up emoji.
One would think that after 40-50 years of riding that I could patch a tube but I've had a few failures lately right at the patch. One thing about testing tubes (overnight) is that the tube has to be inside a tire to test it under pressure. It takes very little pressure to inflate outside a tire, so it's not a solid test.
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Old 01-04-21, 11:21 PM
  #113  
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Yes, install the other I had with me, and ride on. Ive used tures with numerous patches in them, for spares. As long as it works.
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Old 01-04-21, 11:22 PM
  #114  
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Originally Posted by curbtender
Interesting...

Because your not using hot patches, lol.
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Old 01-05-21, 08:42 AM
  #115  
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Originally Posted by sunburst
One would think that after 40-50 years of riding that I could patch a tube but I've had a few failures lately right at the patch. One thing about testing tubes (overnight) is that the tube has to be inside a tire to test it under pressure. It takes very little pressure to inflate outside a tire, so it's not a solid test.
I blow the tube up so it's stretched a bit before an overnight test. (One night for the patch to dry and harden, one night for the inflation test.) I don't remember if I've ever had a tube pass the overnight inflation test, where it's still obviously inflated in the morning, and fail on the road without getting another puncture. User error; my own fault for not finding what caused the first flat and putting another tube in -- I can't attribute that to poor patching.
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Old 01-05-21, 10:30 AM
  #116  
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Originally Posted by cacher
Because your not using hot patches, lol.
My first experience with patching a tire was in the early 60's on a trip down 99 to San Diego in a 49' Chevy pickup. We got a flat and my Dad pulled the split ring, hot patched the tube and hand pumped it back up. Bikes are so much harder, lol...
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Old 01-05-21, 12:52 PM
  #117  
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Originally Posted by the sci guy
Replaced a flat during a ride with a new tube from my saddlebag. Brought the flat home and found the hole. Patched it. Is it safe to put it back in the saddlebag for next time or does folding it ruin the patch or cause it to tear or or anything?
I would obviously roll up the tube so the patch wasn’t on a bend but...

Thoughts?

and to be clear sure I could take out the tube I replaced with yesterday and the put the patched tube back in the tire and roll up the spare tube again and put it back in my bag but man I just don’t feel like it!
I never ever carry a patched tube as a spare. To me, the only valid test of a patched tube is at full pressure inside a wheel. And I've probably patched over 1000 tube in my 60+ years of riding a bike. Even used to do sew-ups. My old paper boy bike doesn't count here as I don't remember ever getting a flat on it. But for bikes I ride miles from home, at least one new tube and a patch kit as back-up
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Old 01-05-21, 07:28 PM
  #118  
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I'm mostly on tubeless these days, but I still have one set of wheels that's tubed, or sometimes. And on those, I've taken to putting ~15-20mL of sealant that I use on my tubeless wheels, into the inner tubes. Pulled a 1.5" staple out of a tire this past summer - spit a bit for ~5sec., but then I rode the 20km home still on ~100psi.
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Old 01-05-21, 08:29 PM
  #119  
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Originally Posted by Cycle Tourist
Unfortunately cheap tubes usually hold air for a week or less. I'd rather use a quality patched tube.
Exactly, and the biggest problem I've had with cheap tubes is crappy Presta valves that fail after using them 3 to 6 times.
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Old 01-06-21, 01:00 PM
  #120  
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Originally Posted by FastJake
Funny, as another person mentioned I also run the patched tube and only carry new tubes in my bags. A patch can fail if it's not done well, something I don't want to find out after the tube in my tire also has a hole in it.

Something I see very rarely so I always mention it: the spare tubes I carry are wrapped in duct tape or masking tape. This prevents them from wearing holes in the corners as they vibrate around in your bag. I get so few flats that a spare tube might be carried around for a year or two and many thousands of miles. The last thing I want is for it to be full of holes and completely useless!
I put a sock around the spare tube. Yes the tubes wear against the blowout bag, and any tools that might be inside the bag and loose. A sock prevents the wear without adding any tape residue or having to remove aged on tape itself. Also the sock can be used to keep grease off the hands (never works of course), as a pad for knee-gravel contact, as a clean up tool and to fill oral apertures for those helpful bystanders who always give advice and never actually work on their own stuff. My advice? put a sock in it.
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Old 01-10-21, 08:43 PM
  #121  
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Originally Posted by Cycle Tourist
Unfortunately cheap tubes usually hold air for a week or less. I'd rather use a quality patched tube.
in my experience (5000+ miles/yr for 30+ yrs), the cost of the tube matters very little, but a patch always affects the feel of the ride and eventually works loose. To each his own i guess.
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Old 01-10-21, 09:24 PM
  #122  
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Originally Posted by WinterCommuter
in my experience (5000+ miles/yr for 30+ yrs), the cost of the tube matters very little, but a patch always affects the feel of the ride and eventually works loose. To each his own i guess.
Wow. Glad I never raced against you. Anyone that can tell they are riding on a patched tube has sensitivity far beyond my abilities. I've had some patches fail to work but I've never had one fail once it's successfully holding air. Lucky I guess.😊
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Old 01-10-21, 09:53 PM
  #123  
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T

Originally Posted by Cycle Tourist
Wow. Glad I never raced against you. Anyone that can tell they are riding on a patched tube has sensitivity far beyond my abilities. I've had some patches fail to work but I've never had one fail once it's successfully holding air. Lucky I guess.😊
funny. Keep the wheels down friend.
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Old 01-10-21, 10:33 PM
  #124  
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Originally Posted by Cycle Tourist
Wow. Glad I never raced against you. Anyone that can tell they are riding on a patched tube has sensitivity far beyond my abilities.
It must be paranormal sense .
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Old 01-12-21, 09:15 AM
  #125  
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Originally Posted by WinterCommuter
in my experience (5000+ miles/yr for 30+ yrs), the cost of the tube matters very little, but a patch always affects the feel of the ride and eventually works loose. To each his own i guess.
When a patch works its way loose at any time that means you prepared the tube wrong, I've never had either a glue on or a glueless patch eventually work loose...well, as long as the glueless patch was a Park, I used a few other brands, even the well known Lezyne, those don't stick for more than a few hours, but the Park brand will stick for the life of the tube.
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