Originally Posted by cyccommute

Nope. There is not a patch out there that will stick worth a damn with “standard rubber cement”. Nor is making your own patches going to work all that well. Both aren’t even worth the time to try.

If you want to do it right, use Rema TipTop and only Rema TipTop. That patches and vulcanizing fluid. Rema is a system that uses chemistry to make a bond that is far more permanent that just using rubber cement and bits of rubber. Rubber cement is just a contact adhesive. Rema makes new chemical bonds because the fluid has one component and the patch has the other. Put them together (dry) and they start reacting.

Rema patches come in kits for on bike use or in boxes of 100. Much as I hate to drive business to Amazon, you can get boxes of 100 F1 (25mm) and F0 (16mm) there for around $18. The F1 is good for 35mm and larger tubes while the 16mm works very well on narrower tubes. You can get 8 oz cans of vulcanizing fluid for about the same price as well but unless you are doing dozens of patches per week, I’d suggest against that. A can of vulcanizing fluid can do 200 to 500 patches, depending on how thick you put on the fluid. The can is likely to dry out before you use it up in a home situation.

You can also buy 5g and 10g tubes. They cost more for the same amount of fluid but they are sealed and last longer over time. Once the seal is punctured, the fluid can dry out if you don’t cap it tightly but it’s a lot less costly than forgetting to cap the 8 oz can. The 5g tubes, by the way, are what are in most on-bike kits.

On use: Do not rush the job. You can’t let the fluid dry too much. If you don’t have to fix the tube on the road, do it at home and let the fluid dry. I’ve forgotten about a patch job for several weeks and the patch adhered to the tube just as well as if I’d left it for 20 or 30 minutes. On the road, make sure that the fluid is completely dry before putting the patch on. It may take 5 to 10 minutes but don’t rush it. If any solvent remains, the patch won’t stick.