VegasJen

I don't mean just to get you home. I'm talking about patching a tube and then riding it as long as you can? If you do, what's your limit on patches? I've gotten pretty good at patching tubes. I generally will patch a tube twice before I won't trust it any more. On a couple of occasions I have gone to three patches but I reserve those tubes for emergencies, just to get me home.

It's just about a necessity where I ride. I am forever picking up small wire from blown steel belted radials. Like a freaking magnet. I probably get at least one puncture a month, minimum. Over 90% of my punctures are from those wires. I was talking to mom about a week ago and told her I need to buy stock in a tube manufacturer.

And please don't turn this into a tubeless debate.

Juan Foote

Only if it is the only way to get home in regard to my road bike. My "city bike", sure.

The main reason is that riding on ~25mm wires (I think mine are 28's but not sure) you can actually feel the patch oftentimes. My go to is a piece of an old tube and some super glue. I used to use those little blue wrapped stickie patches (can't recall the name) and had SO many of those fail to hold air.
Generally, I carry a new tube with and have only one time had a situation (spoke) where the new tube took damage as well. I have also found it helpful to carry a $1 bill in the kit in case of a cut or sidewall damage.

wolfchild

I rarely get flats but if I do just replace the tube and patch the other tube after I get home. I don't like patching tubes on the side of the road, it's a lot easier to just replace it and do the patching at home.

jon c. 

I don't bother.

wolfchild

Don't be surprised if it will, I bet you a tube that it will..

urbanknight

Before I went tubeless, I would carry two good tubes with me and swap them out if I got a flat for a fast fix, then patch the punctured tubes when I got home and test them before putting them back in the rotation. I only patched on the road if I got a third flat (rare, but it did happen). Tubes would get retired and replaced with a new one when they sprung a leak where a patch was, leaked too close to the valve, or I just decided they had too many patches.

ofajen

I’ve had less success in recent years and am shifting away from it. I haven’t had many flats lately and the most common thing is a tire goes flat overnight after a ride and I discover that a patch I did a year before has now decided to leak a little. I’ve been using Park Tool patch kits in recent years. Perhaps Rema would be better.

Otto

BobbyG

I'm in goathead country. Before I began using tire liners I'd suffer 2-3 flats a year, so I patched and patched. After I started using tire liners I had a flat or to a year, if even that many. In fact, I remember replacing the tires on my 84 Nishiki and finding the front wheel had a couple of patches and the back had 7, but at that point it had been a couple years since I had a flat on that bike.

If the flat is due to a small puncture I'll still patch it and use it till an unpatatchable incident happens.

jadmt

I carry a new tube, a patched tube and a patch kit on every ride. In the past I have used all three on a single ride. I have no problem using patched tubes if it is the little wires that caused the flat. a bigger hole I usually won't mess with tho.

genejockey 

Same here. I was running a patched tube in my trainer wheel, and got a flat in the middle of a race on Zwift. The patch held up, till it didn't. If I used that in a regular wheelset, it might have give out while I was descending at >30 mph.

I didn't formally decide not to patch tubes anymore, but I haven't patched one since, and a couple months back I bought a 10-pack of Vittoria tubes, which suggests to me that I INformally decided.

Calsun

I replace a flat tube with a new one and then decide when I get home whether or not to use a patch. Often the puncture is where there is a seam and a patch is not likely to hold over time.

soyabean

I flip a ton of bikes each year and only patch tubes with pinholes when that is faster than me getting a new one from a friend's shop.

Tubes with anything bigger than a pinhole are used for rim tape and tire liners.

When I ride, I carry a spare tube. I can't carry cold vulcanizing fluid with me, and if I use a sticker patch just to get home, I'm re-doing it all with a new tube anyways.

nomadmax 

Yes

That said, most people who get one flat after another need an accurate tire pressure gauge and glasses.

VegasJen

Ya, I don't patch any on the side of the road. Don't even carry a patch kit. I do carry a spare tube and if I get a flat on a ride, I swap out the tube and, depending on how far into my ride, head home. I bought one of those 4oz containers of rubber cement and I just cut up an old tube for my patches. I've had really good success with it over the last couple years. But I probably should carry a couple of those temporary patch kits, just for the off chance I get multiple in a ride. I've also heard about carrying a bill but I haven't actually done so yet.

VegasJen

I'm sure you're right.

indyfabz

I don’t patch on the side of the road. When I get home, I check BF to find out what other people do so I know what I should do.

genejockey 

I highly recommend carrying a Park GP-2 pre-glued patch kit. It takes no space in your saddle bag, and if you ever get two flats on a ride (it happens! Ask me how I know!), you won't be walking home, or making The Call Of Shame.

The patches are great to get you home - I once had to use THREE patches!

Black wallnut 

Mid ride I replace with a never patched tube. Once home I inspect and patch tube, re-install in the tire. The replacement tube then goes back in my seat bag. Have been patching tubes since I was a teenager. Some tubes have had 4 patches before being junked.

melissam

I ride bikes with 650c tires and tubes, which are getting harder and harder to find. So yeah, if the tube failed due to a puncture, I'm patching it and putting it back into the rotation!

Lately I'm finding more failures where the valve stem joins the tube, which seem to be fatal. I experimented with Shoe Goo to tried to join the valve stem back to the tube and save the tube, but it wasn't successful.

ljsense

I take the same approach wolfchild laid out above -- I like to patch in a clean controlled workroom. Then I carry one patched tube and one new one as spares. If a riding buddy or a stranger needs a tube, they get the patched one.

But honestly, I haven't seen a well patched tube fail -- they just seem to get punctured somewhere else, just like a new tube.

soyabean

This is almost always caused by "fake" rubber rim tape.

Gotta Velox.

mschwett 

no. life's too short (and riding windows are too short) to ride with tubes, or patch them.

HelpSingularity 

I've been using Rema patches since the 70s. Glue does not seem to matter that much.
I use a can of rubber cement from the auto parts or department store. "Slime" brand right now.
I usually do it at home after I have a small batch of holed tubes.
With a properly prepared surface I've never had one fail. Rema brand patches are the bomb.
I usually chuck a tube after a half dozen or so patches. Unless a hole is right next to a patch then I might chuck it.
All butyl.

MoAlpha

Yes.

Kabuki12

Yep! I get a few flats a year (last year was very bad )and almost all are from thorns. I live in a rural area and goatheads are everywhere. I usually find the thorn before pulling the tube out of the rim so it makes a quick repair to patch. If I can’t find the hole right away , I put a new tube on and hit the road. The patches hold up well and some of my tubes have more than one patch.