GhostRider62

Not true. I am talking about Park Tool GP-2 Super Patch Kit and not their boot, which is perhaps what you are thinking about.

Park's label and their website does not state the patch is temporary. They do state the patches are incompatible with latex but no mention that the patch is just some sort of emergency temporary fix. On narrow, high pressure clinchers with latex tubes, the patch tends to develop a "wrinkle" and a slow leak. On my wider clinchers and wide latex tubes run at low pressure, this is less of a concern. On stiff butyl tubes, it is no concern to me. YMMV but you are wrong.

staehpj1

I have generally patched and continued to use the tube. I might retire the tube if it had a lot of patches, bit usually not unless it was unpatchable or otherwise unreliable for some reason. I do tend to swap tubes a patch later sometimes, but not always.

10 Wheels

I Patch Till The Valves Wear Out

Trakhak

Just checked Park's website, and, at least on the page I looked at, there's indeed no mention of the preglued patches being temporary. Although there's also no mention of why they sell both preglued patches and conventional patch kits. Different strokes, I guess.

The instructions on that page included this:

1. Tube is ready to install. DO NOT test patch by inflating tube while outside of mounted tire. This may stretch tube body and weaken patch bond.

Which reminds me of a '60's-era Dunlop repair kit (complete with "Tread-Stopping Compound") I bought back then. The instructions included the following, approximately (from memory; I hope someone can provide a picture of the instruction sheet):

Do not peel up the edge of the patch to check its adherence to the tube. This can cause the repair to fail and serves no useful purpose.

Juan Foote

You might have missed the part where I mentioned using old tubes instead of the little patch kits.

t2p

have tube repair kits - including Rema - always carry on rides

but can’t recall the last time I patched a bike tube

maybe the last time I patched a bike tube was around the time when we would fix broken wood bats with glue and screws ... and often the entire street / most of the neighborhood) had just one decent baseball ... when the baseball was hit deep into heavy brush we searched for it endlessly - or had to raise a manhole cover if the ball went down into a storm drain

rsbob 

Back in my tube patching days, I would always inflate the patched tube and then do the ‘spit test’ to make sure there were no air bubbles escaping from the patch. Never any unpleasant surprises after remounting the tire after the test.

smd4

No.

Racing Dan

Yes.

I Patch at home and carry a new or patched + verified tube in rotation.- Verified by slightly inflating and hang for a few days.

Vulcanized patches are very reliable once you get the hang if it, so no patch limit other than the tube looking too ratty or failing in some other way. I've used all sorts of patch kits and have no issues to report and have tubes with many patches that work as well as day I got it.

Camilo

This is nearly exactly the way I do things, except I only carry one tube and a regular mini-patch kit on rides. I only give up tubes if the patch leaks or if it's not practical to patch it. It's a tiny thing and not necessarily "green" on my part (I'm not a very green person really), but I just hate wasting (throwing away) things that can be easily and cheaply repaired. It goes to many things other than tubes.

zandoval 

Do I patch tubes? YES!

Do I patch tubes successfully? YES!

Except the Tubulars. I never could get them sewn back up just right.

Also note that I have found any Vulcanizing Cement that does not have Toluene in it is probably not worth a dam...

10 Wheels

I Patch at Home. Carry FIVE Spares. Air up after Patching for 24 hours.

rsbob 

Only 5? Hardly seems like enough. You were obviously not a Boy Scout.

RCMoeur 

I usually did OK with the restitching, using monofilament line and a sewing machine needle epoxied into an old plastic stick pen body.

But then there were those days when I'd be nearly finished with stitching and ready to close the tire completely - and then see the puff of talc where I'd accidentally jabbed the tube.

urbanknight

I actually bounced back and forth between carrying one tube and carrying two. It just became more common to get two flats on a group ride, and I hated to make people wait. More than 2 flats and I told everybody to go ahead because I'm going straight home before my luck gets any worse.

10 Wheels

We have Much construction in our area. Much stuff falls from Pickup trucks.
Also carry a Spare Tire.

ThermionicScott 

I'll often carry two tubes on group rides -- a 650B tube for me, along with a 700C tube in case anyone else ends up needing one. Once in a blue moon, they do. I'd like to think it's good karma.

Chuck Naill

Wonderful smile.

RCMoeur 

Typically when I lead my PMBC rides I'll bring a narrow 26" tube for myself plus a 700C and a wider 26" tube in case someone else in the group needs it. That covers just about everybody in the group, especially if the other rider finds out there's a problem with their spare tube. All Presta with Schrader adaptors.

Wen I do bike patrol for PBAA rides like El Tour de Tucson, I'll bring 6-8 700C tubes plus a 26" narrow + fat, a 650B, and a fat 29". And there have been events where I've used almost all of them by the end of the day. On big events like this, I also carry an expanded tool kit with a Knipex wrench for headsets & other stuff, a 4-way cone wrench, small derailleur adjustment screwdrivers, a Kevlar emergency spoke, and my light battery-powered Dremel with sanding drum in case I have to quickly patch a tube, such as the rider with a 29 x 3 tube who picked up 3 suspicious thumb tacks in his tire in the final miles a couple years ago. And a very light floor pump to inflate these needy riders' tires in a jiffy.

scott967

If there's a place to sit, I don't mind taking a break and patching mid-ride. I have had instances where I couldn't find the exact leak spot for the life of me (that including licking the tube where I thought the leak was, and tubes don't taste that good). So I did eventually get in the habit of bringing a tube with me. But I still patch, though doing it at home when it's not urgent tend to get lazy and a few pile up. I don't have a patch limit, but if I get close to a patch overlap situation I will give up on it. As others wrote, valve stem failure is my main reason to toss a tube. I did switch to tubs and sealant for most of my riding which means not having to think about tubes on a ride. I have only ever used Rema for over 40 years, but have never had a use for the long patches, just the round ones and I have old Rema green boxes stuffed with the long ones. I got in the habit of rolling up a fiver and stuffing it in the Rema box, but have never had to use it on a tire.

scott s.
.

indyfabz

Where was that ride?

adlai

Yes but it takes a lot of time and oftentimes it is just a $5 tube. But I don’t like wasting things. It’s something to do while podcast listening.

I never patch in the field because that just never seems to work. I patch at home. I use a rotational Dremel tool to smooth out the area around the hole. Oftentimes that is like a molding artifact there like a ridge and I smooth it out.

the sticker patches don’t work. The only ones that work are the vulcanized rubber, the orange with glue. I patch it, let it sit for a day, then carry it as a spare.

DangerousDanR

I used to have a hot patch setup for motorcycle tubes. Never failed. Looked up what they cost today, and you could probably buy a lifetime supply of butyl rubber tubes for what they cost today. Mostly aimed at the vintage car and motorcycle folks from what I can tell.

bikelif3

Maybe the title of this thread should be, "Do you patch tubes, CORRECTLY?"

njkayaker

I'm talking about the "glueless" patches.

Your experience shows they are temporary.

https://www.parktool.com/en-us/produ...patch-kit-gp-2

Park says they will "...you can continue on to your destination with confidence". That's a very limited claim! They wouldn't say this if they were permanent (contrast that with what they say about their glued patches). They also sell the standard vulcanizing patches (which they wouldn't need to if the others were permanent).


https://www.parktool.com/en-us/produ...patch-kit-vp-1

Parks says the glued patches "result in a durable permanent repair for any puncture."