zandoval 

Patch Party.... Great... AHhhhhhh... The smell of Toluene on a good patch... VICTORY!

C6H5H + CH3Cl → C6H5CH3 + HCl

2_i 

I thought I'd contribute a photo of my tube repair items that were not mentioned so far. I buy the glue in larger cans and dilute it when necessary. For road use I pour the glue in small glass vials and none ever gets wasted. Two good solvents for the glue are Trichloroethylene, employed by Rema, and Heptane. I have used Heptane to soften the rubber before gluing and in particular I managed to glue back this way the grips that were cut too short. Except by a close inspection you could not tell that they were cut before. One extra item of interest is the leak detector, the small round box. It is not as effective as the face, but once you put the glue on and cannot find the leak anymore, you'd rather use some other device, than the face, to get it back.



From My Tube Repair Kit

Dan Burkhart 

And, I believe one of the oldest corporate mascots on the planet. He was born before tires were black, and he never updated. The mascot’s name is actually "Bibendum" from the Latin phrase "Nunc est bibendum,” or “now is the time to drink.
A suitable mascot for this activity, doncha think?

cyccommute 

Because tubeless is more of a hassle in my opinion than tubes and patching. I’ve got 11 bikes in my garage...7 of them mine...and I don’t relish the idea of maintaining that many tubeless tires.

Kapusta

Good Lord, how many flats do you people get?

i think I buy about one small patch kit with a small tube of glue and 5 patches every couple years.

Juan el Boricua

Most people here either run a shop, provide bike services for coops, neighbors, family and friends, or provide basic service for a nominal fee, so it makes sense to buy in bulk (at least that is what I tell myself!). Besides, there's always Murphy's law lurking; I can go a year without flats, and then have SIX in a 30-mile ride (so, beware now that you said that you go flatless for a long time...).

Andrew R Stewart 

Here's the follow up numbers. Of the 11 tubes patched 10 hold air past a day. The 3 that had no found hole still held air. All 13 of these will go back into service. So of the 16 I had set aside over the last couple of years 3 are in the trash bin. Andy

JoeTBM 

In our volunteer shop, we typical change about 20-30 tubes a week.... patch parties are on every other Friday, beer included

Kapusta

Ah. I guess if you are fixing flats for a bunch of other people that would add up.

Andrew R Stewart 

Rochester's non profit bike recycler (R Community Bikes) has a fellow who is challenged as PC labels go. His job is to patch tubes. I have seen his work spot and it puts all of ours to shame. Very simple, everything at hand and he's real fast. Practice makes perfect as they say. Andy

OldsCOOL

My daddy taught me how to patch when I was 10. I will occasionally follow his directions in lighting the glue on fire momentarily to help with the stick.

Crankycrank

Not necessary anymore with current vulcanizing fluids. You may even weaken or destroy it's bonding power. Just let the fluid dry before applying the patch and it should last as long as the tire.

79pmooney

It's been a while (and I didn't cheat and read any post other than the OP). That red patch? I believe it is the Velox tubular patch. That came in the the little orange metal box.

cyccommute 

It hasn’t been necessary since the 1930s and the process that used heat didn’t set the vulcanizing fluid on fire. It used a patch, a clamp, and a special brick that was set on fire to heat the clamp and tire at the same time. No fire came in direct contact with the rubber.

This idea of setting the glue on fire to make the patch work better is a bit of erroneous folklore based on a misunderstanding of the hot patch method that has been passed down for 100 years or more now.

OldsCOOL

Haven’t had one fail. Besides, I only do the burn ocassionally.

Andrew R Stewart 

I also think the chemistry of "rubber" tubes (and patches and their glue) has changed over the years. What was proper technique and substances nearly 100 years ago isn't the case these days. Or so I've read. Andy (who believes everything that has been published in print bit not so much so on line )

curbtender

Those 3 with no holes presta? The guys I ride with don't patch, so I get a pile going. Pretty sure those presta valves didn't always get screwed back down and would burp.

cyccommute 

The Rema system was invented in the mid30s. The procedure was described in Scientific American in 1921. After World War II, synthetic rubber...butadiene/styrene co-polymer...became the dominant rubber source. It’s still the dominate rubber. From about WWII on, the chemistry of the tires has been fairly static with minor changes in formulation.

Even when hot patches had to be used, the “hot” part didn’t involve setting the tube on fire. Here’s a video of a hot patch


I really wish he would have put a lid on the mineral spirits, however.

curbtender

If Hunter Thompson patched a tire...

Andrew R Stewart 

At least he got his beer out of the way before the fireworks Andy

BCDrums

My old man taught me the same back when Ike was the president. I don't do it, but it's a fond memory.

flanso 

Andrew, What is the device, in picture 1, on which the tubes are hanging?

flanso 

I have found a wallpaper seam roller to be handy for applying patches.

MikeTé

yukiinu

It brought to mind when I got 5 flats in a hundred miles riding across Wyoming.