datlas 

These are fine to get you home but are NOT designed to be permanent. Old school patches using vulcanizing fluid "glue" are best done at home, batch-patch style, for a permanent fix.

genejockey 

My pump is a Lezyne Road Drive that's similar to that one. It works, and it'll do a pretty high pressure - EVENTUALLY! It takes A LOT of strokes! When I'm close to the pressure I want, I do 20 strokes, then check, then 20 more, etc.

I only use it when riding my CF bikes that won't fit a frame pump. The other bikes, I have 3 frame pumps in different sizes, so I have pumps for any bike I ride.

Camilo

Same here. And sometimes very hard to detect on the side of the road when one's patience is not up to the task. I've certainly been there (second flat). Fortunately, like you, the time it happened, it was a slow enough leak that I limped along re-inflating a couple of times just to avoid needing to patch the spare tube when it went. I learned to be more obsessive about those GD little occult flatteners! And can find them with my fingers ... because I know something is there and just keep at it until I find it.

Camilo

Whaaaa?

prj71

I disagree because I have used these as a permanent solution many times. It's not like they all of sudden fall off or quit working. I no longer use glue patches since I found these.

ClydeClydeson

prj71 I find 'glueless' patches to absolutely be less reliable and think they should only be used in emergencies. I am happy you, and some others, have a different experience than me, and many others, but I don't trust them and only use 'glued' patches.

rumrunn6

yeah I carry a pump & at least 2 cartridges. usually 1 extra tube + patches

on longer rides, I carry another tube & 2 more cartridges

I have 3 bikes all w/ diff. size tires/tubes. so I have to remember to move the pump to the bike of the day & change the tube(s) in my trunk

luck = when preparation meets opportunity

datlas 

Read what I wrote. They are not DESIGNED to be permanent. I expect some people get a more durable response (like you) but I maintain they are not really intended to be a permanent patch. As always, YMMV.

livedarklions

I disagree with "Seems" and "kinda".


fishboat displays the classic "fundamental attribution error".

big john

I have had them blow off twice due to heat. One time I was driving with the bike in the back of the car and the stick on patch blew off. It was a hot day.
Another time I was descending a long hill using lots of brake and the stupid patch blew off from the heat.

big john

I was trying to be diplomatic. I agree with you, though.

Craptacular8

Been there, done that...I had one spring I thought my name might be FlatsALot lol. I had one that I couldn't feel anything, but I was getting one microscopic puncture, that didn't seem to present itself until there were a few miles on it...sometimes as many as 7-10. When I finally took the tire all the way off the rim, and ran a piece of cotton swab, it hooked on the tiniest of wires. Wire wasn't visible on the inside, or out, but was just enough to eventually puncture the tire. I had resisted removing the tire, because it was an absolute knuckle buster getting it on a rim.

VegasJen

Thanks for the cotton swab tip! I'll have to remember that.

OldTryGuy

Cotton ball is also useful since it gets the entire inside from bead to bead as you pull it along. p.s. - providing it's not too big of a tire.

John Valuk

If you are willing to carry a pump on the frame (right next to a bottle cage), then consider getting the largest version of the Lezyne Road Drive. It can't match a full-sized frame pump, but it moves substantially more air per stroke than some of the really small mini pumps.

For conventional tube patching, I buy two of the Rema Tip Top TT 02 kits, and then combine some of the contents into one of the boxes to carry on the bike. That lets me have an open "in use" tube of cement, and also an unopened backup tube with me in case the "in use" one dries out. My current tube of cement has been in use for ~2-1/2 years.

Slasharoo

I also carry a mini bic lighter in my pack. When I spread the glue out, I light it up for a few seconds before I put the patch on. Seals great.

Wildwood 

If it wasn't for bad luck,....I wouldn't have no luck at all!

Therefore, I always try to have a frame pump or minipump - AND extra CO2 cartridges. A spare tubular or 2 spare clincher tubes (depending on wheels) for extended rides. For off-road rides I include a small bottle of Stan's sealant. The little patch kits in my saddle bags are so old they should be replaced, but even new they will always be a last resort. Flats happen to us all - buying good rubber and replacing before tires are too worn is my added 'insurance policy' against roadside issues.

prj71

I've debated this on this forum once already and don't really care to debate it again.. I haven't had any issues with them after patching a tube and leaving it on for hundreds of miles of use, so I am happy that Park Tool has this solution.

prj71

Where does it say anywhere that they are not designed to be permanent? Do you have some facts to back this statement up or is that just your opinion?

Check the reviews here. Their experience mimics mine.

https://www.vitalmtb.com/product/gui...t-reviews-7701

stan01

How to determine if a mystery flat is caused by rim strip failure when there is no evidence of any road debris to the tire: This has happened to me on a brand new bike build that I did a few years ago. I built up a brand new Lynskey with all new components except the wheels. The wheels were built with Kinlin's lightest aluminum rims & had vittoria rim strips. The wheels come in at 1400 grams. So after a week of riding with no issues, the next week I was getting constant flats on the front wheel. Put a new tube in & pumped it up & a mile later another front flat??? I could find nothing in the tire & was perplexed because it was a brand new tire. Everything on the bike was brand new except the wheels. Got home fixed the tube & next day went out & flatted again 2 miles out. Fixed it on the roadside & thought I would continue on but flatted immediately.

When I got home because I line up all my tires up with the valve hole, I could tell that all the punctures were in the exact same spot of the wheel. This led me to believe that it was the rim strip. Looking at the rim strip alone, you couldn't visibly see that it was defective. Where each rim hole was, you could see its outline & you could see where the spoke had poked into the strip but it did not puncture it. So I decided to just replace it anyway & that solved my problem. Not one front wheel puncture since. So if the rim strip on your wheels is a few years old, its worthwhile to just change them if you start to get mystery flats in the same area with no evidence of debris. Again as I said before, glueless patches can be a lifesaver but they are only a temporary fix & need to be replaced with a permanent patch when time permits.

prj71

How is this even possible? The patch is literally sandwiched between the tube and tire. How can it "blow off"?

datlas 

I concede the point that the product description does not state anything about them being temporary.

You win!

genejockey 

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

big john

You know what I meant. The patch loosened enough to allow all of the air pressure to rush out and when I removed the tube from the tire the patch was loose.

Obviously it didn't come out and go flying across the landscape.

spelger

i've used these and they do work until they don't. after about a year or so they invariably leak. i've had to pull them off and replace with a correct vulcanizing patch, done right those don't seem to fail. i still keep them in my saddle bag along with a spare tube and a real patch kit. you never know how many goat heads will be thrown at you.