Glueless patches

[CharleyFarley]

I find that when I need to patch a tube, the tube of glue, even a new one, seems to be almost empty. With luck I might get to glue two patches. So I ordered a pack of five tubes of glue, and they take about six weeks to get here.

So I'm wondering about glueless patches. Are they reliable? I'm not one to put a new tube in just because it has one puncture. I tried skins a few years ago and thought they were worthless. Does anyone have experience with glueless patches?

 

[Hacienda71]

I have some Ribble ones which have got me out of a fix out in the Peaks 10 miles from the nearest town. I wouldn't go out without a tube but as a secondary backup well worth using. Longevity of the repair seemed fine although I never felt 100% confident being used to the old glue chalk etc. method.

 

[ianrauk]

Yes, they are very reliable. If used correctly.
You need to prepare the tube for repair as you would normally with glue ie rub down and clean the area to be patched. Once patch has been placed, squeeze the patch and tube with your fingers with a good amount of pressure for a good 30 seconds or so.
Do the job correctly and the patch will last.
I have 3 patches on one of my current innertubes one of which is a few years old now and shows no signs of failing.

 

[Tribansman]

Agree with Ian, I use Park Tools ones and they've been very reliable

 

[I like Skol]

I find that when I need to patch a tube, the tube of glue, even a new one, seems to be almost empty. With luck I might get to glue two patches.

!!!!

Something wrong here. Either your tubes of glue are woefully meagre or you are using far, far, far too much glue?

I always used the cheapest supermarket feather edge patch kits I can find and these usually have 6 patches as a minimum. They used to be £1 at Morrison's. I ended up with a drawer full of unused glue because one tube of glue would serve for at least two kits.

I then bought a bulk pack of small and medium sized feather edge patches from eBay, probably 40 patches, and I'm a good way through these now (I don't have a massive puncture problem but do fix all the families multiple bikes and for friends too) but still have a few tubes of glue left. When I do finish a tube I have to rummage through the unused tubes to find the one with the oldest date to make sure I am using them in order ( they are date stamped on the fold at the bottom of the tube).

You only need a smear of glue to put a film on the innertube which is then allowed to dry before placing the patch. Please describe your puncture repair technique because you might be doing something wrong?

 

[overmind]

A bit off topic but I use Weldtite patch strips. You have to cut the patch to the size you want though. I solved this problem with some sewing thread cutters kept in the puncture repair kit.

Regarding glue, I bought about 5 tubes direct off eBay. They were much larger tubes than the ones found in the kits.

 

[Roseland triker]

Best to just carry spare tubes.
I blew out both tyres descending Mt Snowdon at the same time and had 3 spares so all good.

Always found good old glue the best way

 

[Brandane]

Another recommendation for Park Tools glueless patches. Never had a problem with them. Used TWO the other day, first punctures for ages. One from a large thorn in a Schwalbe Marathon (doesn't happen often) and a snakebite from catching the tube while removing the tyre. Put that down to lack of practice due to lack of punctures for a long time.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Sounds like you are using too much rubber solution and that you have been treating it like glue.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I have always found that the glue seems to 'disappear' from the little tubes in the kits after a while

In the old days I always got a seperate larger tube of glue and separate patches - the rest of the kit lasts for years

However, since I started cycling again I have not been able to get hold of separate patches of any quality. I got a pack of the WWW but they ae rubbish and you can;t get the patches off the backing without ripping them.
Then I had a puncture one day and realised I had no spare tube with me because I had been using a different bag and hadn;t swapped the repair stuff over properly. A nice bloke gave me a glueless patch which worked great.

I now have a spare tube PLUS several glueless patches in my bag - carrying several tube on a normal local ride seems over the top and far too much weight and space!.

Anyway - Yes the glueless patches work fine - as above keep them under pressure for a while to make sur ethey stick fully

secondly - anyone know where I can get old fashioned patches from - the ones that need glue??? LBS hasn;t seen any for years and Halfords don;t have them anymore?

 

[Roseland triker]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12-Genui...f-d56f-46f0-a21d-de186d4d2d77&redirect=mobile

 

[Dogtrousers]

I have used glueless ones for on-road repairs successfully but I couldn't imagine doing my at-home inner tube repair ritual without the smell of rubber solution. It just wouldn't be right. (It would probably work OK, but it might anger the puncture gods)

secondly - anyone know where I can get old fashioned patches from - the ones that need glue??? LBS hasn;t seen any for years and Halfords don;t have them anymore?

Just any ordinary puncture kit contains them. Like this one from Halfords
https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-parts/inner-tubes/halfords-puncture-repair-kit-661102.html

Unless by "old fashioned" you mean something dating back to before my memory of puncture kits (before the 70s)

 

[overmind]

I used to use the cure-c-cure patches (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133401534540?hash=item1f0f59e04c:g:vCwAAOSwqwRerxXf)
I liked the feather edge. It made a really clean seal with the inner tube.

but now I use patch strips (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132997771622?hash=item1ef748f166:g:v6MAAOSwtOZck7Ag)
I cut them in squares but then snip the corners just a bit. The nice thing is that you can cut different sizes. Most of the time
you only need a small patch. Once I found two holes next to each other so I cut an elongated rectangle which covered both
perfectly.

I used to find with the cure-c-cure patches that I would use up all the small ones and only have the large ones left. With the patch
strip one does not have this problem as you cut out what you need.

I am thinking of going down the cutting up old innertube route. I tried it before but I seem to remember I could not get them to stick very well. I might try again (calling @SkipdiverJohn ).

 

[overmind]

How many do you need?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151355015583

I find that brand of patches a bit stiff. I wonder how well they stick to the innertube.
I tend to like the ones where the rubber is a bit softer.

 

[Jody]

You actually get to the end of a tube before it dries out?

Regarding glue, I bought about 5 tubes direct off eBay. They were much larger tubes than the ones found in the kits.

Which is why I ended up doing the same as Overmind ^

Loads of patches but no glue.