Puncture Repair

redddraggon
redddraggon Posts: 10,862
edited September 2007 in Workshop
I've got a tube that is unrepairable, well I can't repair it way. I used a steel tyre lever too much on it and put far too many holes through it.

Can I cut up the tube and use it as repair patches?
I like bikes...

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Comments

  • ASC1951
    ASC1951 Posts: 992
    No. It's too thick and will just work loose. Use proper patches. You will also find that plastic tyre levers are much gentler on rims and tubes than metal ones.

    Inner tubes are about £2.50 in bulk. If you look after your tyres and keep the pressures correct, you should get away with a puncture every 1000 miles or so. A lot of regular riders, me included, don't bother mending tubes and just replace them. There are always uses around the house and garden for old inner tubes.
  • franklin pierce
    franklin pierce Posts: 127
    Old tubes work fine as patches.

    I generally take a (tiny, overpriced) patch kit on the road with me and a spare tube, but if I only puncture once, I patch it at home. I also keep more than one spare tube at home, so I can patch them in large batches if I wish. Store spares in a sealable plastic bag in the freezer, if you're worried about them dry-rotting.

    Cut out a decent sized section of the ruined tube, sand the beans out of one side of it (a power tool of some sort works fairly well here), and then cut out pieces to fit your punctures as needed (about 5mm overlap, so a pin-hole would take a 10mm disc).

    The actual patching requires that you apply glue to both the tube and the patch and let both dry for at least 15 minutes (I apologise for using the imperial measure here, but I don't know how to convert time to metric), adhere, and let sit overnight. To make it stay down a bit better, you can further thin down the edges with sandpaper, but I have never needed to.

    http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/patching.html
  • Nigel Bennett
    Nigel Bennett Posts: 653
    I usually clean my punctured tubes with a suitable solvent, after sandpapering to remove any moulding flash and before applying glue. I always use patches - the Tip-Top ones at about 10p each are the best I've found. Personally I wouldn't waste my time farting about with old bits of cut-up tube unless there was no alternative.

    I've also used a drop of super-glue to try to mend the hole itself, it's a bit big, before sanding.

    Main problem I have is locating the precise centre of the puncture when applying the patch - I've completely missed more than once!

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