Pre Glued or Proper patches? Which is best?

fenboy369

OK, on the side of the road, in the dark etc etc, the Pre Glued is King. But at home, when you have the time is it best to use a Pre Glued Patch (I currently use Park ones) or do you get the glue out and do it the old school way?
My prefference was to never bother repairing a tube, but I have a stack of tubes, 26" and 700c, that only have one hole and I am thinking what a waste.

singlespeedexplosif

side of road - Park glueless patches ftw
at home? old stylee

dav1

nothing wrong with patching. Both of mine have about 8 patches each on the roadie at the moment.

I go for the old style ones and have a spare tube in my backpack at all times.

dbmnk

The thinwall of the preglue is a winner. I use the lezyne ones. Don't see the reason for add a 2mm thick rubber plate to a latex or supersonic tube

CiB

The yellow things that Halfords sell are the biggest waste of a pound this side of a Macdonalds cheeseburger, and probably taste the same for all I know. Maybe there are SA patches that work, but these yellow things don't. Try the cheeseburger instead.

oscarbudgie

I didn't even know there were such things as pre-glued patches.
Anyway if you're trying to patch a puncture by the side of the road at night the tricky bit isn't getting the patch to stick its finding where to put it in the first place.

essex-commuter

I don't think I've ever repaired a tube by the roadside, I always carry spares. When I get home I repair them with regular patches..5 minute job. Will only throw away a tube if 2 holes appear too close together and I have to overlap patches, or obviously if it's the valve at fault etc.

CiB

Removed...

Underscore

dbmnk wrote:

The thinwall of the preglue is a winner. I use the lezyne ones. Don't see the reason for add a 2mm thick rubber plate to a latex or supersonic tube

What old skool patches were you using? I use Rema F0 patches on the commuter and road bikes and they are probably thinner in the middle than the Park self-adhesive and are feathered out to nothing whereas the Parks are the same thickness right to the edge. Even the F1s that I use on the MTB are 2mm thick in the middle...

_

MonkeyMonster

those park pre-glued ones are the dogs testimonials.

Headhuunter

I use old style patches, more out of habit than anything, I've never even tried the pre-glued jobs. I assumed they probably wouldn't be up to the job. I use the micro thin, feathered edge patches that Condor sells. As others have said, I don't think I've ever patched a hole by the side of the road. I carry a spare tube and I don't think I have ever got 2 punctures in a single ride.

cee

like headhuunter...i have never tried the pre-glued patches.

always_tyred

I use patches in preference to the spare tube, oddly enough. (Old school, but feathered edges, no ribbing, banana flavour).

Particularly this time of year, at night, when everything is covered in grit and slime, I estimate my chances at actually figuring out what is stuck in the tyre to be around 50:50.

If so, I'd rather have a false start with an already knackered tube rather than end up with two already knackered tubes.

blinddrew

MonkeyMonster wrote:

those park pre-glued ones are the dogs testimonials.

I'll second that, haven't used anything else for years now. Press-em down tight so that they're completely transparent and almost look like the tube and robert is definitely your mother's brother. And a little box of 6 fits in the bottom of my alien pouch so i don't forget/lose them either.

Clever Pun

Don't patch at the roadside unless you have no choice

roger_merriman

since the fairy spends so much time loved up with itboffin I rarely get a lookin thus, I like quite a few just replace and bin, in the two years i've had the old roadie I've had one visit. was RP of all places due to the new surface...

fenboy369

ok, I always carry a spare tube to change at the roadside, but I have had 3 visits from the PF in one ride home, I used Pre glued them and all was fine. Its more a question of what to put on the 'spare' tubes I have in the shed. I'll be leaving some at work and some at home so there's always a few handy.
I'll probably do some of each and see which is best, a cycling SPAM at work says he has found that the Park Patches are acce, but the glue goes funny after about a year in the bag, so I'll keep an eye on them...

Headhuunter

fenboy369 wrote:

ok, I always carry a spare tube to change at the roadside, but I have had 3 visits from the PF in one ride home, I used Pre glued them and all was fine. Its more a question of what to put on the 'spare' tubes I have in the shed. I'll be leaving some at work and some at home so there's always a few handy.
I'll probably do some of each and see which is best, a cycling SPAM at work says he has found that the Park Patches are acce, but the glue goes funny after about a year in the bag, so I'll keep an eye on them...

3 visits in 1 ride suggests that you didn't find and remove whatever was causing the puncture in the 1st place...

lost_in_thought

Patch? But tubes only cost like £3.50...

At my hourly rate that means it's not worth the time spent patching them, and my hourly rate really isn't very high at all.

Headhuunter

lost_in_thought wrote:

Patch? But tubes only cost like £3.50...

At my hourly rate that means it's not worth the time spent patching them, and my hourly rate really isn't very high at all.

Actually only about 1.99 at Decathlon, I just think it's such a waste to chuck 'em out. In an era of recycling and awareness that the human race is rapidly eating through the world's finite resources, I just prefer to repair rather than contribute to our disposable society.

Can I have your old tubes? I'll collect them from you at The Morpeth every now and then if you don't want them!

roger_merriman

Headhuunter wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Patch? But tubes only cost like £3.50...

At my hourly rate that means it's not worth the time spent patching them, and my hourly rate really isn't very high at all.

Actually only about 1.99 at Decathlon, I just think it's such a waste to chuck 'em out. In an era of recycling and awareness that the human race is rapidly eating through the world's finite resources, I just prefer to repair rather than contribute to our disposable society.

Can I have your old tubes? I'll collect them from you at The Morpeth every now and then if you don't want them!

sure but be a long time waiting see above if like itboffin I was spending my time with the fairy then yes patch, but since she very rarely visits the tube is normally a good few years old.

lost_in_thought

Headhuunter wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Patch? But tubes only cost like £3.50...

At my hourly rate that means it's not worth the time spent patching them, and my hourly rate really isn't very high at all.

Actually only about 1.99 at Decathlon, I just think it's such a waste to chuck 'em out. In an era of recycling and awareness that the human race is rapidly eating through the world's finite resources, I just prefer to repair rather than contribute to our disposable society.

Can I have your old tubes? I'll collect them from you at The Morpeth every now and then if you don't want them!

You'll have to get them between when I replace them and when I see a bin... it's not a huge window...

And I don't think my patching tubes is ever going to actually save the world.

Underscore

lost_in_thought wrote:

Patch? But tubes only cost like £3.50...

At my hourly rate that means it's not worth the time spent patching them, and my hourly rate really isn't very high at all.

Even if you were to use the £2 decathlon tubes, I pay 25p each for the Rema patches - so I'm saving £1.75 each time I patch. Ignoring the tube removal and reassembly (which you would need to do anyway), I reckon it takes about 3 minutes to locate the p***ture, sand and apply the vulcanising solution and barely a minute to apply the patch once it's dried. (The intervening time I will use to lube my chain or something similar - which I would do anyway.) So, for < 5 minutes effort, I save £1.75 - so > £21/hr.

Now, I wouldn't get out of bed for £21/hr but, since I'm up anyway and it gives me an excuse to go into the garage and fettle, it's a not unreasonable hourly rate!

_

tgotb

PF visited this morning, and I reckoned (albeit in daylight) that it would actually be quicker and easier to chuck on a pre-glued patch than to get the spare out of its box,put a bit of air in it, put it inside the tyre etc. By the time I found and removed the piece of council grit which had caused the puncture, it was pretty obvious where the patch had to go anyway.
Even if it had taken me 30 seconds longer, that's a lot less than the time it would take me to fix the tube later at home, or to pop out to my LBS and buy another.

The real lesson from this morning's experience, is that if you hear a ticking noise from one of your wheels which is obviously related to something stuck into/onto the tyre, it's better to stop and have a look than to ride another two miles in the hope that it will 'fall off'. Quite impressed with my Gatorskins though, held out all the way from the middle of RP to Queens Ride before the flint got through...

oscarbudgie

lost_in_thought wrote:

And I don't think my patching tubes is ever going to actually save the world.

Nothing we do as individuals - recycling, driving less, insulating our houses, will save the World. So why bother hey?

bails87

oscarbudgie wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

And I don't think my patching tubes is ever going to actually save the world.

Nothing we do as individuals - recycling, driving less, insulating our houses, will save the World. So why bother hey?

Good point. I'll be back in a bit, just going to dump my Pandas at the landfill site....

lost_in_thought

Underscore wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Patch? But tubes only cost like £3.50...

At my hourly rate that means it's not worth the time spent patching them, and my hourly rate really isn't very high at all.

Even if you were to use the £2 decathlon tubes, I pay 25p each for the Rema patches - so I'm saving £1.75 each time I patch. Ignoring the tube removal and reassembly (which you would need to do anyway), I reckon it takes about 3 minutes to locate the p***ture, sand and apply the vulcanising solution and barely a minute to apply the patch once it's dried. (The intervening time I will use to lube my chain or something similar - which I would do anyway.) So, for < 5 minutes effort, I save £1.75 - so > £21/hr.

Now, I wouldn't get out of bed for £21/hr but, since I'm up anyway and it gives me an excuse to go into the garage and fettle, it's a not unreasonable hourly rate!

_

Time yourself! I tried patching a tube once, it was a new one that (it turns out) had a tiny split on a seam, and it took me about 20 minutes all in from 'right let's have a look at this tube that's already off the bike then', with a bit of waiting thrown in, because, y'know, it's how I roll, and you can't use that time for anything else that's productive.

Now I appreciate that I may just be a total muppet, but I don't care to learn how to do it faster for the sake of a few quid once every few months.

oscarbudgie wrote:

Nothing we do as individuals - recycling, driving less, insulating our houses, will save the World. So why bother hey?

So glad we're agreed on that.

King Donut

fenboy369 wrote:

a cycling SPAM at work says he has found that the Park Patches are acce, but the glue goes funny after about a year in the bag, so I'll keep an eye on them...

I've had a couple come unstuck on spare tubes that were sitting at home unused for a few months.

oscarbudgie

I've given up taking the recycling out because if I do it 3 times a week thats about 20 minutes work for no remuneration. Now I throw it into a local school playground when I'm passing in my turbo Audi S3, making sure to leave the engine running.

Roastie

Clever Pun wrote:

Don't patch at the roadside unless you have no choice

I disagree - if you have the time, and it is a nice day, then a roadside repair will be my first option. But, sure, if there is no joy to be had from an unscheduled stop then the spare tube goes in faster than you can say "Park Pre-glued".

ps. I hate pre-glued.

Poacher

I've probably used tubes with a dozen patches (all old-school:- cure-c-cure, a German brand the name of which escapes me, or the unbranded ones which cost about £2 a hundred from Mike Dyason), but even a completely knackered tube has its uses.
My 3w Tesco torch is held under the bars by a short length of old tube (~18cm?) with a hole cut in it near each end to fit the torch and another hole through which one end of the tube is threaded to loop over the bars. (WIsh I hadn't started this now - the description's making my head hurt!)

A whole tube tied between two trees makes a humdinger of a catapult......er.....I imagine.