Best glueless patches

bjl

Hi, gone all year without any punctures and had two in one ride yesterday - never used them yet but was considering wether the glueless patches are any good - can anyone recomend the best one for road tubes

apreading

I lucked upon the Park Tools ones a few years ago: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=7206

Have not used glue since. They are fantastic and I have never been let down in any way by them.

I notice that Topeak do a cheaper version which may well be as good http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=37905

Sammyw23

I have the Park ones just in case of a double P***** in one ride.

kangarouge

Plus one for the Park patches. I've recently started using them and think they are brilliant. I definitely won't be going back to glue again unless absolutely necessary. They're so easy to use.

anto164

Park ones without hesitation.

rolf_f

Don't bother with glueless. They are less reliable and don't really take any less time to fit than traditional ones - and those, unlike glueless, produce a joint that is stronger than the original tube! I did try a pack of glueless once - but that was enough!

okgo

I've had the park ones fail on me twice. Always use proper glue and rubber patch now.

porker33

Agree...I have the park patches in my pocket as a last resort to get me home If I run out if tubes.

I bought them after a recommendation on here, having tried them I wouldn't like to rely on them and always facilitate a "real" repair of dispose of the tube once home.

apreading

Interesting that some have very different experience to others.

They certainly are quicker and easier to apply - especially on the trail, dont see how that can be disputed.

All of the bikes in my family fleet are still running on the inner tubes that they came with - a couple of the bikes having done thousands of miles in that time. One of the bikes must have a half dozen glueless patches on one of the tubes - not one has ever failed and not once have I used my spare inner tubes. If I take the tube out now, you have to look to see where the patches are - they look like part of the tube although a little raised and less flexy. Admittedly, most of these are MTB's or child's MTB's so not running at road bike pressures.

Perhaps those with failures, it is because you are runing at high pressures and these patches arent up to that? Although, to be honest, under the pressure squeezing the patch between tube and tyrewall, its hard to see how they could fail?

Also, the terms glueless is not actually correct - pre-glued is more accurate, as there is still glue just that you dont have to manually do it. Those that have had failures, I wonder if they are touching the glue and losing stickiness, or inflating the tube outside the tyre while still setting?

rolf_f

apreading wrote:

They certainly are quicker and easier to apply - especially on the trail, dont see how that can be disputed.

In my case I almost never patch out on the road - I carry two spare tubes so don't have to. As for quickness and easiness of application, I'd say the difference is inconsequential. The amount of time taken to get the tube of glue and apply it is probably about 10 seconds. And there usually seems to be something else to do whilst waiting the minute or so for the glue to dry; otherwise the processes are pretty much the same. Compared to the rest of the process of fixing a puncture, the advantage in ease and speed of a glueless patch simply doesn't exist in any practical sense. I do think the supposed inconvienience of using glue is often over-stated.

As for glueless - I did have a few that didn't stick. One that did stick appears to still be fine though some seem to think that the glueless patches aren't completely permanent and that they also knacker the tube in the long run. I've never had to try to peel a failed one off myself though. It's really just the habit they sometimes seem to have of not sticking. Maybe they are more sensitive to poor preparation or being used in heavy rain!

apreading

Rolf F wrote:

In my case I almost never patch out on the road. I carry two spare tubes so don't have to.

Ah - that might explain why you dont find old style patching a pain.

Personally I would find it a hassle having to carry 2 spare tubes - I carry 1 just in case and that is a pain and I have NEVER used it. I also need to carry differing sizes when going out with the family as the kids bikes need smaller tyres. So I would be carrying 2x26in tubes, 2x24in tubes and 2x20in tubes - not very convenient...

Rolf F wrote:

As for quickness and easiness of application, I'd say the difference is inconsequential.

Ah - now this is not what you said before - you said there was no difference. Now we find that you dont mind the difference because a) you only do it at home and b) you are happy to wait. Aside from the fact that I occasionally do it on the trail, I also usually find them when I am about to go out for a ride and dont want to wait several minutes.

Rolf F wrote:

As for glueless - I did have a few that didn't stick.

These cant have been anything like the ones that I use then - I have never seen that.

Rolf F wrote:

One that did stick appears to still be fine

So they are OK then, in practice.

Rolf F wrote:

though some seem to think that the glueless patches aren't completely permanent and that they also knacker the tube in the long run.

Hearsay and old wives tales - complete tosh in my experience. I think the people saying this are the ones that havent used them.

Rolf F wrote:

Maybe they are more sensitive to poor preparation or being used in heavy rain!

Not at all - quite the opposite. I rarely rub the tube down or prep it other than checking it is dry & clean - just stick it on and re-inflate. In heavy rain, I suspect either type of patch would be a pain to do without getting them wet...

Sorry to turn this into a big thing but I see loads of people saying that glueless are no good but that is simply not the case - most have not tried them and are repeating hearsay and those that may have tried them obviously havent used the Park Tools ones that I use, or have done something really wrong in their application.

porker33

Ref;

apreading; quote


"those that may have tried them obviously havent used the Park Tools ones that I use, or have done something really wrong in their application."
apreading

Posts: 505
Joined: Thu Sep 18, 2008 11:57 pm

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Huh, I based my response on using the park tool patches, how can you do something really wrong in their application?

Do the instructions suggest a short prayer?

apreading

porker33 wrote:

Agree...I have the park patches in my pocket as a last resort to get me home If I run out if tubes.

I bought them after a recommendation on here, having tried them I wouldn't like to rely on them and always facilitate a "real" repair of dispose of the tube once home.

This suggests that they did their job - sorted the puncture and got you home, but that you didnt trust them so threw them out. Nothing here suggests they failed in any way?

zippypablo

I use the Park ones and have done for at least 5 years now.
In all that time I've had one fail on me and this was probably me making a hash of putting it on.
I've had normal patches fail on me more often than this, probably as a result of me putting them on badly.
For a road side repair I think the Park glueless are far better than normal patches.

froze

I hate digging up old posts but I found this on a web search so I'm going to respond in case someone in the future finds this forum post.

I've been using Park or Specialized glueless patches for over 20 years and in all that time I've only had 2 patch failures. When I read someone tried to use them but the patches failed it tells me one thing...they didn't prepare the tube correctly, glue on patches will cover up mistakes made in the preparation stage but glueless will not so you have to prepare the tube correctly. The tubes I patch are used as main and backup tubes, I never go home afterwards and remove the patch and put a glue on one on, a glueless patch will stick on the tube for the life of the tube, and they will stick even on a non inflated tube so you can have one on a spare tube and not worry about it.

Just like a glue on patch you need to buff the tube lightly with an area slightly larger than the patch size. Then you use an alcohol pad and wipe that area clean making sure the alcohol dries before applying the patch and do not touch that area of the tube after you're done cleaning it (the alcohol pad will also make a glue on patch stick better but isn't as necessary as a glueless patch), then use that pad when your done to clean the fingers of the hand that will remove the patch off the backing. Then start to peel a corner of the patch off and only touch the smallest part of the patch you can since oil from your fingers will contaminate the glue. Next lay the patch over the hole so the hole is close to the center of the patch just like a glue on patch. Then press the patch onto the tube between your thumb and fingers as hard as you can for at least 30 seconds; Park says to roll the tube and patch between your fingers which I've never done but I'm sure it would work; then look at the patch, if you see frosty looking areas then press those areas for another 30 seconds till they no longer have that frosty look. That's it, you're done.

With glueless patches you don't have to wait several minutes for the glue to dry, so if you're like me who prefers to patch on the road you can be up and running a bit faster. The reason I prefer patching on the road is because usually I can find the hole pretty fast, and since I can find it fast I have an odd way by today's people but actually a very old way of fixing flats, most of the time I don't even have to remove the wheel from the bike, I simply remove about 1/2 of one side of the tire with the hole I'll be fixing in the middle of the half, then pull about 1/4th of the tube out with the hole in the middle of that area, check the area of the tire for any protruding objects sticking through the tire, patch the tube and reassemble the tube and tire inflate and go. This method doesn't work all the time obviously but if you know where the hole is before you start to take everything apart this method will work great and works faster than even replacing a tube.