Path: g2news1.google.com!news1.google.com!npeer03.iad.highwinds-media.com!news.h ighwinds-media.com!feed-me.highwinds-media.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!bor der2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!backlog2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp .speakeasy.net!news.speakeasy.net.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 05 Apr 2009 22:35:56 -0500 From: Stephen Bauman Subject: Re: What's the best patch? Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech References: <49d8bba3$0$1643$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net> User-Agent: Pan/0.132 (Waxed in Black) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Message-ID: Date: Sun, 05 Apr 2009 22:35:56 -0500 Lines: 78 X-Usenet-Provider: http://www.giganews.com NNTP-Posting-Host: 64.81.214.6 X-Trace: sv3-MqQJhSP0X6XhiLhcnNYfgD7WAF/B+fjtDnZkWXGaBSsenAAJKw1L/1s0JnwclD4ddPL IJ659j75hNc/!J8m9biSw8zwtmf+f/6UkjdUhkG7Atmj24cScM1in/rEECd1Ff7wBgB0vF3I+2DIwNWc v6M8KIxzs!dOISdxuN/dbfTzMqxhQvDJz+W2+RHQ== X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint pro perly X-Postfilter: 1.3.39 X-Original-Bytes: 5431 On Sun, 05 Apr 2009 11:04:22 -0400, Neal wrote: > Are you saying not to let the glue dry before applying the patch. > That's never worked for me. It works for me almost every time. It's sometimes difficult to keep track of a puncture after it's found. My technique is to use a small Rema patch kit box. I center the hole side-to- side and then place the flattened tube around the patch kit box. The Rema patch kit box label is red and white. I place the puncture on the red- white boundary. So the puncture is in the center of the tube on top of the red-white boundary. I'll hold the tube in place with a clothes pin. If the puncture is really small, I'll enlarge it with a toothpick. Next, I thoroughly clean the tube with sandpaper. I prefer the sandpaper to a rasp because I can apply pressure without inflicting damage on the tube. When the tube is has been thoroughly sanded it's time to apply the cold vulcanizing solution erroneously called glue. I put a dab of the solution but not on the puncture. I then spread solution with my clean pinky into a thin layer over a wide area that covers the puncture and the patch area. I then wait for the solution to dry completely. I do not blow on the solution to make it dry because moisture will neutralize it. I'm patient and have learned no to use too much solution. I take the patch and apply it with the center over the puncture. Then I take another Rema patch kit box and use it as a burnishing tool to press the patch on tube. I make certain to work from the inside to the edge in all directions. Next it's time to remove the cellophane. I fold the patch to create a slit in the cellophane. Then holding the patch on both sides of the slit, I spread the tube apart. The slit should expand to cut the cellophane into two halves. I roll each half off from the inside of the patch to the edge. The idea in all of this is not to pull up the edge of the patch. I'll take some talc and spread it on the tube in the areas where there I spread vulcanizing solution that was not covered by the patch. The vulcanizing solution is what it says it is. It liquifies the top layer of rubber on the tube. That's why the top layer of rubber on the tube has to be removed with the sandpaper. That's why you want that liquid layer as thin as possible which is why you wait for the solution to dry before applying the patch. It's also why you burnish the patch on to force the liquid layers of the patch and the tube to become one and to dry into rubber. The talc neutralizes the vulcanizing solution or puts a layer of gunk on top of it - take your pick. It prevents that exposed layer of liquid rubber form adhering with the tire. The patch already has a layer of vulcanizing solution on it. That layer is protected by the foil. If you want to use a piece of tube instead of a patch, then you must prepare tube patch the same way as you have prepared the tube. You've got to apply the vulcanizing solution to both the surfaces and wait for them to dry. The cold vulcanizing solution contains volatile distillates. That's why an 8 oz can of it cannot be air freighted. Contact with air will make it evaporate. Heat will make it evaporate. That's why the small tubes don't last long. I get a new tube every few months. The patches take longer to degrade but they will after a few years. Round Rema patches come in two diameters: 25mm (F1) and 16mm (F0). Unfortunately, most of the kits contain only the larger patch. This patch is wider than the width of a narrow tube folded flat on that patch kit box. If the flattened tube width is narrower than the patch diameter, then parts of the patch will be loose. I buy both sizes in boxes of 100 patches. I'm a volunteer mechanic in about a half dozen rides each year. The plethora of tube sizes combined with the propensity of riders to get flats makes carrying a stash of new tubes impractical. I'll exchange a patched tube for a punctured one, if it's a size I have. Otherwise, I'll patch it on the spot. It's ready to ride with the procedure I outlined. It takes longer to describe it than to do it. Steve