[tomcat]

How many of u mt bikers patch flat tubes?(not on trail but after ride) I usually just replace it but I seem to get a lot of flats. I was thinkin this adds up to a lot of $$$'s after awhile.
T
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PFAS

[climbhoser]

Performance has the best value patch kit for your money. Out of a $2 patch kit I can patch maybe 8 or 10 holes (can't remember exactly how many patches there are). Of course, if one ride through goatheads gives that many holes then it's still cheaper than a new tube.

I have tubes that have maybe 30 patches on 'em. Seriously. I ride enough that if I threw every punctured tube out it would be feeding a new fossil fuel reservoir a few thousand years from now.

Only time I don't patch is when it's unpatchable. That usually means an old patch went bad and the edge isn't staying sealed. Which usually means I didn't use the goo well enough to vulcanize the rubber. Sometimes you get a puncture ON a patch and that's also hard...patches don't like to stick to patches much.

Definitely patch, hombre. Don't waste. If you're changing out at 1 small puncture then you could just send all of your single punctured tubes my way
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"To me Plastic boots are kind of like a condom on the experience." -light skier-

[!ski]

I have a conundrum.

I carry a spare tube in the saddle bag neatly folded. But only
a new tube will work as it has had the air pumped out.

Once a tube is used, I have not figured out how to get it back
to the fully deflated state.

Goatheads make very small holes that are hard to find on the trail,
or more likely, at the trailhead, when the puncture from the last
ride is discovered. So new tire is invariably used. (Pinch flats
are usually obvious.)

I do carry an old patched tube in the trunk to use instead of
my "new spare".

I have not bothered to figure out how to unpump a tube.
I should.

I need to carry spare pedals, I keep popping my Shimano SPDs.
But I have gotten good and putting them back together and
they come with a built in "spare side".

-r

[climbhoser]

While not necessarily "obvious" I have never had trouble locating a goathead puncture on the trail. Use the tip of your nose to feel for air. Pump the punctured tube up and even wet the tip of your nose with spit or water. If you see a suspected hole, put some saliva or water on it and see if it bubbles. Easy.

As for getting the used tire back into the seatpack...well, all the more reason to pump instead of replace. You don't have to! If you do have to, then maybe you should have a slightly larger seatpack. Mine seem to fit alright. If not there then in my Camelback
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"To me Plastic boots are kind of like a condom on the experience." -light skier-

[robrox]

Patch!
The self adhesive patches are okay for enroute, but if you will carry a patched spare, better go vulcanised.

Deflating spares for a tight wrap?

You're kidding!?!
Easy!
-Patch
-comfirm patch success
-deflate tube by opening valve
-Roll some of the tube until the uncompressed part of the tube is turgid, open valve to further deflate
-Repeat till tube is fully rolled and seal valve
-Unroll tube, pad the valve with a shop-weight paper towel and roll the tube with the valve in the center
-zip-lock bag it
-stow it is usual
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2009-2010 = 7 - BC/3-P; 6 - BC/T; 9 - IB/T; 3 - IB XC .....that's a wrap!

[aaron_wright]

!ski wrote

[SkaredShtles]

I patch twice, then pitch the tube. Actually I don't pitch it... I save it for unknown things I MIGHT need the old tube for.

[climbhoser]

[bbense]

[rsireland3]

Both.
_________________
I was once a treehouse
I lived in a cake
but i never saw the way
the orange slayed the rake
i was only three years dead
but it told a tale
and now listen little child
to the safety rail

-That annoying little song you all hate to love

[bbense]

[Quadzilla]

Since going tubeless four years ago, flats have pretty much have been a non issue. I do carry a spare tube as well as glueless patches just in case as I have had a tubeless tire split and was able to tube it and patch the split with cardboard to get back. A tip that I have is to carry the tube in the box as a tube riding free in your pack can abraid in the pack and develop a hole which has happened to me more than once. The box can also be used to patch a split or snake bite too. Anyway, around here most trails are thorn free but lots of goatheads along the roads, not as bad a lot of places mainly in the fall when the thorns come off the vine and blow onto the road.
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Just Say No To Groomed Snow

[SkaredShtles]

[SkaredShtles]

[Quadzilla]