[onespeed]

I am going on 15-20 for my rear wheel.

It is a fixed gear so removing the wheel and replacing the tube is a huge hassle.

I always just remove the tube from the tire without removing the wheel and patch it like that. That way I dont have to readjust, align and tighten the wheel.

Had to patch again last night and realized there is a patch every 5-10 inches and sometimes more than that.

I will post pics when I replace the rear tire and the tube at the same time (I need a new tire for sure).

 

[EHietpas]

Holy Crap. One patch is to many in my opinion. For how cheap tubes are, I only patch when I am out 20 miles or so. I have had to many patches fail. If it's working for you keeping going, but I'd highly recommend zip tying a spare tube to the underside of your seat just in case.

 

[AlanE]

Why do you find that removing and replacing the rear wheel is a hassle? Seems to me that it would be more of a hassle to remove the tube with the wheel still attached, find the leak and patch it than it would be to swap out the tube with a spare and be on your way.

 

[Glynis27]

Patch until they overlap or the valve pulls out.

 

[den bakker]

Why do you find that removing and replacing the rear wheel is a hassle? Seems to me that it would be more of a hassle to remove the tube with the wheel still attached, find the leak and patch it than it would be to swap out the tube with a spare and be on your way.

not if you don't have quick release on for example. Which I don't for a bike that is locked in public.
A properly done patch will not give any problems later so as long as patches don't overlap there can be quite a few on a tube.
I wonder what kind of shape the tyre is in at the point where the tube has 15-20 patches though.

 

[gumbafish]

Sounds like maybe you just need a more puncture resistant tire.

 

[AlanE]

not if you don't have quick release on for example. .

Carry a peanut butter wrench like I do. Maybe 10 seconds slower than a QR

 

[tlg]

I think you should keep patching it until all you see is patches and nothing of the original tube is exposed.

So what's the time span for 15-20 patches? Week, month, year....?

 

[onespeed]

Removing a fixed gear back wheel is a hassle.

You have to tighten and align perfectly and it takes a while to do.

There isnt a nice indent for the hub to fall into, it is a series of tightening, checking for slack, checking the centering of the wheel and it can take forever.

So once you have a good set, you never want to mess with it.

 

[c_h_i_n_a_m_a_n]

I think once they overlap all the way round ... you do not need the clincher anymore ... you have a tubular!

 

[MerlinAma]

N is the number of patches you have when one fails.
N-1 is how many you "should have".
Any questions?

 

[CleavesF]

As someone the patches tubes... there is no limit to how many you can have. As long as the leak isn't near the valve, you can patch over patches, patch over patched patches and so on.

The only limitation is if you can still mount your tire after putting the tube in or if the valve stem area starts leaking (you can still patch it, but that's when I call it quits).

 

[nhluhr]

Holy Crap. One patch is to many in my opinion. For how cheap tubes are, I only patch when I am out 20 miles or so. I have had to many patches fail. If it's working for you keeping going, but I'd highly recommend zip tying a spare tube to the underside of your seat just in case.

Eh.... A properly patched tube is 100% reliable. I'm talking about the rubber patches with vulcanizing cement, not those peel-n-stick pieces of crap that are vogue these days.

I think the OP's method of fixing a flat is great. Saves him time and trouble. The answer to his question then is "when there's no more space to patch".

 

[wim]

There isnt a nice indent for the hub to fall into, it is a series of tightening, checking for slack, checking the centering of the wheel and it can take forever.

It takes forever only because you don't do it often enough. People who race a track bike on a track (a weird notion, I know), sometimes need to change cogs several times in one session. Most can do a cog change in about two minutes, and that includes getting chain tension and wheel alignment perfect again. Not advising you should stop patching tubes, just saying that it's possible to not take forever with the wheel.

 

[velodog]

I wouldn't worry about patch count till they could be felt in the ride.

And to tell the truth, if I had a tube with that many patches on it, I'd be real tempted to keep using it even if I replaced the tire with a new one.

There's some kinda sick pride in having that high of a patch count.

 

[onespeed]

I wouldn't worry about patch count till they could be felt in the ride.

And to tell the truth, if I had a tube with that many patches on it, I'd be real tempted to keep using it even if I replaced the tire with a new one.

There's some kinda sick pride in having that high of a patch count.

I started noticing a hop in the rear wheel. So I am thinking there might be some ballooning going on in the tire. I get paid tomorrow and will probably swing by the shop and pick up a new tire and replace the tube.

I will hang the tube on the wall.

 

[AlanE]

You have to tighten and align perfectly and it takes a while to do.

There isnt a nice indent for the hub to fall into, it is a series of tightening, checking for slack, checking the centering of the wheel and it can take forever.

So once you have a good set, you never want to mess with it.

Seriously? I do it all the time. There's a simple trick (technique) to it that works first time every time for me:

1. with the rear wheel in palce and chain taught but not too tight, cock the wheel over against the drive side chainstay.
2. partially tighten the drive side bolt.
3. center the wheel. this step should remove any slack in the chain
4. tighten the non-drive side bolt
5. tighten the drive side bolt.

The key thing in step 2 is not to over tighten the drive side bolt initially, but tighten it enough so that when you center the wheel in step 3 the wheel doesn't move forward.

 

[JCavilia]

What Wim and AlanE said. Learn to do the wheel change right, and it's not that big a hassle, or that time-consuming. If you know how, any extra time is certainly outweighed by the time it takes to patch a tube on the road rather than put in a new tube.

 

[sandiegosteve]

N is the number of patches you have when one fails.
N-1 is how many you "should have".
Any questions?

My thoughts are the same, much easier to say when you don't have enough as you are flat.

Too many won't stop you from riding.

 

[skitorski]

I have been saving my punctured tubes since November. There are 6. Now, because of you guys, I have to quit buying new ones and patch them. Thanks a lot