MTFCA Forum

Inner tube patches? What brand of patches that will work on the newer synthetic rubber inner tubes. My tube had a pin hole, an unopened tube of glue & the old method of preparing the area, heated etc; wouldn’t stick. Went to my local tire shop, was told we don’t patch, buy new tube.
He didn’t have 21” tube, was very hesitant to patch, I insisted on trying , I thought the guy was doing a super job on preparing the area & application.
I offered to pay, he said to try it. At home put air in it , leaking as before, the patch was easy to remove. A folded tube under the seat doesn’t last long.

I patched tubes about 5 years, when I used bicycle tire tube patches. They worked well. Patches were at least 40 years old.
I have patched air mattresses with high quality duct tape. Probably won't with the clinchers, because of the work it takes to mount.

Art Mirtes

Roy, I had the same problem with a tyre shop when on an interstate tour. They would not repair a tube. No way!

I went to a father/son owned shop, and they were only too glad to help, but refused payment. They explained that if the repair failed, and anything nasty happened as a result, they could be held liable if they had charged me for the job. It's a mad world we live in today.

The best patches for synthetic tubes are the ones with the different colour layers under the black outer. This layer is meant to react with the tyre cement to "weld" the patch to the tube. I have seen patches with blue layers, but the ones I use are by Rema Tip and they are orange. The trick is to thoroughly roughen the area and roll the patch heavily once positioned, to press it close to the tube. In my repair kit I have a flywire spline roller to do this. I have used a glass bottle when on the road.

Allan from down under.