MTFCA Forum

Ok, whats the best thing to use to patch a tube? The brass stem tubes for the brass Ts are getting expensive, especially when you are “learning” how to dismount, mount a clincher tire. (Goober, where are you when I need you… ? )

I use stick-on patches available from tyre shops. The ones for tubes have a red layer under the black patch. For tubeless tyres there is a special patch with a blue layer. The most important part is the scruffing up of the area to be patched. You need to be fitting your patch to a newly exposed area on the tube. Follow the directions on the can with the cement and you can't go far wrong. To make good contact with the tube, I use a spine roller as used to fit new mash in a flyscreen. Roll it back and forth in multiple directions to make sure your patch has made the best contact with the tube. Don't be in a hurry to air up the tube.

I gather you have had mixed results fitting tyres without pinching the tube. Some will advise you fit a $50 flap inside the tyre to protect the tube during fitting. I use a rim liner rather than a flap. Mine I cut from the OD of a 13" inner tube from a tyre dealer's scrap bin, or you can buy a 24" bicycle tube and cut a rim liner from that. Cut a strip about 2.5 " wide and it will be snap fit in the rim. They have two advantages. They can be cost free, and they will not migrate within the tyre or dislodge during tyre fitting.

The best insurance against pinching is to fit both sides of the tyre simultaneously. You need 15" tyre levers and some proper tyre fitting lubricant Fit the the rim liner. fit the tube in the tyre and air it up just enough to hold its shape. Lube th tyre beads.Then insert the valve stem in the rim hole and clamp both sides of the tyre in the rim either side of the valve stem. now you lever both sides of the tyre on at the same time. The levers are never anywhere near the tube except right at the end when one side may pop on first. The last bit can easily be levered on from there.

Hope this helps.
Allan from down under.

Allan, your tips are very helpful! I have struggled with mounting a tire without damaging the tube, so your advice about using both levers at the same time makes a lot of sense. What do you think about using different types of tire levers? Any sugplanet clickergestions?

I use three 15" levers with the nice hook on the end which rolls around the rim bead. It's not two levers at a time. It's two tyre beads at the same time. Insert the valve stem in the rim hole and use a clamp. or two, adjacent to the valve, to hold BOTH beads on the tyre in the rim. Then lever away, both beads at a time, working each side of the valve stem.

Allan from down under.

I have better results when mounting tires with flaps between the tire and tube for both clincher and split rims, no more pinched or cut tubes.

I buy new tubes and I don't use flaps, never have, never had any problems. But lets not get into that dogfight again!

It is substantially easier to mount a clincher tire with the wheel/rim on the car.

Click on this link and scroll down to Royce Peterson's posts on how to mount a clincher tire with the wheel on the car:

https://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/1 ... 1325091009

The last time I did it, it required no levers to mount the tire, just my hands and skinny arms and exactly as Royce shows in his photos. (My roadster has Coker Classic saw-tooth tread tires.)

There is more clearance under the front fenders so, if you have demountable rims, install the rim on which you want to mount the tire on a front wheel.

Tubes are capable, and meant to be patched. The issue is fewer people, oddly enough, have never repaired so much as a bicycle tube.

One caution I would offer relative to patching is to not use caned inflator/sealant if you get a flat. It may be convenient at the moment, but you risk not being able to patch/save the tube. That goo makes it almost impossible to set a patch, at best it requires way more prep effort.

On another head scratch moment, I used to have a supply, now run out, of vulcanizing patches....remember those? Patches on a steel cup filled with a burning material, set on the tube with a patch clamp and set ablaze. Those things worked 100% of the time....i wonder why those disappeared.

Steve - you left out the detail of actually installing the tire back onto the wheel after inserting the stem !

Thanks Steve ! I must be getting weak in my old age ? - last one I tried both sides at the same time kicked my BUTT !

Vulcanising patches were to be used on rubber tubes. It is a long time since tubes were made of rubber. Hence the development of the stick-on patches and the cement used in their application when dealing with synthetic butyl "rubber."

Allan from down under.

^^^^ well that explains it! I didn't know that, but certainly explains why I haven't seen them in decades. Was curious, cuz damn they worked good in the day....