Last year I helped organize and prepare my Venture (scout) company to go on a 200km cross country bike trip along the Kettle Valley Railway. Once everyone (10+ people) had a suitable bike and panniers (saddle bags), and cooking and cleaning equipment the only things left was to maintain about 8 bikes that were bought from local classifieds and un-tested. Buying 20 (two each for good measure) patch kits would not have been terribly expensive, but saving any cost is always good. Besides all the things that are in a patch kit were laying around my house.
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Most of the things you need can be bought at a hardware store.
Contact Cement (500ml or less)
Sandwich bags (1-2 per kit)
Sand Paper (1 square inch per kit) - optional
Old Inner tube (1 will do)
Spoon (disposable hopefully)
Scissors
hammer and/or tin opener (or COLD chisel) to undo and do up the contact cement can.
Be careful when opening the can and read and follow the warning label on the contact cement.
Note if you're not using sand paper use sand from the location you're in instead, if you're location doesn't have any sand or gritty substances make sure to pack the piece of sand paper.
Contact Cement (500ml or less)
Sandwich bags (1-2 per kit)
Sand Paper (1 square inch per kit) - optional
Old Inner tube (1 will do)
Spoon (disposable hopefully)
Scissors
hammer and/or tin opener (or COLD chisel) to undo and do up the contact cement can.
Be careful when opening the can and read and follow the warning label on the contact cement.
Note if you're not using sand paper use sand from the location you're in instead, if you're location doesn't have any sand or gritty substances make sure to pack the piece of sand paper.
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I tend to like clamping the patch and tube together while still a little wet, between two large coins and a set of foldback paper clamps / clips, and to leave them dry overnight - or over a cigarette lighter. - just warming the coins up a bit.
I have also found that the solvent and the formulation of the adhesive, tends to make the tube rubber go crumbly and cracking - this usually becomes a problem after around 12 months - where as the "proper gum cement" makes patches that are more or less eternal, even when clamped up wet, and left to dry over night.
So contact cement IS very good, but it will ROT HOLES through the rubber inner tube, and it will become a problem after a year or so....
ALSO, minor nitpick: please don't call panniers saddlebags. It's that kind of general misinformation that makes it impossible to get good search results when you're looking for a saddle bag (bicycle "seats" are actually technically saddles, so-called because they're not meant to support all your weight).
In conclusion, thanks for the ideas, cool hatchet, and I hope your trip was awesome! I hope to go on one like it sometime.
. . . It is not clearly explained how you store small amounts of rubber cement in plastic bags: putting it in the bag and getting all the air out is understood, but how is the bag sealed from leaking? Commercially, the stuff comes in tubes with a screw-on cap; what substitutes for that tight of a seal? It would seem an empty toothpaste tube would do, if it is somehow thoroughly washed out, and you devise some kind of way to inject the canned rubber cement into the smaller tube, which must be made of a material the rubber cement won't attack and dissolve.
Good Comment on not sucking the air out of the contact cement baggie.....
You can remove all the air by closing the baggie almost completely, then lowering it into a bowl of water, pushing out all the air, and then sealing the last 1/8" or so.
Cheers and happy riding
If 'contact cement' is anything like what we call 'contact glue' over here, namely a glue that's usually yellowish and that needs to dry for a while before both parts are brought together, then you've just described the only way to patch a tire that will work in very hot areas.
I have learnt this from a truck driver in Sudan, on a day when the sand was so hot that the 'proper' vulcanising tire glue underneath patches that had been glued on two weeks earlier melted into snot. The driver didn't just tell us this, he also gave us a bit of his glue and a piece of tube, large enough to get us through the Nubian desert.
May fate function in his favour as long as he lives.
I ride with my grandsons , one as young as 6 and there are times are 10 miles from home and a flat can be a bad thing..We all have different size bikes and different size tubes/ The repairs often call for different size patches.. I cut my patch and leave some excess and super glue it on as needed. I carry a bike pump to air up the tire and we ride home where I then install a NEW tube.... Yes, Check the tires before repairing tube. I found TWO thorns in one tube last time I made a repair.....I am curious.. I need to find out what type of glue works for a LONG time repair so I don't have to keep replacing the bike tubes...Exactly what glue do I buy at the Auto store?
Very nice, I've Tweeted your article.
Cheers! : )
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I used to use it, but
from the car parts store I bought
a can of the proper tire patch rubber cement.
I believe that its better able to dissolve the rubber
for a better bond. Different solvent.
I didnt want to carry the whole can
of rubber cement around with me, so
i got a spent nail polish bottle and
filled it with the rubber cement.
Just the right amount to carry, and
it doesnt seem to dry out in the bottle
as it does in the tire patch kits.
Also, the nail polish bottle has
the nifty little brush for applying the goop.
So far, ive got 9 patches on my rear tube over ~6 yrs.
Im going for my personal best record on this.
Ive just switched my rear tire to the Walmart one
with the internal kevlar belt puncture guard.
Sofari sogoodi!
a buds wife had some old ones laying around.
She gave me two,
one for my bicycle, and
the other for my motor cycle.
Hope i wont have to do the patch thing
on the road w/ the motor cycle.
They dont have center stands any more.
Cant just flip em over!
I wonder if any bodys done an Ibbl
on road jacking a motor cycle?
For my dirtbike, I have a thingie made from a piece of steel pipe with a flat foot on one end and a small fork on the other. When the bike is on its side stand, and pulled to the same side the stand is on, the pipe can be shoved under the frame and it will keep the bike propped up, not by a lot, but enough so you can remove a wheel.
The fork keeps it in place (it fits around the frame pipes) and the flat foot keeps it from sinking into the ground.
To the author: I would urge you to edit your post regarding the screwdriver, and especially the chisel, for opening the glue can.
If a kid uses his dad's (or mom's, in these days) chisel to open a can, the kid is going to get the "what-for." This will damage a chisel, and anyone who uses a chisel regularly will be very angry. Although a chisel is a simple tool, it is a very precise tool as well. Using the sharp edge on metal is very bad for the tool.
That is just to save the tool, Chisels and screwdrivers slip out of the lip of glue/paint cans and can cause very nasty puncture wounds and cuts. A good chisel is razor sharp-not a tool you want to slip and hit yourself with.
Alternatives: a can opener, a paint can opening tool (available at paint or hardware stores), a dull, flat piece of metal (not a knife). some power tools come with flat wrenches-these can work if they are thin enough to get under the lip