Thread: Are you old enogh to remember ................

It is quicker to replace a bike tyre inner tube than it is to repair the hole and a lot less trouble. Inner tubes are dirt cheap anyway

Originally Posted by ClintO

It is quicker to replace a bike tyre inner tube than it is to repair the hole and a lot less trouble. Inner tubes are dirt cheap anyway

it is quicker and easy to replace on new bikes, cheaper not so much if you get many though! we still ride bikes here, my boys commute with them, and get the occasional puncture, they prefer to patch instead of buying new, actually one of my lads just the other day got one on the way home at night, still some K's from home, i was starting to wonder where he was when he walked in dripping wet from sweat and out of breath a bit, whats up i say, ah got a flat and thought i'd run home or it would have took me hours he said...sheeze fit bugger he is..me;shoulda rang, i woulda picked you up, him;couldnt, phone was flat! me;havnt you got a spare tube or repair kit, him;nup (i've been saying for years and they still dont bother, i got no idea what the aversion is to carrying a kit ,i alway carry one). then i say maybe you should put some protective measures in to help protect against punctures and he says, nah, i just need new tyres the ones on my bike are worn through, crikey, i'm at a loss, what ya do lol jeepers

daughter just commutes to the shops on a bike and her tubes look like they have chicken pox they have so many patches (finaly replaced it recently), she has all sorts of things in the tubes to protect them too, still the three corner jacks (bindy eyes to you vics) are like a magnet to her tubes!

those vulcan patches were great! the good ol days when kids could play with matches (and crackers) i can remember on the side of the road repairs, cheap bikes without quick release wheels, didnt matter, leave the wheel on, expose the tube, burn the patch on and in few minutes you were away again..nowadays we usually leave the glue patches overnight, some are meant to work quicker but we have had enough failures that we just leave em

cheers
chippy

I used to carry a kit on my bike with these patches and the clamp. Used 'em too. Long time ago now. My Dad probably still has the clamp...

I used to carry a tube and patches on my bike. It was definitely quicker to replace the tube by the side of the road, so I would take off the old one, put the new one on and pump it up. WHen I got where I was going I would patch the old one and that then became the spare.

Originally Posted by ClintO

It is quicker to replace a bike tyre inner tube than it is to repair the hole and a lot less trouble. Inner tubes are dirt cheap anyway

When you were out and about as a kid you had to fix it where you were. Thats what was nice with these burn on patches, 5 mins and your on the road again. Now its glue, wait apply patch, rub it on so it doesn't leak. wait some more in case. Then put it together, pump it up and find out you didn't wait long enough at wait 1 and the patch has come away from the tube because the greasy dim sim fingers touched the spot where the hole was, and even though you used the little sandpaper it didn't all come off and now the glue didn't stick.

And with the tube of contact adhesive was always dried up when you went to use it.

I think I still have some somewhere at home, and the clamp.

When I was very young I used to dream of having a vulcanising patch kit. I could only afford the awful glue ones, which as said above were slow to dry and not as good IMO. I was quite pleased when I got wealthy enough to invest in one in later years.

How things change. In those days a new tube was a signifigant expense, now you'd just buy another bike...

Someone at this auction told me what they were.

Heaps of them ... 2nd shelf down ...

What about the little tyre levers that you used to lever the tyre off the rim,bet plenty of those were used as paint tin openers when their life was over as push bike kits.You had to really be careful you didnt pinch the tube getting the tyre off,otherwise another puncture to repair.
I used to like the old gum rubber inner tubes for making shangais it was real good quality gum rubber when they put butyl in the inner tubes took all the elasticity out of the inner tube,alas no more shangai rubber.

Plenty of old memories here as stated, the tyre service places used this method into the early seventies for tube repair. Noted no more shanghai's.

Regards Mike

Never thought I'd be reminiscing like an old phart but here I am.

The old manual jobby with the L shaped handle is what we used and I think I may even still have it; not so sure about getting the vulcanising patches from the local supermarket today though. The red one is what I presume the garages used but I'm not familiar with them.

_fly_ has it spot on with those stick-on jobbies; terrible things.