Reddit reviews Park Tool VP-1 Vulcanizing Patch Kit for for Bicycle Tube Repair - Set of 6 Patches & Adhesive

ABSOLUTELY

Get one of these babies

Stick one or two of these appropriately sized puppies in there

Keep one of these suckas on your person when out there.

And should something like this shit go down, youre gonna want some of these life savers.

Oh and lemme go 'head and save them fingers

Heres a quick lil video on how fix a flat

If that video doesnt suffice, we have the man Sheldon Brown

I've created a short list of everything I have, linked items are the ones that I recommend.

Things for the road

Frame/ Mini pump

Saddle Bag

Patch Kit

Tire Boot (You can make your own for cheap, but these are still good)

Tire levers (See Multi-Tool, Levers Included)

Multi Tool (Super-Recommend)

Bike Lights

Spare Tubes (Optional for the road)

Bottles of choice

Sunglasses of choice

Gloves of choice (Important! For preventing impossible-to-heal palm scrapes)

Cycling compter

U Lock (no cable locks! they're garbage) <<I Have 3 of these, but then again, I live in Oakland.

Things for home

Floor pump

Tools (Pretty much covered by Multi-Tool, but there's things you may need like cassette tool, chain whip, etc)

Wet and Dry chain lube

Clothing (Optional, I only have the shoes and windbreaker)

Hi-Vis Jacket

Clipless shoes, I recommend SPD for easier walking

Jersey

Padded Shorts, or Bib shorts

Windbreaker

Leg Warmers

Most importantly, you need knowledge of cycling. Look up videos on youtube about safe riding on the road, traffic laws, hand signals, how to repair your bike on the road and at home, how to take a fall, and as much theory that you can)

EDIT: Do not let me trick you into thinking that a multi-tool is a replacement for the big-boy tools that are available on the market. Some of those tools are actually worth the investment. However, be that as it may, do your research first, because there's some overpriced crap out there ^^^Park ^^^Tools.

I had a very similar hole in my side wall and I figured hey it can't get any worse so I applied a "Park Tool Vulcanizing Patch" on it and it's been working great since.

I was about to tell you that you don't need expensive brand-stuff for your patches. But then I saw that they' re cheap.

You can also use the glue with just some cut up old tubes, but you'd have to clean it really well.

I bought a set of 100 patches, since I allways have glue leftover from those patchkits. You only need a thin layer on both sides. You don't use the glue to stick the patch to the tube, you use the "glue" to make the patch and tube to "melt together" or vulcanize. Less is more.

Let the glue dry on both the tube and the patch before pushing them toghether.

My bike repair tools are 2 wrenches, a screwdriver, bike pump, and some tire patching kits. Also potentially important would be letting you put a basket of some sort on the bike, so you could carry more supplies, like this. It's how I go grocery shopping sometimes, and I think it would fit well in this game.

Edit: also, with those tools I could tear my bike down to it's most basic pieces and put it back together.

two

four

six

eight

. . .


DROWGIRL!

Hm. This patch kit costs $3.50, and has six patches. The round ones (4) are 25mm.

Rubber cement is $5, though there's also a gallon for $30. The cost of sandpaper for these purposes is negligible. A tube is maybe $5, and probably has enough rubber to make 29 2.5" square patches. Or ~63.5 mm. So plenty big enough to cut down into 146 square 25 mm patches. I'm measuring this based on a Specialized 700C x 28/38 tube, so you could probably increase that by buying the biggest tube you can find.

I can't really say anything about how the sticking power of these patches compare, but when you think about a tube's place in the tire, it likely wouldn't matter.

EDIT: changed some patch math

If the rips are small enough, you might want to use a bike repair kit patch

If they're large enough you might just want to encase it again. Once Cimexa becomes involved, the adhesiveness of your tape will slowly degrade as small particles of it will suck off the adhesive.

The metal studs thing is rough, I happened to have to encase my boxspring a second time for that same reason.

here's a list of stuff i have and use frequently that i feel others would probably appreciate: airzound air horn, one of these two mounts, multi-tool, CO2 tire inflator, there's no such thing as too many patch kits, bikeglow safety light, PDW danger zone tail light, lezyne micro floor pump, louis garneau super prestige cold weather gloves

I've got this saddlebag $30, this patch kit (this was really cheap I don't remember how much), a spare tube, this lezyne pump, some park tool tire levers, a 15mm wrench, and a multi tool. I've had cheap versions of everything listed here, the stuff on this list has been pricey but it's what I've upgraded to, and it's all shown it's worth multiple times.