Most patched inner tube?

[weeredmetro]

Finally took a pic just for completeness!

[dontlookdown]

That looks to be in pretty good shape all round. Not just the inner tube that is indestructible!

[ianstoker]

dontlookdown said:

Bit sad that so many people seem to think it's OK to bin a tube with only one puncture;)

My father would have slapped me if I tried something like that.

The most I have managed on one tube is four (I think)

Then the bike was stolen :sad:

[yellowjack]

pablo said:

I’d have put money on Yellowjacket winning this hands down, surely he has a “twelver” lurking in the garage somewhere?….

Someone can trawl back through my posts for however many years if they want to. I'm sure I've replied to a question like this in the past. I used to have four tubes for my GT Avalanche 3.0 - two fitted in the tyres and two in a saddle pack at any one time. One gets punctured, in goes a spare. Repeat and swap as necessary. Always keep a punctured tube if it's repairable at all, and I've had more than a dozen patches on a tube I'm sure. Sadly, that old 26" GT Avalanche got nicked, along with it's patched-to-death tubes so I can't go check.

On my road bike? I don't trust repaired tubes quite as much on that as I did on my MTB, but I'd still always repair a tube by the side of the road if at all convenient. It's all very well going out with a couple of spare tubes but I regularly go out for more than 8 hour rides, and take excursions down byways and bridleways. That knocks the statistical chance of a puncture during any given ride up a bit. So priority is to get the tyre reinflated, repair the tube, and crack on.

I always carry a 'Traditional' patch kit, plus some Park Tools 'Instant' preglued repair patches. They're better for MTB pressures though. I think the current most-patched tube I have is on my 27.5" Giant Anthem wheels, 6 repairs I think. I've no qualms about carrying a repaired tube as a spare, but sometimes you get a pinch flat or a tear that means a hole in the tube so large that no patch will hold. Even then, though, I take the tube home with me. After all, it is possible that it might, by the end of your ride, be your least damaged tube, and you can always tie a knot in a tube to get some air into it as a desperate "get-you-home" measure. And unrepairable tubes make half decent chainstay protectors...

Reuse!
Repurpose!
Recycle!

Anyone after a decent puncture repair kit could do worse than try the ones at Wilko. They sell decent disc brake cleaner and general degreaser in aerosol form too, and at affordable prices...

[IJWS15]

If my father still has my Raleigh Hercules in his garage I will have to look at the rear tube in it, IIRC it was 6 or 8 repairs.

Do several patches applied when fixing one leak count as one?

In those days I couldn't afford a new tube and had the bike to save on bus fares.

[dudleybloke]

When I was younger they were more patches than innertube most of the time.