Using Tip Top Original Patches

[Ian G Batten]

So, the wiggle parcel arrived this morning, containing
tubes, patches and CO2 cylinders. Which was nice, as it
arrived as I was just waiting for my GPS box to lock, and I
grabbed a tube, a cylinder and some patches from the box.
Which was good, as I had a rear-wheel puncture on the Grand
Union towpath. I could quickly stick a new tube in, blast it
with CO2 and continue, with a patched tube, a tube needing
patching, some patches, another CO2 cylinder, a backup
handpump and a fistful of patches in my bag.

At lunchtime I repaired the punctured tube, and I'm a bit
puzzled by the Tip Top F1 Patches
(http://www.wiggle.co.uk/?ProductID=5360008947).

They're black on one side, brown on the other, with the
brown protrouding slightly. I used one brown to the tube, on
the grounds that it made most sense to remove the (lightly
adhereing) foil, bond it to the tube and them remove the
(firmly attached) clear layer. Was this right? I know, I
should read the instructions, but they're with the other 90
patches at home...

ian

 

[Pete Biggs]

Ian G Batten wrote:
> They're black on one side, brown on the other, with the
> brown protrouding slightly. I used one brown to the tube,
> on the grounds that it made most sense to remove the
> (lightly adhereing) foil, bond it to the tube and them
> remove the (firmly attached) clear layer. Was this right?
> I know, I should read the instructions, but they're with
> the other 90 patches at home...

With all patches, foil side faces tube.

Snipping edges of celophane in advance makes it easy to peel
it off afterwards.

~PB

 

[Simon Brooke]

in message <[email protected]>, Ian G Batten
('[email protected]') wrote:

>
> So, the wiggle parcel arrived this morning, containing
> tubes, patches and CO2 cylinders. Which was nice, as it
> arrived as I was just waiting for my GPS box to lock, and
> I grabbed a tube, a cylinder and some patches from the
> box. Which was good, as I had a rear-wheel puncture on the
> Grand Union towpath. I could quickly stick a new tube in,
> blast it with CO2 and continue, with a patched tube, a
> tube needing patching, some patches, another CO2 cylinder,
> a backup handpump and a fistful of patches in my bag.
>
> At lunchtime I repaired the punctured tube, and I'm a bit
> puzzled by the Tip Top F1 Patches
> (http://www.wiggle.co.uk/?ProductID=5360008947).
>
> They're black on one side, brown on the other, with the
> brown protrouding slightly. I used one brown to the tube,
> on the grounds that it made most sense to remove the
> (lightly adhereing) foil, bond it to the tube and them
> remove the (firmly attached) clear layer. Was this right?
> I know, I should read the instructions, but they're with
> the other 90 patches at home...

That's right. Best patches out there, bar none. Mind
you, you'd be going some to use that many in the rest of
your life!

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke)
http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; When all else fails, read the
distractions.

 

[Dr Curious]

"Ian G Batten" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> So, the wiggle parcel arrived this morning, containing
> tubes, patches and CO2 cylinders. Which was nice, as it
> arrived as I was just waiting for my GPS box to lock, and
> I grabbed a tube, a cylinder and some patches from the
> box. Which was good, as I had a rear-wheel puncture on the
> Grand Union towpath. I could quickly stick a new tube in,
> blast it with CO2 and continue, with a patched tube, a
> tube needing patching, some patches, another CO2 cylinder,
> a backup handpump and a fistful of patches in my bag.
>
> At lunchtime I repaired the punctured tube, and I'm a bit
> puzzled by the Tip Top F1 Patches
> (http://www.wiggle.co.uk/?ProductID=5360008947).
>
> They're black on one side, brown on the other, with the
> brown protrouding slightly. I used one brown to the tube,
> on the grounds that it made most sense to remove the
> (lightly adhereing) foil, bond it to the tube and them
> remove the (firmly attached) clear layer. Was this right?
> I know, I should read the instructions, but they're with
> the other 90 patches at home...
>
> ian
>
>

In my local Pound shop you can buy a puncture repair kit
with 7 patches of similar appearance, 4 of the round ones*
two small oblong ones and one big oblong one, two tubes of
rubber solution two (probably useless) metal tyre levers and
a useful miniature nutmeg grater thingy to use in place of
wet and dry. And all in a natty box for £1. Not all pound
shops are so generous however.

Curious

*the patches seem to work as well as do Cure C Cure.
Although the tubes of rubber solution (all ten of them) are
as yet unopened.

 

[Phil Brown]

>Snipping edges of celophane in advance makes it easy to
>peel it off afterwards.

The cellophane has a split in the middle to allow easy
removal. Phil Brown

 

[Johnb]

Pete Biggs wrote:
>
> With all patches, foil side faces tube.
>
> Snipping edges of celophane in advance makes it easy to
> peel it off afterwards.

I never bother, as trying to remove the cellophane may lift
the edge of the patch.

John B

 

[Alex Ferrier]

JohnB wrote:
>
> Pete Biggs wrote:
> >
> > With all patches, foil side faces tube.
> >
> > Snipping edges of celophane in advance makes it easy to
> > peel it off afterwards.
>
> I never bother, as trying to remove the cellophane may
> lift the edge of the patch.
>

Yeahbut, usually the cellopane backing (on Rema patches, at
least) is perforated in the middle of the patch. Making it
easy to remove by folding the repair patch double. This
splits the cellophane backing down the center allowing it
to be peeled off without pulling at the feathered edges of
the patch.

--
Alex BMW R1150GS DIAABTCOD#3 MSWF#4 UKRMFBC#6 Ibw#35 BOB#8
http://www.team-ukrm.co.uk Windy's "little soldier"

 

[Jobst Brandt]

John B? writes:

>> With all patches, foil side faces tube.

>> Snipping edges of cellophane in advance makes it easy to
>> peel it off afterwards.

> I never bother, as trying to remove the cellophane may
> lift the edge of the patch.

That's why the cellophane is split in the middle... so you
can peel it from inside to outside of the patch periphery
with no lift-off. This is done by manually stretching the
tube and patch so the cellophane breaks across its barely
visible perforations and lifts in the middle. Cellophane is
not stretchable and should be removed to allow the patch to
elastically cover the puncture area.

Aluminum foil is used to keep the 'red' side from losing
its adhesive quality through evaporation. Cellophane does
likewise but being less impervious, is on the back side of
the patch where it is good enough. The foil is easily
removed by bending down a corner by which the cellophane
remains flat and allows pulling the patch from the foil.
Do not cut off the corners because they are there to lift
the patch.

Jobst Brandt [email protected]

 

[Johnb]

Alex Ferrier wrote:

> > I never bother, as trying to remove the cellophane may
> > lift the edge of the patch.

> Yeahbut, usually the cellopane backing (on Rema patches,
> at least) is perforated in the middle of the patch. Making
> it easy to remove by folding the repair patch double. This
> splits the cellophane backing down the center allowing it
> to be peeled off without pulling at the feathered edges of
> the patch.

I've just looked at my large box of patches. I'd never
noticed before, but they are marked Simson and they
don't have a perforation. I've never had any problem
with them, but will look for ones with perforations when
they've run out.

Until then I'll stick with the additional rolling weight of
leaving the cellophane on.

John B

 

[Pete Biggs]

Dr Curious wrote:
> In my local Pound shop you can buy a puncture repair kit
> with 7 patches of similar appearance, 4 of the round ones*
> two small oblong ones and one big oblong one, two tubes of
> rubber solution two (probably useless) metal tyre levers
> and a useful miniature nutmeg grater thingy to use in
> place of wet and dry. And all in a natty box for £1. Not
> all pound shops are so generous however.

They're awful. The tyre levers have sharp bits that need
filing and the shape isn't very good anyway; rubber solution
is extremely thin and smells incredibly bad! And it's funny
that they're being sold on eBay for about £2 or £3.

Cheap but good stuff is available from
http://www.mwdyason.ltd.uk/shop.asp

~PB

 

[Pete Biggs]

JohnB wrote:

>> Snipping edges of celophane in advance makes it easy to
>> peel it off afterwards.
>
> I never bother, as trying to remove the cellophane may
> lift the edge of the patch.

It's much, much less of an issue when snipped. That's
the point.

A tiny bit of the edge may start to lift sometimes but
that's easily pressed back down again.

~PB

 

[Jobst Brandt]

http://draco.acs.uci.edu/rbfaq/FAQ/8b.1.html

Jobst Brandt [email protected]

 

[carlfogel]

On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 13:02:09 +0000 (UTC), Ian G Batten
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
>So, the wiggle parcel arrived this morning . . .

[snip]

>
>ian
>

Dear Ian,

What exactly is a wiggle parcel?

An Ignorant Colonial

 

[Mike Demicco]

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] wrote:

> That's why the cellophane is split in the middle... so you
> can peel it from inside to outside of the patch periphery
> with no lift-off. This is done by manually stretching the
> tube and patch so the cellophane breaks across its barely
> visible perforations and lifts in the middle.

They should perforate the cellophane in both the x and y
directions. I have still had the edge of a patch lift when
pulling off the cellophane from inside to out. Now, I wait a
day for the patch to cure before removing the cellophane.

--
Mike DeMicco <[email protected]> (Remove the
REMOVE_THIS from my email address to reply.)

 

[Johnb]

Pete Biggs wrote:
>
> JohnB wrote:
>
> >> Snipping edges of celophane in advance makes it easy to
> >> peel it off afterwards.
> >
> > I never bother, as trying to remove the cellophane may
> > lift the edge of the patch.
>
> It's much, much less of an issue when snipped. That's
> the point.

I can't really see that. If you peel the cellophane off the
patch, snipped or not it will exert pressure on the edge.

But I'll try your suggestion next time I have a puncture to
mend at home. Later rather than sooner, I hope.

> A tiny bit of the edge may start to lift sometimes but
> that's easily pressed back down again.

That's what I don't like that happening *at all*.

John B

 

[Jobst Brandt]

Mike DeMicco writes:

>> That's why the cellophane is split in the middle... so
>> you can peel it from inside to outside of the patch
>> periphery with no lift-off. This is done by manually
>> stretching the tube and patch so the cellophane breaks
>> across its barely visible perforations and lifts in the
>> middle.

> They should perforate the cellophane in both the x and y
> directions. I have still had the edge of a patch lift when
> pulling off the cellophane from inside to out. Now, I wait
> a day for the patch to cure before removing the
> cellophane.

A double split would make removal more difficult because it
would guarantee four pieces. The time to dry the adhesive is
before applying the patch. Then pulling off cellophane from
the center will not lift the patch. At least REMA gave this
some thought.

Jobst Brandt [email protected]

 

[Dr Curious]

"Pete Biggs" <ppear{remove_fruit}@biggs.tc> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Dr Curious wrote:
> > In my local Pound shop you can buy a puncture repair kit
> > with 7 patches of similar appearance, 4 of the round
> > ones* two small oblong ones and one big oblong one, two
> > tubes of rubber solution two (probably useless) metal
> > tyre levers and a useful miniature nutmeg grater thingy
> > to use in place of wet and dry. And all in a natty box
> > for £1. Not all pound shops are so generous however.
>
> They're awful. The tyre levers have sharp bits that need
> filing and the shape isn't very good anyway; rubber
> solution is extremely thin and
smells
> incredibly bad!

...

Funnily enough the last tube of Weldtite I bought seemed a
bit thin and I only went in the Pound Shop on the off chance
as H*l*ords had run out of solution. And I always waste more
than I use in any case. You only need to buy tyre levers
once anyway, although the nutmeg grater things and the boxes
may come in handy for something else.

...

> And it's funny that they're being sold on eBay for about
> £2 or £3.
>

> Cheap but good stuff is available from
http://www.mwdyason.ltd.uk/shop.asp
>
> ~PB

...

Thanks very much. That's an Add to Favourites. 100 25mm
Velox patches for £3.95. Bit of an improvement on 9 Cure C
Cure for £1 from Wriggle. And post free as well.

cheers

Curious

 

[Weisse Luft]

This sounds like someone needs some basic training on tube repair. Suich things used to be passed down the generations but the emasculation of the male has stymied this tradition.


First of all, you need to find the leak. This is easy enough with soapy water, a large body/container of water or some slight over-inflation. Mark the leak with a pen, paint, stick pin or other method.

Tubes are made in a mold and are coated with mold release agent. This is a wax that will prevent glue from adhereing to rubber. If you had a good solvent, you could wash it away but this is expensive so the next best way to remove the release agent is mechanical abrasion. Sandpaper works but in olden times, a "nutmeg grater" was also used. If you are in the shop, a rotary abrasive tool, known in the Colonies as a Dremel Moto Tool, can be a real time saver.

In good light, note the sheen and colour (spelling for you loyalists) of the tube. Its a graphite grey-black but when properly prepared for glue, it will look like fine jet-black felt. 6x felt. Also, any mold seams should be removed in sanding. Brush the crumbles away and note the location of the hole. Make sure the sanded area is LARGER than the patch and centered on the hole.

Now its time for cement. You only need a VAPOUR thin but even coating, just enough to "fill in" the sanding profile, nothing more. Thinner is better. If the cement will not flow, its will make a poor patch job. Use a toothpick to quickly spread a small drop of cement over the entire prepared area. Let this dry for at least 5 minutes. Its fast drying but just be sure. Keep all dust and dirt off the drying cement.

Now its time to re-find the leak. inflate the tube a bit and you should see the leak as the cement will turn white as it stretches. Let the tube deflate and remove the thicker, aluminum foil cover on the patch. Leave on the protective,clear backing as it helps to keep your fingers off the clean, adhering layer. Some patches will have a base layer of partially cured red/brown rubber, capped by a vulcanized "strength" layer. Red goes to the tube. Carefully center the patch over the prepared area and push firmly from the center to the edges.

If the prepared area is larger than the patch, you can safely pull the clear film off but this is not needed and can cause the tube to adhere to the tire. I leave it on the patch until the next repair where it usually falls off.

 

[Weisse Luft]

This sounds like someone needs some basic training on tube repair. Suich things used to be passed down the generations but the emasculation of the male has stymied this tradition.


First of all, you need to find the leak. This is easy enough with soapy water, a large body/container of water or some slight over-inflation. Mark the leak with a pen, paint, stick pin or other method.

Tubes are made in a mold and are coated with mold release agent. This is a wax that will prevent glue from adhereing to rubber. If you had a good solvent, you could wash it away but this is expensive so the next best way to remove the release agent is mechanical abrasion. Sandpaper works but in olden times, a "nutmeg grater" was also used. If you are in the shop, a rotary abrasive tool, known in the Colonies as a Dremel Moto Tool, can be a real time saver.

In good light, note the sheen and colour (spelling for you loyalists) of the tube. Its a graphite grey-black but when properly prepared for glue, it will look like fine jet-black felt. 6x felt. Also, any mold seams should be removed in sanding. Brush the crumbles away and note the location of the hole. Make sure the sanded area is LARGER than the patch and centered on the hole.

Now its time for cement. You only need a VAPOUR thin but even coating, just enough to "fill in" the sanding profile, nothing more. Thinner is better. If the cement will not flow, its will make a poor patch job. Use a toothpick to quickly spread a small drop of cement over the entire prepared area. Let this dry for at least 5 minutes. Its fast drying but just be sure. Keep all dust and dirt off the drying cement.

Now its time to re-find the leak. inflate the tube a bit and you should see the leak as the cement will turn white as it stretches. Let the tube deflate and remove the thicker, aluminum foil cover on the patch. Leave on the protective,clear backing as it helps to keep your fingers off the clean, adhering layer. Some patches will have a base layer of partially cured red/brown rubber, capped by a vulcanized "strength" layer. Red goes to the tube. Carefully center the patch over the prepared area and push firmly from the center to the edges.

If the prepared area is larger than the patch, you can safely pull the clear film off but this is not needed and can cause the tube to adhere to the tire. I leave it on the patch until the next repair where it usually falls off.

 

[carlfogel]

On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 10:21:11 -0600, [email protected]
wrote:

>On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 13:02:09 +0000 (UTC), Ian G Batten
><[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>
>>So, the wiggle parcel arrived this morning . . .
>
>[snip]
>
>>
>>ian
>>
>
>Dear Ian,
>
>What exactly is a wiggle parcel?
>
>An Ignorant Colonial

Never mind--the lower-case fooled me. A parcel from Wiggle.