Using Tip Top Original Patches

Ian G Batten said:

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

in message <[email hidden]>, Ian G Batten

(') said:

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 hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; When all else fails, read the distractions.

"Ian G Batten" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

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.

Quoted message said:

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

Pete Biggs said:

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

JohnB said:

Pete Biggs said:

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"

John B? said:

Quoted message said:

With all patches, foil side faces tube.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

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

Quoted message said:

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 hidden]

Alex Ferrier said:

Quoted message said:

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

Quoted message said:

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

Dr Curious said:

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

JohnB said:

Quoted message said:

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

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

Jobst Brandt
[email hidden]

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

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 hidden]>
(Remove the REMOVE_THIS from my email address to reply.)

Ian G Batten said:

So, the wiggle parcel arrived this morning . . .

[snip]

Quoted message said:

ian

Dear Ian,

What exactly is a wiggle parcel?

An Ignorant Colonial

Pete Biggs said:

JohnB said:

Quoted message said:

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.

Quoted message said:

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

Mike DeMicco said:

Quoted message said:

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.

Quoted message said:

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 hidden]

"Pete Biggs" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Dr Curious said:

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

Quoted message said:

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.

....

Quoted message said:

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

Quoted message said:

Cheap but good stuff is available from

http://www.mwdyason.ltd.uk/shop.asp

Quoted message said:

~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

Quoted message said:

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

Quoted message said:

Ian G Batten said:

So, the wiggle parcel arrived this morning . . .

[snip]

Quoted message said:

ian

Dear Ian,

What exactly is a wiggle parcel?

An Ignorant Colonial

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

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.

--

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.

--