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From: bhuber@sjuvax.UUCP (B. Huber)
Newsgroups: net.bicycle
Subject: Re: Freewheels, gearing, etc.
Message-ID: <2638@sjuvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 12-Dec-85 16:28:43 EST
Article-I.D.: sjuvax.2638
Posted: Thu Dec 12 16:28:43 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 14-Dec-85 08:14:36 EST
References: <539@harvard.UUCP> <1472@ihlpg.UUCP>
Organization: St. Joseph's University, Phila. PA.
Lines: 29

> 
>              Clinchers are harder to change, but you can ususally get by
> just carrying a patch kit and a set of tire irons, rather than having to
> fold up a tire to take with you.  Clinchers can be folded, like a
> pretzel (sort of), but I've never bothered.  All the flats I've ever gotten
> have been repairable either by patching or a new tube. 
> 				Bob Fishell
> 				ihnp4!ihlpg!fish

Your comments remind me of my days of commuting in Tennessee.  Mondays were
like the aftermath of a weekend disaster at the glassworks:  there were more
bottles than rocks along the shoulders of the roads.  I got used to fixing
flats, and agree wholeheartedly with the tire iron/patch kit/spare tube
philosophy.  It really works.
Except for the one Monday morning that I really got it good: a piece of glass
ripped a hole about a centimeter square right out of the center of a tire.  The
tube bulged through and quickly (within a few miles) wore through.  
I was hard up for a spare tire, so I improvised.  The idea was to apply some
kind of patch to the tire itself, not to the tube.  I tried first one, then
two, Rema Tip-top patches on the inside of the tire.  These lasted not much
longer than no patch at all.  Finally I settled for folding a piece of
aluminum foil into a fairly thick wad, placing it between tire and tube, and
inflating tube.  These makeshift patches would last about twenty miles (one
day's ride) before the aluminum would break into zillions of really fine flakes,and the tube would bulge through.
Nowadays I always have an old, worn-out tire on hand, off of which I can cut 
pieces for patches (although I have never since needed to do so: I don't live
in rural Tennessee any more).
I would love to know whether any of you have found better or simpler ways to
patch your clinchers.