The first tire patch kit I ever owned came in a big green box, had several patches of various sizes which were possibly made of old truck tires. It also came with a sheet of 60 grit sandpaper. The mild high offered from sniffing the glue while applying the patch almost made you stop caring you’d gotten a flat in the first place. Stoned on glue and hypoxic from the V is no way to mend a tire, and most times the patch would start to come off even before I pumped it up and I’d have to start over. Don’t even start me on peeling the clear cellophane off the patch.
The telephone capability of my iPhone is the least-used feature on the device; I email, schedule, text, voxer, browse, twitface, photograph, drop, forget, lose, and find my phone much more than I ever use it to place a call. It has replaced my wristwatch, alarm clock, and flashlight. For some of you, it has even replaced the cyclometer. All this is to say that in today’s view of the world, the value of a product is directly proportional to how useless its original function is.
By that measure, the Park Super Patch kit earns its place in the pantheon of the Reverence series by being more useful as a frame protector than it is as a inner tube patch. They are phenomenal tire patches – much better than the old orange-trimmed slabs of tire I used growing up, but who wants to use a tire patch, much less love one? Therein lies the answer; even as the world of Cycling irrevocably makes its departure from the tire and tube with one faction moving back to the tubular tire and another to the tubeless tire, these patches will continue to feature on frames around the world, dutifully keeping cables from scuffing paint.
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Do these Park patches have a use by date? For years I've carried a pack as an emergency get me home fix if I ran out of new tubes. Never ever used one. If I repair when I get home it's by the traditional feather edged patch, vulcanising solution and French chalk method. Done right that doesn't fail. By all means leave the cellophane backing in place but not any metal foil backing. I've never even considered using a PT patch as a frame protector. Thanks Frank. Better than clear Lizard Skins?
iphone still predominantly a calling device for me.
@Rom
The "new" way of disposing and not fixing things gets my goat. The worst example of this is disposed inner tubes thrown away by the side of the road. Such people are not cyclists.
They are good for temporary repairs on the damaged screens of smart phones as well - as they are transparent the touch screen still works!
@JohnB
I used one that was 5 years old a couple of months ago. It's still attached and working ok.
@Rom Patches are useful after the second puncture in a ride. That doesn't mean I leave my tube by the side of the road, though.
Great idea as a frame protector frank.
@Teocalli
+1 on the discarded tubes on the side of the road. Unfortunately they are cyclists Jim, but not as we know it.
Hardmen used to carry their spare tubulars criss-crossed over the shoulders; no patches. Thought for some time that the spaghetti-western cliche was a spoof of such casual deliberance and elegance. "We don't need no stinking patches".
There is certain elegance in appropriate application of a tool or device outside of its original design intent. This is one. May Merckx smile upon you.
As a 'get me home' tire patch, the PT Patch is the device of choice for me. But for the long-term tube repair, I remain a committed user of Rema TipTop patches!
There are other applications of PT Patches as well including vibration damping shims.
Enjoy today's ride!!
@Mike_P Good to know. Thanks.
What do you all use for permanent patches? I have a big box of punctured tubes.