Schwalbe Glueless Patches

Schwalbe's glueless patches are useful for field repairs, as long as you allow for the things they can't do.

In the words of Clint Eastwood as Harry Callaghan, a man's gotta know his limitations. That applies to these glueless patches from Schwalbe too: they work well, as long as you respect their limitations.

> Buy now: Schwalbe glueless patches for £4 from Merlin Cycles

I used the Schwalbe glueless patches to fix five butyl inner tubes. Three had pinprick holes, obviously caused by thorns or tiny glass shards, one had a classic snakebite puncture in the form of two larger holes a rim's-width apart, and one had a large hole caused by a badly fitted tyre blowing off.

Following Schwalbe's instructions I roughened the tube around the hole, applied a patch and pressed it firmly into place. I'd normally give conventional patches a few hours to cure, but the whole point of glueless patches is that they're a quick fix when you're out on the road, so I put the tube straight into a tyre and inflated it.

The three tubes with pinhole punctures held up just fine, as did the tube with the snakebite. The patch blew off the big hole when inflated. I tried a second time and to give it the best possible chance I left the tube clamped between two pieces of wood for an hour, but it still failed when I put it in a tyre.

That's pretty much in line with my experiences with other glueless patches: they work reasonably well on small holes, but just don't have enough sticking power to pull a really large hole together. Those holes need vulcanising glue, big patches and plenty of curing time.

> Puncture repair – learn how to fix a tube

All repairs of butyl tubes also need a well-roughened surface and the Schwalbe glueless patch kit comes up a bit short there. You get a small piece of sandpaper to roughen the tube, and mine was falling apart before I'd finished the second tube. I switched to emery cloth for the rest of the test.

A day later, the four successful repairs were still fully inflated, so at the very least they'd have gotten me home.

Value

At six quid for six patches, this is an expensive kit, though it can be found for a far more reasonable £4 – follow the 'Buy now' link at the start of the review. Park Tool's GP-2 comes in at £5 for six patches, Decathlon's kit is £3.29 for eight, a Lezyne Smart kit runs £4 for six patches and a tyre boot, Weldtite Red Devils are £2.99 for six, and Wiggle's Lifeline own-brand a mere £2.49 for 10. User reviews strongly suggest the Park Tool GP-2 is the best of those.

Conclusions

Schwalbe glueless patches work well as long as you're not trying to fix a gaping chasm with them. They're easy to use and far less messy than conventional patches.

Who should buy the Schwalbe glueless patch kit?

I see any patch kit as a belt-and-braces back-up. I carry two inner tubes at all times, partly because I'm paranoid and partly so that I can give a tube to a ride companion and still have one for myself. I wouldn't rely on any patch kit as my first-line puncture fix. I will, however, happily carry a Schwalbe kit as my last resort. For anything but big holes, it'll get you home, and I'd recommend carrying them with that use case in mind.

Verdict

Effective mess-free patches for fixing smaller holes