It's been many years since I have used them, but as a kid, my old man had a gallon size bag of these patch kits that he used to fix my endless supply of flats on my bike on our farm growing up. These things were badass and they were a PERMANENT fix. Anyway, they had various 'shapes' and there was a metal disk of some sort, and you clamped it down in a vice that was then held tight with a bench vice and you SET THEM ON FIRE!

You set the carboard stuff in that disk on fire and the patch would vulcanize itself to the tube and you were set. They smoked bad and were probably carcinogenic but man those were great. They just worked.

It's been many many years since I have seen or heard of them and I just had my memory jogged fixing my kids tire tubes.

What in the hell happened to those? Yall remember them? Can you even get that anymore?

Amazon is your friend

Old Town Ag said:

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Amazon is your friend

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Naw…. Check this out!! Found it on YouTube. This is what I'm talking about.

I found this about 35 years ago I. A barn in western Burleson county. Not sure Jake many there are left.

That's it! Sizzle patches! It's just funny. Sometimes i recall something that just quietly faded into history. Haven't seen those in a long time but they were fun…and effective.

I guess maybe they were more popular when autos had tube tires. That and becoming a "throw it away" society, they slipped away into history.

My old man was a Lonestar drinker and a Camel smoker. So he'd break down a bike tire and set it up in the vice, use a torch or match to light the patch on fire and maybe light a Camel from the burning patch and drink a few sips of beer while it did its thing. Neither one of us probably had a shirt on. It was the most 1980's thing to me.

Monkey Grip. Like no other

We used to be able to patch a tube pretty dang quick. We had contact cement that we used instead of fire.

Not long back, my kid had a flat tube and I mentioned to my dad that I was looking for a new tube and he told me to buy a patch kit and teach him...a new tube was cheaper.

I have a box of Monkey Grip in my garage here in College Station! They're awesome!

Man I remember that stuff as well. My grandfather always had some of them. Remember my dumb … self picking on up after he threw it on the ground lol. That didn't take me long to get rid of it!!!!
Also remember the cardboard oil cans with the metal ends. Had a spout you would punch a hole in one end and then stab it in the other and pour. Did not need a funnel!!

Does anyone sell them anymore?

Found them

https://ebay.us/m/7HCUww

Yea not quite the same and most likely don't want you to light it like we did in our youth, but I still do.

That the one's I remember, diamond shape.

I grew up with them too but they have been rendered obsolete with tire plugs these days. Even sealant is preferable. Plugs are the way to go now though.

Shayboy3 said:

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Man I remember that stuff as well. My grandfather always had some of them. Remember my dumb … self picking on up after he threw it on the ground lol. That didn't take me long to get rid of it!!!!
Also remember the cardboard oil cans with the metal ends. Had a spout you would punch a hole in one end and then stab it in the other and pour. Did not need a funnel!!

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HAHAH.....yes....i picked them up once too...and no one said anything...because...that's how you learn. LOL.

The black tire tubes you use at schlitterbahn are covered in these.

Shayboy3 said:

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Man I remember that stuff as well. My grandfather always had some of them. Remember my dumb … self picking on up after he threw it on the ground lol. That didn't take me long to get rid of it!!!!
Also remember the cardboard oil cans with the metal ends. Had a spout you would punch a hole in one end and then stab it in the other and pour. Did not need a funnel!!

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My frugal dad had me use the few drips left in the oil can to oil my bicycle's chain. He had a Depression Era childhood, we didn't waste anything and fixed everything ourselves.

As a teenager I had to fix dozens of pickup truck and implement tire with those patches. Used a high lift jack to break the tire off the rim, breaker bar to pop the tire over the rim. Pull tube out, find leak, fix it. Put it back in without pinching it. Had a gizmo to hold valve stem in wheel. Use highlift jack to pop back tire on wheel and inflate. All to save $5 repair fee, my labor fixing flats was free.

I think about those days when splurging $ to have a flat fixed.