How to Trim a Bicycle Tire Patch

Bike tires and tubes have a wide variety of sizes. Mountain bike and cruiser tires can range over 2 inches wide, while road bike tires measure about an inch wide. Bike tire patches come in different sizes and patches should fit their proper application. If you try to patch a road bike tire with a mountain bike patch, it will be too large and wrap around the tube, constricting the tube when it is inflated resulting in a blow-out. Always trim your patches if they are too large.

Instructions

    • 1

      Blow a small amount of air into a tube that needs to be patched, using a floor pump. Inflate it just enough to give it a round shape.

    • 2

      Lay the patch on the tube. Bend it around the circumference of the tube.

    • 3

      Check the patch orientation on the tube. If the corners or sides of the patch extend down past half way, the patch is too big.

    • 4

      Cut off all four corners of the patch with scissors. Hold the patch in your fingers and cut it like you would a piece of paper.

    • 5

      Test fit the patch onto the tube. If it looks irregular, trim it into an oval shape with the scissors until the edges of the patch are parallel with the circumference of the tube, and do not extend farther than half way down the tube.