Rocky Mountain Dirt Riders

Well drat. Those darn trees are dead set on picking on me again, jumping out and clawing and spearing my sweet Troy Lee jersey... They are just jelly of my flawless enduro technique, however while bark clad haters gonna hate, I once again look like a vagrant hiding out in the woods...

Having no sewing machine, despite my “A” in junior high home economics and mad quilting skills, I have to take it in to my alteration ladies shop, and that adds up, a couple repairs would approach the price of a New Jersey...

Plus I have to settle for Sporting some B grade Fox gear in the interim while awaiting a repair, and that’s just too low rent for this fella, blending in with the riff raff.

What to do? Well, some time ago, perusing the Walmart craft section (by chance of course), I happen to notice some iron on glue backed fabric patches... selection was limited to small brown and denim ones. Well, given the 3.99 price for a pack of them, my pride tasted a bit sour as I swallowed it, and headed for the till with them in hand.

1st repair attempted was my nylon Leatt jacket, whic had suffered incessantly under local shrubbery attacks and my bikes narcolepsy problem.... and required a bigger machine than my repair ladies had, even with a scratch baked cookie bribe they wouldn’t touch it. So... home gamer time.

Fired up the iron, on steam, just like I do for putting those sharp looking creases in my acid wash jeans that the big haired ladies do love, I then placed the patch and melted er on. To my surprise it adhered well, and on subsequent rides, bore the abuse like a red headed adoptee. The raggedy Ann patchwork appearance was a trail fashion hit. Expected the patches to fall off 1st washing, but they stayed put. The pic below of the peeling is after a few washes.

Since then I have discovered the Singer brand patches, in a fashionably suitable black and much larger size, via Amazon. These have even better glue and adhesion, I have patched blown apart riding pant knees and it’s holding still. For jerseys, and those expensive technical underlayers, I patch on the inside, and hit the frayed edges of the tear with a butane lighter to clean up. Could do the nylon pants and jackets on the inside if they don’t have a liner...

Perhaps this will save others some money, but not their pride...

I'm enjoying your additions to the Penny Tech database Malcolm.

I usually painstakingly sew my jersey tears back together with needle and thread. I've taken to use contrasting thread to show off my battle scars. The fabric often has a little stretch to it though, and some tears can be tough to get lined up properly and not pull when I pull the thread taut. This looks like a good technique for those applications - or where a piece of fabric goes missing.

Better add some Singer patches to my next Amazon order.

Edit: Follow up question, any problems with a hot iron on synthetic jerseys and pants? Asking for a friend.

I use the iron on steam with an ironing board, and so far, I don't really sit the iron in one spot, have not melted or burnt any gear.
Using up the last of the denim patches on bar mitt holes... Raggedy Andy out.

I did some more gear patching, redid some patches after a few gear washes had them starting to fray a bit - pant knees were peeling.
The singer brand seem to have better adhesive.