Same here. I buy cassettes or chains well more often than tubes. My tubes might last longer than my tires.
Either you have much thicker tires than I ride, or your roads are much, much better maintained. (Unless you're counting repairs as part of tube life.)
Originally Posted by
WinterCommuter
I can remove a wheel, tube, replace, and inflate in under 2 mins most times. The time to properly patch a tube takes considerably longer—at least for my mid ride fumbling body. Note, i also use co2 inflators and i’m sure a pump is better for the environment too. For me, it comes down to cost efficiency. Also, when it’s near zero degrees (Or cooler), seconds spent fixing a flat matter a lot. So, I’d rather “spend” my time riding than patching or pumping. I’m not saying you’re wrong, just different. 13 patches is impressive though. Kudos!
Takes me about 5 minutes to replace a tube. I usually quote 15 minutes to fix a flat, because it almost always takes me a lot longer to find what caused the flat and remove the glass shard, wire, etc. Patching the tube doesn't take any riding time, because I save up flatted tubes and fix them when it's too cold, rainy, etc. to ride.
A dozen patches is pretty good. I don't remember my record, but from my recent holiday flat-fixing session, I'd guess I'm riding tubes that average 5-10 patches each.