JayKay3000

Ride tires with liners. It can be worth sacrificing a bit of rolling resistance to know there is a lot less chance of a puncture.

Punctures in sunny weather is OK, but if it's raining really hard and there is no shelter then of course it's not much fun.

Kabuki12

I’m a vintage road bike guy. I carry the same stuff that I carried in the seventies. A patch kit with the tire pry tools , spare tube and pump. I also have the basic multi tool accessory. My pumps are either a Zefal HP or Silca Impero. If I flat , I almost always patch it . I have only switched tubes maybe a couple of times. For me it is part of the ride, not the end. I ride alone so I don’t worry about holding anyone up. I am usually in a more rural area so it is not like being in the middle of the city.

u235

My average ride is around 40 miles. It's not like turning around is any better.

I quit and did a pickup one time out of maybe 25 flats. It was colder and night. I had built up some sweat which chilled me when I stopped to fix the flat. I patched the hole but went flat again in about 5 minutes. I've switched to tubeless and my frequent flats are a thing of the past.

littleArnold

Posts like this make me rethink my desire to buy a road bike. If I am riding either my Trek Hybrid FX2 or my Schwinn Mountain Bike I ride about 20-30 miles in a day at pace of 12-14 miles an hour. I ride about 100 or more miles a week during the summer. Only had one flat tire on my hybrid in 3 and half years and I have had my Mountain Bike for 5 years and not one flat yet. Or if I do get a road bike I might get one with thicker tires at like 28-32 mm to decrease my chances of getting a flat.

I always carry two spare inner tubes with me, a hand pump, c02 canisters, a patch kit, and the little plastic levers that help you get a tire off. I also carry an air pressure gauge with me to measure tire pressure and in my car I have a regular bike pump. I always check my tire pressure on my bike and if necessary fill up my tires before every ride. I also like to split my rides sometimes into two rides in one day to cover 20-30 miles for two reasons: 1) I work on call and if I get called and can't resolve the issue remotely with my Android I can more easily get back to car quickly to drive into work. 2) If something happens like a flat, I don't have that far to cycle back to car or walk my bike if necessary.

I would rather ride at a 2-3 mile slower pace with a slower bike and not have the headache of having to get a flat, as long as I still can cover the 20-30 mile ride in a day.

cyclist2000

I have a couple that are about 30 years old that I still bring on rides

Retro Grouch 

That's a good looking pump. We've got a couple of Topeak Road Morphs. The only thing I don't like about them is how clunky they look.

frogmorton

A flat should only be a 5 minute interruption to your ride. Practice at home. Use CO2 so you don’t get tired pumping. Carry a pump for backup of that makes you feel better.

Hikebikerun

I don’t mean to hijack, but once you patch a tube, assuming it is holding pressure do you just keep riding on it for subsequent outings?

Is there any reason to replace the patched tube when you get home?

velojym

Topeak Morph goes with me on all my rides, and flats are a momentary annoyance, but I'm usually rolling again in just a few minutes, at full pressure.

rosefarts

So I have several bikes.

My vintage one has a nice long frame pump that works nearly as well as a floor pump. A flat on that bike is NBD. It means I can put in a new tube or mess with a patch and not be worried if it happens again.

My road bike I carry 2 CO2 cartridges. In theory, that's 2 tires. It could also mean 1 tire and one mistake. I won't rely on co2 if I can't find a way home without a functional bike.

Gravel and mountain, small frame pump, patch kit, one spare tube, and plugs. Theoretically, I could pretty much go forever but pumping gets tiresome.

I go out of my way to avoid the flats. Fairly fresh tires, topped up sealant, proper PSI etc. I'd rather mess with it at home instead of the side of the road.

That said, if I'm on a loop or really early in a ride and I have a flat, I may just head home and switch bikes. Usually, I'll just send my wife a photo of the flat and continue on the way. That usually buys me a little more riding time than the repair actually takes.

genejockey 

I always carry a spare tube, tire levers, and a pump - mini or frame, depending on which bike. I tried CO2, - and yes I practiced using it at home, successfully - but the two times I needed it, I ended up just blowing out two cartridges trying to put them into the inflator. One time I walked a mile back to the car. The other time I made the Call Of Shame, because I'd ridden from home. SO now I depend on 'force of arms' rather than technology!

Most of my rides are out-and-backs, so I'm most likely to flat on the return trip, so I just pump up and get home as best I can.

pvillemasher

I'd rather ride what I like and spend the 10 minutes or so once or twice every year to fix a flat

Atlas Shrugged

Life is too short to ride dead unresponsive tires.

Troul 

When I get punctures, typically my odds of it being cookie cutter for fixing is low. Had a puncture that put the debris thru the wheel center section right next to a spoke hole. It ruined the wheel & that ride.

Flip Flop Rider

negatively

GlennR

It just delays me 5-10 minutes

Gresp15C

The funny thing is that years of riding cheap, worn-out tires on bad roads taught me to fix flats quickly.

Troul 

what about the time while you're doing the repair & [folks that are not on bicycles] see it an opportunity to come over to you to "see" what it is that you're doing. Then they want to try & hold a (socially distant) conversation about some BITD when they remember how XYZ was their method for doing what you are doing now.. ?

Must be a sign on my back that says "Open for conversation, please come inconvenience me more on this hot humid day"

79pmooney

Best tool I've seen used to pull those wires - the pliers on the Leatherman. Better than any of my shop pliers. (Leathermans are really good tools. Several features are so good that if I run into certain situation, I go get that tool rather than the tools of my fairly well stocked shop for home as well as bikes. Mine is 30 years old, looks like new and works like new - except it is far easier to open!)

Probably mentioned already, but if you patch your tube (or at least find the hole and mark it, say with chalk, you can use the tube to find the cause in the tire (assuming you line up the tire the same way each time I center the label over the valve. Knowing exactly where to look simplifies finding those wires - think needles in haystacks. Getting to within 3 inches with a metal detector could save a week or month of your life if you HAD to find that needle.

And a little editorial directed at the BF site guys - I hate that when I am writing an answer to a post I cannot see the thread, just that post. If I think of another point that might have been made I have to copy what I've written, back out and hope my copy pastes back later or open an entirely new site, Rant, rant, Not serious, but I see this a lot. I usually just blunder forward and see soon after I posted what I missed. Makes for a lot of edits.

Ben

GlennR

Last one I had was at Jones Beach and went to the boardwalk to take a break.I got 10 feet on the wood and BANG... 2 people ran away thinking it was a gunshot .

Anyway as i'm changing the tube 3 people stopped and told me I was doing it wrong. 5 minutes later I rode past them on my way back to the MUP.

I spend more time making sure the tube is not under the bead than taking the tire off and putting it back on.

79pmooney

Oh, tires and tubes. I used to race and love "the ride". Rode sew-ups for decades and will go back But I've spent the last 20 years on clinchers, good ones for rides on my good bikes, good compromises for my rain/Portland winter/city bikes. Good bike these days get the Vittoria Corsa G+ or 2.0 tires. City bikes get Panasonic Paselas. All bikes get: a good frame pump (being able to carry one cleanly is a requirement for any bike in my stable), a tool bag with - 2 tubes for the tires on it stuffed in a sock (socks are impressively good at preventing tubes from being cut by the rest of the stuff in the tool bag), 2 plastic tire irons (Vittorias and Paselas are easy and all brands work) and a patch kit. In my wallet - at least 4 dollar bills of any denomination or I stop for an espresso on the way out and paid in cash to break a 20 and get those bills. Dollar bills make very good boots. I've used 5 to get home with a near 1" slice. Ride 'em, launder 'em (don't tell the prosecutor), air dry and they are ready to spend as intended.

About once a decade this isn't enough. More often, I bail out someone else.

Ben

Troul 

Some folks just like to flex the misery muscles rather than just keep on keeping-on there way.
Had a flat a while back & it was hot, humid, & very sunny. Was on the grass changing out the tube when some passerbyers going by said something like "Hey, you should path my tire!" I almost busted out laughing, but managed to keep that from happening & just looked up & waived. I was flattered.

That was a good flat.

GlennR

My son broke down west of Utica, NY on US20 while riding from Niagara Falls to Montauk. A pickup truck stopped and asked him if he needed a hand. The guy owns a bike should about 10 miles back and offered my son the use of the shop. When I heard the story I looked up the shop and had some cut up fruit sent with a thank you card..

There are good people out there.

Doug64

If a tube is patched correctly, it stays on our bikes. We had a flat tire today, and the tube we took out already had a patch on it, and the spare we we replaced it with was also patched. My wife patched her tube when we stopped for lunch, it is now her spare. On our 3700 mile ride across the U.S. we had 13 punctures, and ruined 2 tires. Flat tires are not a big deal. My wife used to demonstrate flat repairs in a bike maintenance class that we taught. She can mount most tires back on the rims without the use of tools.

Sometimes it takes a little longer to change out the tubes, especially when you are in front of a French Bakery. When we are on long tours, we usually carry 2-3 spare tubes, and we each carry a patch kit. In some situations we will even carry a spare folding tire.



I've been carrying a frame pump under the top tube for the last 15 years.


Thinking about it, I guess I've been carrying a frame pump like that for about 50 years, circa 1970s

scott967

If I come out the next day and it's low, I replace it otherwise, no issue. After about 4 or 5 patches I give up on it.

The mini pump I carry gets to around 85 maybe. Good enough to keep going. But I did switch to carrying a spare as sometimes I had a hard time finding the leak. Spent more time pumping and looking (or licking and see if it bubbles btw, butyl rubber doesn't taste that good) than repairing.

If it's one flat a ride, I just take it as a chance to get a breather. Two on a ride is sucky though. The biggest thing I've learned with Rema, is make sure it's dry before you put the patch on or I guarantee it will be flat next morning.

scott s.
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