Originally Posted by cyclintom
I bought a Michellin folding tire in about '94 to carry as a spare on tours and I STILL have it. Don't know as I'd trust it any longer so I just put it on my desk at home to look at and remind me that if you start a tour on good tires you usually don't have any tire problems.
I have never used a folding tire on a tour, but I have used several on Randonneuring events which I do before, after, or in the middle of my tours.
On those events you're more pressed for time than you are on a tour ... you can't call it a night at the spot where the big rip in your tire occurred, or boot it and make a detour to the nearest town to see if they've got a bicycle shop, or whatever. You've got to change that flat and be back on the route again in a few minutes. Also, on those events, if a person flats twice in fairly quick succession, rather than spending time trying to figure out what caused the flat, we just pull off the tire and tube, give the rim a quick wipe to make sure it doesn't have anything sharp on it, and put on a whole new tire and tube. It's a speed issue.
In fact, that reminds me that I need to check to make sure I still have
two spare folders.