Fifty Plus (50+) - Check your spare tube . . . NOW!

Riding Bike patrol for the Tour of the Tucson Mountains tomorrow morning.
Checked over my saddle pouch and made sure everything was in order.
Yipes . . . spare innertube valve stem was pulled off the tube itself. Tube was inside a plastic baggie.
So if your spare tube's been stashed in a bag on the bike, check it NOW.

Good advice. It's easy to neglect a spare tube only to find it leaky when you finally need it.

Another tidbit of spare tube knowledge: Always screw the plastic valve cap onto your spare tube's valve when storing it in your seat bag. That sharp Presta valve can quickly vibrate it's way into the rubber enough to cause a leak if there is no cap on it. Kinda like a snake biting itself.

Yipes is right! Thanks for the heads up.

Ditto on the cap. I've seen where folks say they are on there so the end doesn't do this during transit from factory to store. It's nice that they give us all those spares though... :D

I like to wrap my tubes in an old shop rag or tattered face cloth. It protects the tube from wear from the tire levers or hex tools and gives me a rag to wipe my hands on after the inevitable wet weather flat......

.... why do we never get flats on nice warm SUNNY days anyway?

Similar thing happened to me but from the tube sitting in the bag for maybe 500 miles had a hole worn into it from the tools or something. Now at least it is covered with a sock.

At least you discovered your spare tube problem before the ride. And it is interesting how you always seem to get more flats when it is raining???

3 years, same spare tube, check it every week on tour. Still OK

P*nctures in the rain, the water acts as a lubricant to aid the influx of sharps through the tyre

george

Ditto on the cap. I've seen where folks say they are on there so the end doesn't do this during transit from factory to store. It's nice that they give us all those spares though... :D

I like to wrap my tubes in an old shop rag or tattered face cloth. It protects the tube from wear from the tire levers or hex tools and gives me a rag to wipe my hands on after the inevitable wet weather flat......

.... why do we never get flats on nice warm SUNNY days anyway?

You can also use an old sock to wrap the tube. The sock can the be used like a sock puppet if you have to put your chain back on.

.... why do we never get flats on nice warm SUNNY days anyway?

beside a cool, clear lake.

I always try to have a flat where there is a picnic table in the shade available.