Originally Posted by
stockholm
I've been attending a night course in very basic bike mechanics -- which was a blast.
The next step was to turn here to figure out what the rudimentary stuff to buy and bring would be, and while doing this I noticed something funny: why is everybody recommending both a patch kit and a spare tube? I mean, if you switch to a new tube you won't be fixing the old one, correct?
Just wondering, that's all.
Multiple calamities of course. I'm of the "try to patch it first on the road" persuasion. And sometimes a patch won't take or you have gotten multiple holes in the same tire at one time and run out of patches. Then you need the spare. And I have gotten flats in both tires at the same time before.
Though in practice I rarely carry a spare tube, just the patch kit. I'll carry both if I'm on a long ride out in the country. Usually the spare tubes stay at home.