Originally Posted by
azza_333
Thanks for the feedback, but I never said I wasn't going touring with out a spare tube, it was just about the patch kit, which I have decided to keep and swap to glueless patches. Also the type of touring I do is very different from yours, for me I have gotten my kit so light, its getting less about lightness, and more about reducing the volume of my gear. I could carry all the spares in the world, but I have to draw the line somewhere for me that line is at a spare tube and some patches, for you its on the carry more side.
If you are going to use that logic, then you shouldn't carry the tube...it has a
huge volume...and you should carry the patch kit which has a smaller volume.
Originally Posted by
azza_333
The logic of ULighters is
Reduce gear/weight > to reduce bags/panniers > that further reduces weight > which should reduce the amount of failures > to reduce the amount of spares needed to be carried > And the cycle starts from the start again.
There is a giant hole in the middle of your logic. The statement: "...reduces weight > which should reduce the amount of failures >..." is a non sequitur. What
kinds of failures? I've never had a flat because my bike was carrying too much weight. I've had flats due to glass, remnants of steel belted tires, 16 penny nails in the middle of the road, goatheads (lots and lots and lots of goatheads), snakebites because the tire pressure was too low or the tire was going flat and I hit something but never because of the weight that the bike was carrying.
The only other kinds of failures that I can think of that are weight related are frame failures or, perhaps, spoke and wheel failures. Frame failures are fairly rare and are, in my experience, are a manufacturing error and aren't related to the load the bike is carrying. And even the most heavily ladened bicycle tourist isn't going to carry a spare frame*. Wheel failures that aren't spoke related fall into a similar category as frame failures. Spoke failures can be avoided by building good strong wheels with good strong spokes rather than obsessing on "strong rims" because it's the spokes that break not the rim.
The best way to "to reduce the amount of spares needed to be carried" is to make sure the bike is functioning well
before you set off on a trip. I'm not an ultralight road tourist (off-road is a different story) but I don't carry a lot of spare parts. I carry a fiber fix spoke which I haven't used in 4 tours (about 3000 miles) and I carry a patch kit and at least 2 extra tubes (sometimes up to 6, depending on whether or not I have to use stupid Continental tires but I avoid those like the plague). I don't carry spare cables or spare chains or spare tires or even spare brake pads. All of that kind of stuff has been checked and replaced if needed or is available along the way.
*This being the Bike Forums, I just know that someone is going to say that they carry a spare frame with them on every tour