Originally Posted by
RubeRad
Interesting, I'm surprised you don't include a patch kit. I guess 99% of the time you don't get a flat, and 99% of the times you do get a flat, it's only one flat, and your spare tube gets you home where you can patch. So it's worth it to not carry a patch kit. For a teeny extra weight/space penalty, you could get a little pack of those 'glueless patches', which are really just stickers. Maybe someday you'll get a second flat, and that could get you home.
You remember from last year (I whined about this on another forum we frequent.) my troubles with the new and improved version II of my favorite tire, which couldn't seem to go 5 miles without flatting if there was rain even in the forecast, let alone on the ground. (This was terribly frustrating since the original version I of the tire was bombproof, IME. Thousands and thousands of flat-free miles in all weather.)
Yes. Until I was able to replace those tires, I carried a second tube and a patch kit on that one bike only. I used the second tube on enough occasions that I started carrying a third tube in the panniers when using that bike. (I'm not about to sit in the rain and try to patch a tube.)
I moved those tires to a dry-weather-only-bike until I wear them out. I now run Michelin Pro 4 Endurance on the wet weather bike, and I'm back to one tube, no patch kit.