Originally Posted by
ferocious3
Is a spare tube necessary if i'm riding tubeless? I was considering getting the on road quick patch kit on giants website which is basically 3 compound rubber patches with adhesive, then get CO2 and a lifeline tubeless repair kit into my saddle bag.
Most people I have seen riding tubeless just count on the sealant unless the leak is so great that sealant can't cope, in which case they throw in a tube as a quick fix. If you are confident that you can repair the tubeless tire roadside, go ahead.
My thoughts, based on experience---eventually you might get a flat where you cannot find the leak, or where you cannot spend too much time searching---for instance, in the rain, at night, on the side of a busy road, or a road with no shoulder so you are knee-deep in weeds (don't drop a tool, or you will spend ten minutes searching for it) or all of the above.
Usually you can see sealant leaking out and rubbering up on the tire surface, I guess, so finding the leak shouldn't be hard, I guess. However .... the only patch systems i have seen involve using a corkscrew device to push a plug into the tire. Not sure I would want to do that on the side of the road in bad conditions
I am not sure if the "compound rubber patches with adhesive" are for tubes or tubeless tires, and I am not sure if they go inside (makes more sense but requires pulling the tire) or outside. If these are indeed patches for a tubeless tire which go on the inside----I am not sure you can inflate a tubeless tire with a hand pump or CO2---usually they need a big blast of air to seat the bead. I am not sure but you will want to be---because once you break the bead if you cannot get the tire re-seated, you will be walking or calling.
That is why most people bring a tube as backup, I think----yeah, it is a pain to take the tubeless valve out, and put a tube in, but if the tubeless tire won't hold air, and you didn't bring more sealant, you really can't just pump it up and ride off.
My personal tubeless experience is limited---but when I have let a mounted tubeless tire lose all its air (I had it set up as a back-up and didn't need it) I had to refill it with sealant and reseat it on the rim (which is a real pain, and I assure you I will be making one of those two-liter pressure bottles) before I could inflate it normally. Ask someone smarter than myself before you get out on a ride and find out things you wish you would have known .....