Originally Posted by nkuvu

I have both a tube and patch kit for my trike, but the 16 inch tubes are not something that would fit his 700x35C wheels. I should have been clearer in earlier post -- I'm considering carrying a tube that would fit his bike (he still doesn't have a patch kit, just hasn't gotten around to it, and I have space in the bag on my rack, and it's not like a tube is a huge investment).

I don't think he was riding on low pressure, since he had just pumped up the tire before the ride. So the hand pumping is probably what did it. Just seemed odd to me that we rode for quite a while before it went flat.

Oh, and I also forgot to mention that we did attempt to patch the stem, but it didn't hold even for pumping up the tire again. I've patched my tubes several times, but the patch didn't wrap around the stem very well, so it didn't surprise me that the patch didn't hold.