I was heading to a store about 15 km away from home today. I took my winter ride, but swapped out the studs for regular touring wheels due to the dry conditions. Not half a km from the house at a light I realized I didn't have my under-the-saddle bag with my tools, tubes, patches, etc. What are the odds that I'll need it, I asked myself. So instead of turning back to get it I went on. Well, what do you know, the odds were 100%, just 10 km later. So I had to make that dreaded Honey-can-you-pick-me-up call. My first one.

Why don't I have a kit attached to the bike at all times? Good question. I will in the future.

Lesson learned, I suppose, if there is a lesson to be learned here.

I'm now riding a couple of bikes... and each is a little different. It might be best to setup a seat bag with each bike, but that isn't always practical either.

My winter bike now sports Tannus tires, and so-far, NO FLATS. The biggest problem is leaving my pump home when I'm pulling the trailer with that bike, or forgetting the pump when I hop on a different bike.

I have a couple tool kits set up in small peanut butter "jars" (plastic). If I'm really going for a ride, I'll rig up a seat pack but for quick jaunts I can shove a PB kit into a bottle rack.

I keep a complete sag bag and pump on every bike.

That's too bad. But weren't there any buses you could have taken? That's what those bike racks on the front are for.

I hadn't have to make any calls like that. My worse moment was getting a flat at Bayview and Rosedale Valley Road. I couldn't fix the flat because I couldn't find the puncture. So I rolled it to the Yonge/Bloor Subway Station and took it to Bike Pirates.

That's a long walk to Yonge and Bloor. There was no way to get to Castle Frank from where you were stranded.

York Region buses probably run every 45 minutes on the weekend, and I would have had to take at least two buses. It was a 15-minute drive for my wife to where I was.

I did get around examining the tire. Turned out there was a largish piece of glass embedded in the tire tread and made a huge gash on the tube. They're 32's, but I'm looking at another set, perhpas 37 or 38 mm with a bit more puncture protection.

This will never happen to me even though I sometimes do ride without a flat kit... I don't carry or even own a cell phone!

Don't say never, especially with flats

I had flat kits dedicated to each bike, including the bikes used by my wife and son who won't even change a flat for some reason, so I'd say the same thing. Until I bought another bike and moved one kit to it. Now the old one doesn't have its own, and the last three or four times I've used it I've made the same "bad call" of just going on. It's just luck that I haven't flatted.

Each bike needs its own stash.


-Kedosto

With my collection, I'm juggling almost as many wheel sizes as bikes, so having a dedicated seat bag with spare tube for each bike came pretty early on.

I have had that when you're riding along and look down and see the frame pump is not under the top tube... it's like Wile E Coyote running across a canyon until he looks down and sees the ground so far below...

Hah! That happened to me today!

Got my winter bike out for the first time....transferred over small saddle bag with tube/multitool, etc, but forgot to transfer frame pump rofl. Luckily, got to work with no flat...12 miles riding bareback going home now

Interesting choice of phrase.

I have learned through experience where every air station on my commuting route is. There is a community bike depot, three bike shops, and several gas stations, so I'm never more than about a half mile from air. Oddly enough, the gas station pumps are going credit card only, so I don't have to worry about having a couple of quarters.

You found out one of the many corollaries to Murphy's Law -- the day that you forget your pump/spare tube/ patch kit is the day you will have a flat!

I like to throw a little flourish in my prose. And some Flemish in my beer.

Corollary #1: Murphy was an optimist...

using a rear rack I just move my trunk bag from bike to bike. but I have to remember to bring the appropriate spare tube cuz all 3 bikes use a different size

Yeah I had to make the first Call a couple months ago. For some reason I did not have my spare tube with me on my utility bike when I rode it a couple miles away to Kroger. I rode through an area where the road is being widened, and rode on the part still under construction. When I came back out to my bike, rear tire was flat, and the LBS next door had JUST closed! That sucked.

I haven't had to call for a ride. But I have had to call and request my work badge brought to me. My sweet wife is a stay at home mom so calling her for that around 5am doesn't get me any brownie points.

I had to call for my shoes once, because I normally leave them at the office. Except that one time I didn't.

A couple months ago I had a tire fail, ripped the side wall from the bead, 5 miles from home. I made the call.

But my wife was nowhere near the car, and busy at the time anyway, couldn't help me for at least an hour. I patched my inner tube and wrapped it loosely in crisp new $20 bills (i don't usually carry much cash, but I'd just been to the bank!) and put the tire back together. I was able to ride home after all.

How big a gash are we talking about that can be fixed with bill, even if temporarily?

I used to carry a flat kit religiously for years. I think there is still one in my saddlebag, but the little tube is probably all dried up and I'm not sure the tire levers are there anymore. I have basically found that fixing flats on the go isn't worth my time, unless I'm out for a recreational ride in the middle of a nice summer day. However, I mostly ride to and from work, and patching or even replacing a tube would take a long enough time to make me late for work. And fixing a flat in winter....brrrr... let's not even think about that one!

My back-up is now either public transportation or a cab/Uber. Bike comes along for the ride or gets locked up for later pick up depending on which bike it is, where I'm going etc. So far I've only had to do this twice in about five years. Don't know why I'm getting so few flats now, considering how I once got three flats in four days. *shrug*