DJ Shaun

Same here. My commute is all urban/suburban and our buses have bike racks from April to October. I only get a flat about once a year. Usually I discover my flat tire before leaving home/work. I do carry a spare tube but no patch kit. I certainly don't want to be fiddling with a patch kit in dark winter conditions.

Andy_K 

No spares in the office? How is that even possible for someone who works for Schwalbe?

I guess it's true that the cobbler's children have no shoes.

Kojak

Warehouse is in Ferndale, WA I'm in Victoria BC. We literally have almost zero stock here. A few samples every now and then, but right now nothing in a 700x23 - 25 - 28. I've got my backstock at home but right now that's 5 miles away. And, just so that I feel the same pain as the end consumer these days, the tires at home are not the size that I want on this bike and we're out of the tire I want. I have to either put an old tire on my bike to get me through or use up a new tire that I was saving for the spring. I guess I'll see what I have at home and see if there's something that I have that'll get me by.

I will say this. The tire that blew is an Ultremo DD (Double Defense) 700x25 that I've had on my commuter bike for almost exactly 2 years (not sure on the mileage). It only flatted because I wore through the casing and the tube blew out. Other than today, 2 trouble free years of commuting and winter training rides on this set of tires.

old's'cool

For a tire guy, I find that rather ironic...! (no offense)

Kojak

None taken. The funny thing is, I looked at my front tire this morning as I was airing up and I thought to myself, "I haven't really inspected my tires too closely lately..... maybe I should do that". This is the downside of having a fully fendered bike, outta sight, outta mind. On my racing bikes this never would have happened as I would have noticed that the contact patch had totally flattened out and the tires would have been switched out long ago. To the tires' credit, one of the reasons I hadn't taken much time to inspect them is I've never had a flat on this pair. My 1st flat (especially on rear tire) is my "better check the tires" barometer. Since that never happened with these tires I was lulled into a sense of complacency. But yeah, it was an especially boneheaded inattention to detail on my part.


OR

Product Research........ hmmmmm spin doctors are busy at work now.

jdswitters

why a spare tube and a patch kit?

Well lets say that you are thinking about lunch and remember that the new Jimmy Johns about a mile and a half up the road dropped off coupons for a free sub last week and you have one on your desk. And your new permanent crown just got put on this morning. So off you go to get your sandwich, and when leaving you realize the back tire has flatted. Unload the bike and get the tools out, change the tube. But you were in a hurry and didn't get all the glass out of the tire, and the tube flats again in 50 yards. fortunately, you have a patch kit, several swear words, and a cell phone to explain why you be a little late coming back from lunch.

I was also reminded that I hate my planet bike mini pump, and am ready for a new one.

jdswitters

I made a disparaging remark about my PB mini pump yesterday. I figured out how to fix it last night for those interested, although having dissembled it and seeing how it is put together, I still plan on taking a Lezyne on tour this spring.

If you cant get the pump head over the schrader valve enough to get air in the tube cut 1/8 inch off of the rubber tube piece that is directly under the screw-on cap on the pump head. This brings the little nub at the bottom closer to the top of the schrader valve body. You may find that you dont need to do this with some tubes and with others it is a necessity.

Confederate

Thank you.

I've had one occasion where I flatted out twice within about a mile. And it was a dark and lonely forest in Germany. I don't know if I missed the puncturing particle after the first flat (I did check) or if I was just really unlucky. But the patch I'd put on my first flat wasn't dry enough to ride on by the time I got my second flat. I decided to just walk it for a while and I came to a town before long, so I just found a hostel and left both tubes' patches to dry overnight. That's one occasion over a couple of decades of riding, but it was enough to motivate me to always carry a tube and patches--even though one tube wasn't really enough on that day.

jputnam

Commuting on an internally-geared bike, if I get a small puncture I'll patch the tube with the wheel still on the bike. (Usually only takes a couple of minutes to find, patch, and get the tire back on, a bit faster than removing a nutted-axle internally-geared hub.)

But I carry a spare tube for larger gashes that don't patch well.

On my touring bike I usually carry both 700C and 26" tubes -- if the person I'm riding with has a flat, that slows me down as much as it does them. (But then, on my touring bike I also carry a chain whip, crank puller, BB tools...)

ronocnikral

IF you don't understand, perhaps you should carry only a spare tube. throw just one CO2 cartridge in there and leave your pump at home for good measure.

resurrect this thread once you see the light.

Laser Bomb

Does anybody use the Mr. Tuffy strips that line the inside of your tires to help prevent punctures? They do help, but I think they've eventually CAUSED a flat, because the tube pushing against the thickness of the strip at 80 psi caused the rubber to start to "split" along that edge, if that makes any sense...it's basically the reason they tell you that patches have a "tapered edge", so that there's not such an abrupt change in thickness.

Anyways, has that happened to anybody else? Is this avoidable at all?

What's the dollar bill trick???

nelson249

In the Great White North the smallest bill is $5 so it gets rather expensive. Stupid dollar coins.

Kojak

Just go to your local RBC/TD Canada Trust/Bank of Montreal, etc and get one US Greenback. In lieu of this, Park tools actually makes a boot kit with adhesive (so the boot stays in place) which is available at many bike shops. There are 3 plastic adhesive rectangles in each pack, I think they go for about 5-6 bucks.

https://www.parktool.com/product/emer...tire-boot-tb-2

Shimagnolo

A piece of an old inner tube cut into 2" squares works.
One of these got me home from 22 miles away after a tire got a 3/4" slice in the sidewall.
Since then, I've added a pack of the Park boots to my tool kit.

chefisaac

I have the co2 set up and also a frame pump. The reason for the two is that sometimes the co2 cartridge will not work. Sometimes you get a dud. They are expensive so now I buy them in bulk. Great price.

I carry a patch kit plus an extra tube but I will also be adding another tube soon just in case. I do like to have the ability to patch if needed.

But one time I was stupid and left the tube at home so all I could do was patch. It was pouring down rain and these were the self patching patches. THEY SUCK. buy the ones with the glue.

Waxbytes

I carry a spare tube and a patch kit. Patch kits are so small and light it just does not make sense to me not to carry one in case I get multiple flats.

Grim

Those have a similar design to Topeak that I have. I think you may have made a mistake cutting that part.

Those pumps can work on both Shrader and Presta but you have to reconfigure it. To do so you have to unscrew the cover pull out the rubber seal. under the rubber seal is a plastic piece that installed one way works on presta Fliping it over put a tab out that will press the valve in Shrader. I think you have the plastic peice in wrong.

fholt

I carried a patch kit and a spare tube for my first 5K miles commuting. Next ride after passing that boundary, I flatted about a mile short of work, in dark and wet conditions. Only then did I find that the spare tube I'd been carrying all those miles was a Schrader, and thus unusable in my rim. The patch kit was a lifesaver.

Sirrus Rider

Not to mention there is a limit to the number of tubes you can carry without things looking ridiculous. Plus, you can carry enough patches to patch the tubes of a whole squad in one tube box..

chefisaac

fholtL That happened to me too. I was pissed at myself for days.

scroca

I am astonished to see this thread is still going.

I guess commuting folks just like talking about flats and solutions for that problem.

And for the record, I carry a spare tube and a patch kit. My preferred method is to replace the tube and patch at home/work. Most of the time it seems to be impractical to find the leak out on the road. Too noisy to hear the leak and often too windy to feel it.

old's'cool

I tried Mr Tuffy or something equivalent for a short time since they came with a wheelset I purchased. It quickly became evident that they were causing more flats than they ever prevented, for the reason you stated.
The dollar bill trick is a method of salvaging a damaged tire for limping home, by wrapping a dollar bill around the tube at the damaged spot on the tire, before re-seating the tire and re-inflating. I haven't tried it but I hear it's very effective.

202MphHayabusa

I run tubulars, carry two spares, and a kit to unsew repair and resew them
Am I strange??

jdswitters

I had thought so also, I was in the store ready to buy a new leyzne and saw that the PB pump I was about to replace did schrader and presta, and I wondered how it did that, so read the back of the package. Then I went back home and took it apart to make sure I had it in the right way. It was, but the plastic piece was in so deep that it wasn't connecting with the top of the schrader on certain valves.

stockholm

I can't belive this thread is still alive! My question was answered within minutes, and yet this thing keeps going... You gotta love commuters and the BF