Keep a $10/£5 note in the repair kit for emergency coffee/sandwich or to use as a tyre boot if the casing is ripped.

I had to do this once ... saved me a 20 mile walk.

And, apologies if this point is made later in the thread but I'm intervening here!

Wipe around the inside of the tyre with a cotton-wool ball to check for residual sharps before re-seating the tyre. Weighs nothing.

Ask me and my scarred fingertips how I know!

Long trouble free miles to all here

The cotton ball is easy to lose, carry a samll rag. you can with the blood off your hands after you cut your finger finding the thing that caused the flat.

I'd opt for 10 $1 notes rather than one $10. That way I can boot the tyre and also buy a snack :)

But what about the extra weight the other nine bills add?!?! ;)

Doesn't everyone else's wife carry all of their money, too?

Fold them strategically and place them on the front of the bike, hopefully the aerodynamic advantage will counteract the extra weight :P

paint the pump the color of bike its coool just to have one on the bike or just to help some one else out you could be some ones hero. like jumper cables.... and when you get a flat and fix it your wife will think you a hero win win get set up and go ride...

i ride with my cousin. one day he had 3 punctures i had 1. we (I) fixed them all as they happened, they didn't spoil our day. (he previously had the same opinion as you)

ALLWAYS carry a kit.

Not at all. ;)

zombie thread

Holy dead thread resurrection!

Sigh . . . .

Old threads never die,

:deadhorse:

they are miraculous in that they continuously get resurrected

The plant is a vinelike thing, it can easily grow 10 feet from where it starts think of crabgrass with thorns. It you are especially unlucky the plant is gone and the thorns remain.

That would be *continually* (happening repeatedly), rather than *continuously* (happening at all times).

You're certainly not being realistic.

I often do completely unencumbered rides along bus/train routes so that I have a way home should I flat. Most of the time I have patch kit/pump/spare tubes and sometimes even a spare tire, however.

Using your technique is similar but sometimes waiting by the road can really suck. Then of course there's the chance that the person riding home to get the car flats or breaks down. Bummer.

Hey, thanks for the correction. I needed that! It sort of made my morning.

Suck it up, dude, she's right.

If people are going to begin saying "Dude" here on the 50 +, I may have to report that to a moderator.

My wife and I where on a 15 mile ride, half way through she flatted, we changed the tube and continued. About 1.5 miles from home she flatted again. This time I sprinted home for the "tow van". I was quicker than patching the tire, and we where fighting daylight. It all depends on the circumstance. Dude.

Sorry, man, couldn't resist!

We wound up buying a patch kit,tire tool and pump.

But we have not carried them on any ride yet.

Our rides are generally on bike paths along the Erie Canal or the Genesee river. And I must say I have been pleasantly surprised by the lack of glass and debris on the paths.Folks take very good care of them.

Even doing 10 mile rides in the housing track, there is very little glass.

hope we didn't jinx ourselves with this post...

You just did. You don't trifle with the Flat Fairy without paying the penalty! Start carrying.