Hello, I am new to this forum. And I have a question that may seem dumb to most but I honestly don't know the answer. First off, I am someone with terminal head and neck cancer. I have come to a point in my life where being on my bike is about the only time I feel good, and for awhile afterwards. I just started riding a bike again about six weeks ago. After seven years of not riding, I was quite a sight: had to actually learn it all over again. That is the short version. My question has to do with what seems to be considered important by many which is this: have a tire pump with you when you ride. My question is: unless you are prepared to change or fix a tired when you are out riding, why is a pump useful? If a fire goes flat and you can't do anything about it,the pump seems just something else to carry along. Right? I just want to make sure that I'm not missing something as concerns how bike tires behave. I mean can you have a situation where tires just lose air and there isn't really anything wrong and you just have to inflate? Like in say, this may sound dopey to many but my question is sincere. My Mu P24 has a pump in the seat post. Very cool innovation. And I have a pump for my HPA bike. But why do I have these if I could not repair or replace a tired on the road?

Cheers and welcome to Bike Forums.

Regarding your question: many of my "flats" have in fact been slow leaks. Tube may hold air for some time, but I need to inflate it a couple of times to get home. I've sometimes done this even though I carry a patch kit and a spare tube. If I'm just a few kms from home, I'd rather do the actual fixing at home. And all pneumatic tyres leak air gradually. If you check the tyre pressure before every ride, you don't need to carry a pump for that reason. I don't necessarily check my tyres, so I carry a pump.

Regarding everything else: good thing you've (re)discovered biking, if it gives you good vibes in your current situation. Keep at it!

--J

Thank you very much, Juha. Mystery solved. And thanks for your well wishes.

Hey dokkerhoo,

Welcome to Bike Forums.

Flats are part of road riding.
150 flats for me on the road.
So I carry 3 spared tubes, 1 spare tire, tire levers and a pump to air the tires back up.

One of my first flats...I was sitting on a Fire Ant Nest.

If you can not utilize a pump due to your medical situation, perhaps a CO2 inflator would work.
And carrying a pump could be used by a good Samaritan that wants to help you . . .

Welcome to BF! I carry a pump as well as a couple puncture repair kits (as big as a box of TicTacs), a little duct tape (makes a good emergency tire liner if needed in addition to the puncture repair kit in the event of a flat) and a spare tube (for dire emergencies like major gashes too big to repair in a tube) when I ride. This is overkill, but I won't call friends to pick me up when I get a flat and those cab rides from >40 miles away from home are awfully expensive! I need to be able to repair whatever happens to my tires because my rides take me too far from home. Besides---when I carry all that stuff, I never get flats! The flats only happen when I don’t carry the gear.