terrain

You are on a ride - get a flat that you are not able to repair (IE - 2nd flat and you only have 1 tube etc..) or you have a mechanical break-down.

Question is how far have you had to walk... feet, Miles -

I learned the hard way last year when I was 25 miles away from my car that walking more than a mile in my Ergo 2's is a recipe for disaster. In short order I went through the heal pad and even with cleat covers caused lots of scrapes/damage to the carbon soles. I was out in the middle of nowhere on a bike trail - got lucky and 4 miles into the walk ran into a group who later gave me a ride back to the car.


Curious what folks do when you break-down and how you walk on your shoes with out destroying them. I'm contemplating using the camel pack I use on the mountain bike and putting a set of tennis shoes in as a backup in case I need to walk with the bike miles...

I bring this up because just today I was heading home from a 20 mile ride around the neighborhood and on the downhill going 33 mph I ran over something that put a 1/5 inch hole in my tire - punctured my tube. I quickly replaced the tube - pumped it up only to notice that I had a piece of the new tube sticking through the hole in the tire as I was adjusting the brake. Taking the wheel back off the tube popped and I was out of options. Luckily it was a weekend and a quick call to my wife resulted in a pick-up.

I'm building up a new bike (or should I say the shop is doing the building) - and I would like to get into longer rides (50 mile'ish) but at this rate all I can think about is what I'll do when I break-down 50 miles out...

StephenH

I carry a patch kit and a tube. I used to not carry either when I was riding right around the neighborhood, but don't ride that close anymore. I've walked maybe a mile with my bike. Not a shoe problem, but a pain nonetheless.

terrain

If I had 'had' a patch kit I would have used it on the tire - although I'm not sure how well this would work. I plan to carry a patch kit in addition to my co2 pump, extra tube... maybe even some sticky tape. I have never seen a tube pop through the tire - looked like a balloon when you squeeze in your hand - and it just found the small hole and blew through it.

MrCrassic 

For long rides, I carry my CO2 pump with spare cartridge and two tubes. The longest I had to walk in general so far was about 5 miles, but that was to get to what I thought was the nearest train station from my old job (turned out that the closest one was 3 miles away).

When riding in the City, I bring nothing, since a flat just means that I'll take the train instaed.

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LorenzoNF

You can take the shoes off, you know.

CrimsonKarter21

1 tube, 2 c02 cartridges. That's all I've ever needed. Only once did I get a flat that I had to walk home, and that was 3 houses down from me on my way home from a 70 mile ride.

One time, though, I did blow a tube in my rear tire at 25 mph just as I was hitting rough road. Lets just say that the rim didn't fare well.

cyclezealot

Once traffic forced me to ride into a field of shattered glass. My tires were also shattered. I had to walk about 2 miles to go to the nearest bus stop.

CrimsonKarter21

traffic shouldn't be forcing you to do d*ck

Choke 

Maybe I'm lucky, but I've never had to walk. I always carry tubes/patches/pump and haven't had anything mechanical happen I couldn't fix.

As for the tube poking through the tire, what you needed was a 'boot' to keep that from happening. An energy bar wrapper or even a folded dollar bill will work in a pinch. You can't pump the tire up as high as normal but as long as the cut in the tire isn't huge you can at least ride home.

Tapeworm21

I get about 4 flats a year. Never had to walk. Had I been in your shoes, I would have used the dollar bill trick long before I tried inflating that tube. I always carry a little bit of cash on me. If you don't find the cause of a flat before you put in a new tube, you're doing it wrong.

Randochap

Never -- touch wood -- had to walk my bike. I carry two tubes and a patch kit, even on shorter rides. Long-distance, I carry more stuff.

terrain

Yep - somewhat new to repairing flats on the road and I did in fact have a dollar (2) that I could have /should have used. I checked the tire but did not see the 'hole' I did find some small lines in the tire but I assumed it was a pinch flat and did not continue looking. Good news is that I will now take a 2nd tube along as well as the 'dollar trick' and hope it will get me through the next one.

As for taking the shoes off... that's what I did the first time - walked over 2 miles in 'me' socks - not fun but doable.

thirdin77

Fail!!!!!

Carry two tubes plus a glueless ("postage stamp") patch kit. And steel core levers, not just plastic levers that can snap. And a multitool with a chain breaker, spoke wrench, and... do a search for "what tool/s you carry".

To actually answer your question, I had to walk about 2.5 miles once when I was test riding a road bike and got a flat but was too inexperienced to know to bring a flat kit.

Fortunately I was wearing some "sport" cycling shoes so I could actually walk like a normal person. I didn't yet have a pair of road shoes to ruin.

alancw3

if i am within one mile from home i walk versus changing the tube. anything more and i change to tube on the road.

Trsnrtr

Furthest that I have walked is 3.5 miles after snapping a chain on a fixed gear. It was also very cold and dark out with a few rollers.

yogi13

I've walked about 2-3 miles when I had one tube fail at the stem, and the backup blowout at the base of the stem. I carry one extra and a patch kit, and this is the one time that wasn't enough.

I've also had your experience with the tube herniating through a pinhole, though it happened in my driveway at the end of a ride, so it wasn't too much of a walk. BTW, the tire boot trick didn't work in this case, as I tried it while waiting for the replacement tire to come in from PBK.

I've also called SAG (my wife) when 20-25 miles from home after a crash rendered both me and my bike pretty much inoperable.

Walter

When I was about 15 I used to ride from my home in North Miami Beach to the the "strip" in Ft. Lauderdale (you can imagine the attraction of the destination, I'm sure ). Probably about a 30 mile ride. I was a pretty experienced rider for my age but the one time I forgot my repair kit was the time I flatted on the way home.

This was the Pleistocene Age (i.e. no cell phones) and since it was Daylight Savings Time I was riding late enough that the one LBS that was sort of on my way home was closing before I arrived.

Called the parents collect on a payphone (remember it was the Pleistocene and Hollywood Beach where I flatted was long distance and I didn't have a handful of quarters). They weren't real happy but dad came looking and somehow we missed each other.

Long story made short: About a 15 mile hike.

I didn't really mind the hike as I recall now but my parents were steamed.

fosmith

I'll ride it in flat before I'll walk it.

carpediemracing 

Although the OP alludes to this, the first trick to avoid walking is to do a comprehensive job when fixing a new or newly discovered problem with the bike. So if you have a flat, you always check the tire for damage (and rim, and rim tape, etc). If your chain seems like it's not smoothly moving, check the chain and anything that touches it for problems. Etc etc.

The second is to do good preventative maintenance. If your bottom bracket is creaking (or the cranks), take everything apart and examine it. I failed to do this and had a BB axle break on me in the middle of a Gimbles group ride. Checking for worn chains/cassettes and checking air pressure are pretty high on the list. For example, I've never seen a properly installed, good condition chain fail - they've all been chains that the rider "was meaning to replace soon" or "Well, it was skipping a lot" (and ended up missing some rollers, i.e. an unrideable chain). I'll pump up my tires before each ride because road tires inevitably lose air overnight.

If you have a flat, you can ride it for a long time, even a clincher. It may not be fun, but it certainly beats walking. I've ridden a double clincher flat for several miles after double flatting at high speed (on tires with good pressure that I checked before I left my office parking lot).

Finally, if the unthinkable happens and a part in good condition (or at least well within its lifespan) fails and causes the bike to become unrideable (i.e. bar, stem, fork, rim, or both pedals fail), you can walk in socks if you're on paved roads. Dirt shoulders if you're on a trail and don't have mountain bike shoes on.

If a part fails that does not prevent the bike from being ridden (any derailleur cable, spokes, tires, one pedal, wheel axles, derailleurs, seat, post, one brake lever/cable/caliper if you have a road bike with two levers, etc), then ride the thing out. Gingerly, carefully, but ride it.

For what it's worth, the farthest I walked was about 300 yards to the closest building after my BB axle broke. Then I had to wait for about an hour for my gf to finish the ride, get the car, and pick me up. I've never used a Ti BB since, and I check creaks much more quickly than I did back then. I'm not sure what I would have done had she not been on the ride, or if I was riding solo - probably coast down hills and walk up them (the right crankarm fell off so I couldn't apply power to the rear wheel). Nowadays I'd call a cab, friend, relative, whatever.

I've pushed a teammate (with a third teammate helping) for 10-12 miles after the first teammate broke an extremely worn out chain. I never realized how hard it is to climb with, say, an extra 180-190 lbs hanging on to your saddle. It's hard with even less than that (if someone else pushes said hanger on). Therefore I carry a chain tool with me when I ride.

cdr

Flaneur

Once had to walk home six uphill miles after getting a double puncture. My spare had a hole in it and the glue in my repair kit had dried up. Broke the cleats on each shoe and was four expensive hours late for work.

Rode home ten miles with no functioning gears once.......but that's another story:-)

Nachoman

I walked about 10 blocks but only because I was so close to home I figured I could just repair my flat at home, instead of on the side of the road.

I always carry a repair kit.

poptart38247

I broke a spoke about 4 miles from home. I had my dad come pick me up. xD

Youngin

Over the river, through the snow, across the desert, into the sun.

100 feet. My chain broke while going through a bike shop parking lot.

Machka 

It's rare that I've encountered a flat situation so bad I couldn't fix it, but I did have one day many years ago like that, in 1999.

It was a rainy day, I set off on my ride and about 4 km up the road I flatted. I quickly put in a new tube, but flatted again another couple km up the road. I grabbed my second tube, but it was the wrong size (I was running three different wheel sizes in those days), so I stuffed it in as best I could, filled it and rode home. Fortunately, it was only about 5 km. I changed the tube for the correct tube, and set off again ... without a spare tube because I had run out of the size I needed. I got a longer ride in, but this time, 7 km from home, I flatted again. And so I walked home ... in the rain.

Since then I've always kept a healthy collection of tubes in stock.

Homebrew01

I broke a Ti Campy SR BB from the old days, you too ?

+1 on the dollar bill boot. I also have a length of plastic in my seat bag than can be used to wrap around a puncture if you run out of tubes. I found a scrap of plastic once, wrapped it around the hole, got home, forgot about it and it was still good a week later.