shelbyfv

A couple of press on patches probably weighs less than a condom. IME, you are more likely to have multiple flats than to get lucky on tour.

Buffalo Buff

Sounds like someone should re-asses their touring priorities

Doug64

Another aspect of planning to stop at a bike shop in the next town for a new tube is the time involved finding the shop and making the transaction. I could probably patch several tubes in the same amount of time, and do it on down time in camp.

We had 13 punctures on one tour, a couple were non-repairable. I would not want to spend the time to find that many bike shops.

azza_333

I don't carry any first aid or medical kit on tour, if the injury is bad enough that first aid cant wait a day, then no mini first aid kit will help any better than tearing up my second jersey.

Lusitaniarider

Hi
On my experience of patching punctures: glue-patches take time to stick firmly to the rubber. So i chose to replace a new inner tube for the punctured tube, and replace the flat later in the tour or even later at home with the patches. Never seen the glueless patches!

They also require pressure to stick firmly to the rubber. On the weight issue, we must admit that the sarcasm from the other bloke in this forum was funny and to the point. You will never notice 100g more or less of rubber or patches in your pack, not even climbing. Besides if you travel on your carbon fibre speed machine you're already on a light bike- and these do make a difference when climbing compared to an AL road bike or MTB. On a tour, it should not make much difference, again unless you're only climbing.
Be safe.

BigAura

For me, my patch kit is 0.4 ounces and my spare tube is 5.7 ounces. If I really cared about weight I'd ditch the tube and more than likely be fine.

work4bike

If you're getting to the point in your UL mindset of thinking about throwing out your patch repair kit, then I would give the UL thinking a rest for a while. I've been in many places where there were no bike shops around for umpteen miles, so unless you're always touring near cities, than don't even consider ditching the tube repair kit.


BTW, why did you throw out the patched tube? I've had tubes with tons of patches, the patches are actually stronger than the tube.

psy

And this is where UL starts to get obsessive if not downright ridiculous. Not bringing things like patches and rudimentary first aid to save literally grams?
I've only had 2 flats in over 12900 miles touring(marathon mondials) and there's no way I'd do a tour without a tube and patch kit. A couple of sheets of tagaderm are priceless if you take a spill and get some road rash and weigh nothing.
maybe these are some of the reasons UL isn't more mainstream. Most people prefer to be somewhat prepared for a variety of situations when planning extended trips that put them in remote areas.

staehpj1

I agree on the patches, but on the first aid, most first aid kits people carry are pretty worthless. Also folks typically think nothing of going for a 50 ride near home without a first aid kit. I carry a few ounces of first aid stuff, but truth be told could get by almost as well with improvised stuff. For most wounds of any severity a clean tee shirt or sock and the duct tape you wrapped around your water bottle will likely work better than what is in the average first aid kit, which typically isn't much use on any but the most minor injuries. The only things in my first aid kit that I'd feel bad about leaving behind are benadryl, steri-strips, and CA glue.

psy

Just because a lot of people carry first aid that isn't that helpful isn't a reason not to bring stuff that is. It's a pretty simple thing to put one together yourself that weighs next to nothing and has relevant items you're likely to need if you take a spill or cut yourself or something. Sure I could improvise, and I do, duct tape and crazy glue work wonders, but Cutting up a 50 dollar shirt isn't part of My first aid go to plan. Obviously the further you get from help the more important and more extensive the kit should become. A little gauze, a couple sheets of tagaderm and a few band aids area easy enough to carry and make dealing with cuts or road rash(the two most likely injuries to carry stuff to deal with ime) a lot easier and more COMFORTABLE.
funny I keep feeling the need to use that word when discussing UL.

shipwreck

just to point out first aid is not only about gauze and band aids. I usually have some chewable pepto, Imodium tablets, some aspirin or tylonol, and have used them. And like my chain tool, the only time on a tour ive used a gauze bandage and ointment it was on someone else, who didn't have them. It was a pretty severe burn, on a neighboring car camper at a fairly remote park late at night. I was the only person there with anything appropriate.

mdilthey

FWIW, I did an entire 1,500-mile tour without any long pants, but I had two flat kits.

alan s 

Just finished a four day trip in the Keys. Three flats in four days. One in the middle of a 3 mile long bridge, and then was hit by a torrential downpour as soon as the tire was remounted, but before it was inflated. Sat out the storm for 30 minutes. All flats from little pieces of wire. The glue patches are much better in my opinion. Stick on patches don't hold as well.

Make that 4 for 4. Another flat today that I didn't see until the ferry ride was over. Time for a new tube.

saddlesores

i see youse guyse is totally prepared.....except for when it comes to real life.

have fun on tour 3 days from civilization with your explosive diarrhea!!!!




****quotes may be quoted out of context. solly.*****

niknak

How many of you carry a first aid kit on a day ride? What do you bring? I know my day rides are typically more dangerous because I have to navigate through a lot of traffic to get to the scenic roads and trails. I've never brought a first aid kit on these rides. Although I do always bring some Ibuprofen.

On a tour in Japan with little villages maybe every 30-40km in even the most sparsely populated areas, you'd be fine without a first aid kit.

robow

I won't say they are worthless but yea, most people can probably put together a much better kit designed for their individual needs than any prepackaged first aid kit. There's no way I would tour without mine. It has not seen infrequent use by myself and others I tour with.

cyccommute 

+1 I carry spare tubes because they are convenient. Slip out the punctured one and slip in a unpunctured tube, then fix the puncture later. But an unpunctured tube is only good for one flat. If you are going to only carry a tube, then you should carry enough tubes to cover all possible flats you might encounter. Having had flats from two separate causes within 100 yards of one another, I wouldn't depend on tubes alone.

In fact, I'd depend on the patch kit before I depended on tubes. A larger Rema Tiptop patch kit with a 2oz tube of glue will repair about 10 punctures before the glue is gone. I buy patches by the 100 box...I live where goatheads are a curse...and always add more patches to every Rema kit I carry. I could easily carry 3 patch kits with enough patches to fix 30 flats in the weight and volume of a single tube. It takes more time to fix a flat on the road with a patch but at least I can do it more than once.

I do carry around 10 patches with me at all times...goatheads remember..and I have been on a mountain bike ride where 4 people used all of my tubes (2) all of their tubes (4) and the 10 patches in my kit, the 10 in my wife's kit and all of the patches in 2 more kits (they didn't have 10 in them) and we still didn't have enough. Between the 4 of us, we had 27 flats. My wife had 2 (both in the tire that didn't have the liner), the guy with the tubeless tires had 5 (one of the reasons I'm not a fan of tubeless) and the last poor person got 20 of them. She ended up pumping up the tire, riding as fast as she could for as far as she could and then pumping up the tire again. We did about 5 miles of this before the end of the ride.

Oh, and I had no flats whatsoever. I'm convinced that Mr. Tuffys work and crowed loudly about it! But Karma is a harsh mistress. The next time I did the same ride, I carried a bike up the last steep pitch with the tires falling off the rim and I stopped counting flats at 60. I carry a few more patches and don't tempt Karma

I suppose if I were using the stick on (temporary) patches, I'd throw away the tube as well but with a good patch kit ***cough***Rema***cough*** there's no need. I usually stop patching when I feel the number of patches per tube is ridiculous...around 30.