Getting a puncture, what do you do.

[Leaway2]

Pre repaired tube, repair later.

 

[VamP]

Depending on the wheel,

Front: You stop, get off the bike undo the brake release, undo the quick release skewer, unscrew it to get it over the lawyers lips (you can pull it straight out if you have had the foresight to file the lawyers lips off), then you throw it in the bushes and await the team car. You then let the mechanic do his job!

Rear: Jam it in the small chainring and small cog, then stop and jump off the bike, undo the brake release, undo the QR, pull the rear mech backwards and down while lifting the bike up and to the side, the rear wheel will drop out, chuck it in the bushes and await the team car. You then let the mechanic do his job!

Once sorted, you command your domestiques to pace you back in! Later on back at the hotel, you tell the mechanic he best have some new tubs glued on by the morning (even though you know it will take much longer than the time allotted to do it) or his head is on the chopping block!

I throw the whole bike in the bushes, and get a new one.

Important: Don't forget to intimate to the mechanic, preferably using body language rather than words, that he was at fault for the puncture happening in the first place.

 

[Ningishzidda]

The best idea is to repair the tube BEFORE you get the puncture.....

 

[ColinJ]

I always carry at least 2 spare tubes. On long rides (100+ miles), I would probably carry 3. I also carry 1.5 puncture repair kits - a new one and what is left of the old one. The spare kit is in case I run out of patches or the solution has dried up since I last used it.

I would usually choose to replace tubes if I puncture while I am out, and do the repairs at home. If I have run out of tubes because of multiple punctures or because I have donated my spares to unprepared cyclists in distress, then I repair the punctures at the roadside.

I have never phoned anybody to pick me up if I had an unrepairable mechanical problem, and wouldn't. I would walk back, or catch a train. (It has only happened once, on a forum ride to Blackpool when my rear wheel broke a spoke and became really wobbly. I had to remove my rear mudguard and brake and limped over to Blackpool station to catch a train home.)

 

[tyred]

Puncture resistant tyres

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Depends on the bike.

Brompton gets Park patched* so I don't have to faff with taking wheels off.

All other bikes** get new tube on the spot. If it is a pinch flat old tube goes in nearest bin (which may be at home). If a foreign object has pierced the tube it gets repaired at home, with old school glue'n'stuff, and is carried as a spare, alongside my brand new spares, to be given to a poor unsuspecting fool someone on a club run, a group ride or a FNRttC, as required.

*one visitation in a year of use.

**six visitations*** on road goers since 2008. Countless visitations off road, though my off-road riding mates seem to get visits at a ratio of approx 5:1 of mine.

***three on the same commute; tyres that came with wheels I bought off here; schwalbe superfast jobbies ending on o. All the puncture resistance of the rizla paper. Only time I've had to phone home for a lift home. Becuase my last spare tube didn't fit the deep section rim and it was hissing down.

But then I don't ride the mean street of that Lahndahn Town that often.

 

[Tanis8472]

Carry innertube and repair when I get home