On road inner tube repair

[C R]

You borrow your mate's tube and CO2, of course!

I have no mates, you insensitive clod.

 

[Vantage]

Stuff the tyre full of grass.

That's an old wives tale and doesn't actually work.

 

[Shearwater Missile]

I always carry two spare tubes since damaging one whilst fitting on the roadside. I also carry a repair kit but that would not have been a lot of good when my last puncture was at the base of the valve, nothing actually through the tyre. Having two, you can also help some one else out and still have one left but keeping your fingers crossed at the same time !

 

[Paulus]

Stuff the tyre full of grass.

Very old school approach, but one that will get you home.

 

[Vantage]

Very old school approach, but one that will get you home.

No it won't.
I'd love to be proven wrong but I've tried it. It doesn't work.
The amount of grass needed even in a 22c tyre is ridiculous. Getting enough grass into the tyre to support a riders weight makes it near impossible to remount the tyre on the rim. After a very short distance, if you succeeded in filling and fitting the tyre, the grass gets squished and you end up running a flat tyre again.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Very old school approach, but one that will get you home.

I've never tried this, but I'm trying to imagine it. You'd need a lot of grass. If you had access to a large pile of clippings that would be good. And now you need to fill the tyre with highly compacted grass. It would take ages, and be very frustrating. If not done sufficiently tightly it would be the same as just riding on flat. And by the time you've finished stuffing the tyre - (or possibly decided that this is a stupid idea and given up) you could have walked quite a significant distance.

Edit: How about miniature tennis balls? If you had a supply of tiny tennis balls of the right diameter that could work. Although you might need some mighty tyre levers to get the tyre re-mounted. Now some of you might scoff. What are the chances of coming across a supply of such diminutive tennis balls at the roadside at the exact time that you have a puncture. Well, I'm guessing that the chances of this are higher than the chances of the grass method working.

 

[Sharky]

No it won't.
I'd love to be proven wrong but I've tried it. It doesn't work.
The amount of grass needed even in a 22c tyre is ridiculous. Getting enough grass into the tyre to support a riders weight makes it near impossible to remount the tyre on the rim. After a very short distance, if you succeeded in filling and fitting the tyre, the grass gets squished and you end up running a flat tyre again.

Probably a very old myth, but my Dad said that he did it once (pre ww2) to get home. Don't know how successful it was.
Can't ask him now.

 

[Sharky]

One or two spare inners and a full repair kit.
Will always try and repair the punctured one first and keep the spares spare.

In the old days, when tubs were the fashion, used to carry two spare tubs, razor blade, waxed thread and needle and a repair kit. More than once had more punctures than spares and managed to repair them at the road side. Have also ridden home on a flat tub, as it was still sticking to the rim.

Also used to carry a "thimble" as well, to help sew the tyre back up

 

[Racing roadkill]

That's an old wives tale and doesn't actually work.

I know, I was being facetious.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I know, I was being facetious.

I have a friend who has (a) a barn full of tatty old bikes and (b) a humungous pile of grass clippings. If I'm there next summer I may take one of his old bikes and put this method to the test.