Why do people bother to carry puncture repair kits with them?

[Thursday guy]

In the off chance that your tyres get punctured, would you not just use public transport?

I would lock my bike up to a nearby rack, and then catch a bus or taxi to where-ever I need to be. Do other people's tyres get punctured that often to make it worthwhile constantly carrying a repair kit?

 

[mjr]

Puncture kit is only a few grams so it seems worth it. Public transport is useless in most rural areas away from the biggest main roads after 5pm. Racks are also relatively rare (shops, doctors and few other places), plus you'd be letting louts attack the bike for hours.

 

[Tanis8472]

10-20miles in the middle of the fens. No public transport

 

[winjim]

I would lock my bike up to a nearby rack, and then catch a bus or taxi to where-ever I need to be. Do other people's tyres get punctured that often to make it worthwhile constantly carrying a repair kit?

But then how do you get your bike back? You'd need to make another journey, what, in the car or something? You've got to repair it sometime so you might as well do it straight away. I wouldn't bother with a patch though, just put a new tube in. It only takes five minutes and you're on your way again. Then spend the time you would have spent picking the bike up patching the old tube, at home with a cuppa.

 

[ColinJ]

Why do people prefer to carry a lock to lock their bike up when they get a puncture, and then have to wait for transport when they could just carry a smaller and lighter puncture kit and be on their way in about 10 minutes!

(Also, as people have pointed out above - many of us cycle to interesting places miles from civilisation where not only is there no public transport, but often no phone boxes or mobile network coverage either so no way to summon a taxi or lift.)

 

[glasgowcyclist]

But then how do you get your bike back? You'd need to make another journey, what, in the car or something?

He buys a new one, or sends the butler back for it.

GC

 

[slowmotion]

You might as well fix it at the roadside or put in a spare tube. The only time I've used motorised recovery was when my fingers were too cold to function. Baroness Slowmotion rode to the rescue.

 

[Thursday guy]

Fair point about rural surroundings with no alternative transport. But apart from that, to me it seems unnecessary hassle to have to constantly carry the repair kit and spend time fiddling around trying to fix it outside. How often to punctures occur anyway? Surely it can't be more than once a year if you're unlucky.

 

[Sharky]

Always carry a repair kit and at least 1 spare tube. Would always first attempt to repair at the roadside if the hole was obvious. Using the spare straight away is OK, but if you didn't detect the cause of the puncture, you could be flat again in a few yards and with no fallback plan.

Puncture repair is one skill that you should have learned when you got your first bike and is not really a hassle. I can think of other breakdowns which would be.

 

[Thursday guy]

[QUOTE 4251767, member: 9609"]True story - I was once showing off my Armidillos to my brother telling him of being puncture free for over 2000 miles, best tyres ever - within the next few weeks I had two punctures - you must never ever tempt the puncture fairy, and you just did, so good luck mate - LOL[/QUOTE]

I wasn't so much tempting fate as trying to get at the question of often do people usually get punctures?

 

[mjr]

Fair point about rural surroundings with no alternative transport. But apart from that, to me it seems unnecessary hassle to have to constantly carry the repair kit and spend time fiddling around trying to fix it outside. How often to punctures occur anyway? Surely it can't be more than once a year if you're unlucky.

Depends how much you ride!

And it's not only remote rural areas. If I ride to anywhere other than the two nearest towns, or anywhere after 5, I probably can't get a bus home... and by the time I take a chain of buses or wait for a taxi from a town, I could have fixed the blasted thing and ridden home.

 

[0lonerider]

I always carry one and a tube

 

[slowmotion]

You can ride for months on debris-strewn city streets and not get one. You can ride for a week and get five. There's no logic to it...it just happens. It's probably a good idea to be vaguely prepared.

 

[fossyant]

Two tubes and a kit. Takes 5 minutes to change a tube. its going to take longer to lock the bike find a bus stop then get home. The kit weighs nothing. I've once had two punctures on one commute.

only idiots ride without a pump and a kit/spare tubes.

 

[rualexander]

I wasn't so much tempting fate as trying to get at the question of often do people usually get punctures?

About one puncture every 2000 miles these days, mostly rural riding. Always carry a spare tube and puncture repair kit, would never dream of leaving bike somewhere and getting public transport home (even if there was public transport). Worst case scenario (unrepairable problem) I would stash bike in some woods locked to a tree and try and hitch back to civilisation, and return for bike later.