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

[Rickshaw Phil]

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.

Since starting my current job just over a year and a half ago, 3 punctures out on the road (1 x faulty tube, 1 x shard of glass 1 x hawthorn) and 3 at work (all faulty tubes). I'm another of those rural commuters so again, public transport isn't really an option.

A repair kit and a tube or two take up so little space and weight I don't understand what the issue is with carrying them.

 

[summerdays]

I've had two in the last year or so, one on a ring road that I don't think had many buses at that time ... And one up a mountain (definitely no buses even at the foot of the hill!)

 

[Pat "5mph"]

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

Well, on sturdy, well inflated, daily inspected for debris tyres maybe once a year.
If I'm walking distance from home/work/friends sometimes I don't carry a repair kit. Got one at work though, obviously many at home, and all my friends cycle, so they will have one to give me.
Roadies on skinny tyres will have more punctures i guess.
Any distance over 5 miles I will carry spare tube, patches, pump, multitool + chain tool and spare links.

 

[Saluki]

I live in Cornwall. I'm not sure that there is public transport in the county. I might be wrong but I've not seen a bus yet.
It takes 5 minutes to change an innertube, if that. 6 or 7 mins to patch a hole and be back on the road. I always carry a patch kit, Co2 kit too as I'm lazy and hate pumping. Oh, I carry a small mini pump too.

 

[Tim Hall]

Roadies on skinny tyres will have more punctures i guess.

Hmm, that's interesting. A skinny tyre will have a long thin contact patch. Won't that have a lower chance of encountering something sharp than a wide contact patch of the same area. Add to that the likelihood that a skinny roadie tyre is going to be at a higher pressure than a big hybrid tyre, then the contact patch will be smaller anyway. On the other hand the big hybrid tyre might be a thick puncture resistant job, while the skinny roadie tyre is an object made of gossamer and fairy wings with all the puncture resistance of a breath of fresh air. I dunno.

 

[slowmotion]

Hmm, that's interesting. A skinny tyre will have a long thin contact patch. Won't that have a lower chance of encountering something sharp than a wide contact patch of the same area. Add to that the likelihood that a skinny roadie tyre is going to be at a higher pressure than a big hybrid tyre, then the contact patch will be smaller anyway. On the other hand the big hybrid tyre might be a thick puncture resistant job, while the skinny roadie tyre is an object made of gossamer and fairy wings with all the puncture resistance of a breath of fresh air. I dunno.

Good points. The other possible advantage of skinny tyres is that the riders of them tend to be acutely aware of the road surface (grooves etc) and so might be expected to spot more fairy material compared to bigger-tyred riders. Well, it's a thought.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Good points. The other possible advantage of skinny tyres is that the riders of them tend to be acutely aware of the road surface (grooves etc) and so might be expected to spot more fairy material compared to bigger-tyred riders. Well, it's a thought.

Ermm, I do look where I'm cycling
Anyhoo, twice an inner exploded on me (tear of the valve), once at home, once about 30 miles from home, miles away from any main road.
Without a spare tube I would have been in trouble!

 

[Deleted member 1258]

4000-5000 miles a year, 3 or 4 puncture a year. Most rides out in the sticks, 30-40 miles from home and no public transport equals a long walk home. In town lock bike up and abandon it to continue on foot or public transport, get back to it the following day to find all thats left is the frame, the local yobs have stripped it overnight. The op is having a LARF.

 

[Thursday guy]

Sorry. Am speechless. Await more posts on your minimalist approach to cycling.

Haha I didn't realise quite the fuss this would cause. Most people I see cycling around town don't seem to be carrying anything more than themselves when cycling. I have to say this place and the reaction here is quite fascinating to me as a casual rider.

 

[Thursday guy]

4000-5000 miles a year, 3 or 4 puncture a year. Most rides out in the sticks, 30-40 miles from home and no public transport equals a long walk home. In town lock bike up and abandon it to continue on foot or public transport, get back to it the following day to find all thats left is the frame, the local yobs have stripped it overnight. The op is having a LARF.

I was actually thinking of leaving the bike outside for a few hours rather than overnight, at least until you are back from work/meeting, before going back to pick up the bike.

Unless your bike is worth more than £800 and/or you have a bad lock, I don't think you would have much issue with having it parked in a reasonably busy space for that amount time during the day in most cities.

 

[Thursday guy]

.

Most people I know carry inner tubes and punctures are very arbitrary, you could have 2 on a ride then not have any for ages. You just dont know. I think your winding people up here.

Winding people up?

This place is quite funny. You ask a plain question and get treated with deep suspicions. At first I thought it was just jokes and banter, now it seems some are genuinely quite offended. I hate to be blunt, but maybe some people here should learn to be a little less sensitive and realise that there's a world of cyclists beyond their small serious community, people who are quite 'casual' in their approach to cycling, who don't pack repair kits and are ready to fix a puncture on the go.

Around where I live, public transport is decent. I wouldn't say excellent though. But if I do have a puncture, I wouldn't hesitate to lock it up besides a rack and take the bus/train to where I need to be, or even push the bike with me for the rest of the journey, rather than spend 20 mins outside potentially in the wind and rain fiddling around with the tyres and get bike grease on me.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

to 20 minutes (rear wheel, Alfine hub, language that would make any passing sailor blush).

Genuine question, what are you doing that it takes so long with an Alfine hub?

Do you use a 2mm Allen key in the little rotator slot to loosen off the cable tension & unhitch it & same getting it back on? It's as quick as hoiking a derailleur out of the way but Shimano do tend to expect you to know the slot is there.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Winding people up?

This place is quite funny. You ask a plain question and get treated with deep suspicions. At first I thought it was just jokes and banter, now it seems some are genuinely quite offended. I hate to be blunt, but maybe some people here should learn to be a little less sensitive and realise that there's a world of cyclists beyond their small serious community, people who are quite 'casual' in their approach to cycling, who don't pack repair kits and are ready to fix a puncture on the go.

Around where I live, public transport is decent. I wouldn't say excellent though. But if I do have a puncture, I wouldn't hesitate to lock it up besides a rack and take the bus/train to where I need to be, or even push the bike with me for the rest of the journey, rather than spend 20 mins outside potentially in the wind and rain fiddling around with the tyres and get bike grease on me.

You tend to find the more committed/interested/enthusiastic types on web forums though.

I don't subscribe to the elitist 'cyclist vs person on a bike' bollocks in the slightest but if you think being equipped to change a puncture mid ride makes me some sort of bike snob, then guilty as charged.

This place is a positive Mecca of calm and acceptance of occasionally daft questions and strange notions to enthusiasts compared to other bike forums.

What were you expecting this place to be if not a place for people who are adept and keen enough to perform the most simple repair task on a bike and one which is an occupational hazard when riding, rather than go to the extra time and cost inconveniences that comes along with bailing out at the first sign of a minor problem to deal with.

 

[Blue Hills]

Winding people up?

This place is quite funny. You ask a plain question and get treated with deep suspicions. At first I thought it was just jokes and banter, now it seems some are genuinely quite offended. I hate to be blunt, but maybe some people here should learn to be a little less sensitive and realise that there's a world of cyclists beyond their small serious community, people who are quite 'casual' in their approach to cycling, who don't pack repair kits and are ready to fix a puncture on the go.

I think if I were you I would be inclined to take some of the advice on this thread.

You could have fixed a puncture in less time than it has taken you to pore over this thread.

Or don't take the advice and report back on your experiences with your system.

 

[Thursday guy]

You tend to find the more committed/interested/enthusiastic types on web forums though.

I don't subscribe to the elitist 'cyclist vs person on a bike' bollocks in the slightest but if you think being equipped to change a puncture mid ride makes me some sort of bike snob, then guilty as charged.

This place is a positive Mecca of calm and acceptance of occasionally daft questions and strange notions to enthusiasts compared to other bike forums.

What were you expecting this place to be if not a place for people who are adept and keen enough to perform the most simple repair task on a bike and one which is an occupational hazard when riding, rather than go to the extra time and cost inconveniences that comes along with bailing out at the first sign of a minor problem to deal with.

Haha where did you get the idea that I thought people are snobs for being able to fix a puncture?

There's no 'elitist cyclist vs person on a bike bollocks' apart from maybe your own imagination. What I actually said, is that I find it hilarious some people here could have such an enclosed mindset to think someone is winding others up just because they asked a simple question about what people carry with them on rides.

It's not too much of a stretch of the imagination to think that some cyclists, probably most by my guess, don't constantly carry repair kits with them and therefore wouldn't fix a puncture on the spot if they had one. I'm not surprised in a cycling dedicated forum that most here are capable of repairing on the spot. What I am surprised about, is the level of detachment from reality that some here have displayed.