Tubes tire repairs

[lotsa_mpg]

Just wondering what you long distance riders carry along with you for fixing flats? I'm beginning to like going for longer rides and am thinking I should be prepared for the inevitable.....but what to take? a can of that foam stuff? a tire & tube patch kit? an extra tire and tube? if so, how to store it? what kind of pump? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Pete

 

[Torques]

I carry along enough spare energy in my body to push her home. It happened two days ago, catostraphic blowout. I was 8 1/2 miles from home and pushed it in + 106 temperature. I barely made it home. But the slime in the tube kept the air and tire intact until coming to a stop.

 

[JosephGarcia]

my Target here sells these innertubes with this blue goo in them for 6 bucks. I've used the same tubes in 4 different bikes for 3 years now. no leaks, no flats, no issues whatsoever.


I keep a spare set in my house just in case, but have never needed them.

 

[DougC]

I'm new to the motorized aspect, but not the bicycling part.

My preferred equipment is:
1) flat-resistant tires (Schwalbe Marathon Plus is my bomb-proof choice, but there are others cheaper)
2) old-style glue+patch kit (noxious, flammable glue),
3) Topeak Mountain Morph pump (a folding "floor-style" pump,with a hose to prevent bending the tire stem during inflating)
4) I also like to carry a spare tube that is known-good (either a new tube or a patched & tested tube). The first flat then I can just change to the new tube.
-----
The Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires above are $45 each.
Some cheaper good ones are the Continental Town & Country tires, they come in 2.1" width.

You need a wrench to get the wheel off, if it's nutted. Something thin+stiff to stick through the tire-hole to push out debris is a good idea too. Bicycle multi-tools usually have something usable for this.

I don't carry tire levers, don't need them. You shouldn't need tools to get a bicycle tire off and on, and they tend to pinch tubes anyway.
~

 

[Herrmanator8]

I was studying walmarts poor selection of bike selection trying to find something to buy that i dont really need...but why not? anyway, i sal this big box and it was a non-flatting tire. it was simply made of a complex mesh and foam mixture and that goes in you tire. you could stab you tire 10 times with a knife with this non flatting tube and you can still go. shure its a slightly bumpier ride because you dont have all that give that the air does but it shure beats pushing a bike 8 miles. yet the cost was something like $22.00 but i think its worth it all th way.

jon

 

[azbill]

I was studying walmarts poor selection of bike selection trying to find something to buy that i dont really need...but why not? anyway, i sal this big box and it was a non-flatting tire. it was simply made of a complex mesh and foam mixture and that goes in you tire. you could stab you tire 10 times with a knife with this non flatting tube and you can still go. shure its a slightly bumpier ride because you dont have all that give that the air does but it shure beats pushing a bike 8 miles. yet the cost was something like $22.00 but i think its worth it all th way.

jon

are they hard to install???
I ask because I bought a pos 10$ bike off craigs list just because it had solid tubes ...but I cant' get them on my rims (way to much tension)
they are same size tires n rims but...???

 

[SlicerDicer]

I usto use them they are a TOTAL pain to get on but fully worth it... use screwdrivers to get them on and skewer the hell out of it if needed. You cannot really damage it

I am planning on going to them again. I never had a flat for years on my full suspension Giant that thing was a beast.

 

[Torques]

I've heard the solid tires can be good but also there is a big difference in feel and performance. In other words, you can purchase these kinds of solid tires, some will perform like tires that have 20 lbs pressure in them and some will perform like 50 lbs. Make sure you know the specificatoins for the tire. Some manufactures's tires, with the same pressure rating, perform differently. You might love them or hate them, the feel that is.

 

[bamabikeguy]

My bike shop guy, Paul Watson, said once he started selling/installing Tuffy Tire liners ($10 a pair), his repair business declined by ninety percent.

Also, I keep my slime tubes aired up in the upper 35+ pound range.

When I was coming back in El Dorado Arkansas I has a flat. THAT was a surprise, and when I put on my spare, I found the culprit was a SPOKE END rubbing thru the rubber gasket.

So, on every bike I build, I wrap around the spokeends about 3 or 4 layers of electrical tape.

When I push the nozzle thru the hole, the fragment of tape around the hole also cushions the nozzle, it no longer touches metal.