commuting punctures

bibibobo

Hi, I am considering cycling into work (10miles each way) from September on as we all know the traffic starts getting crazy around then. I was thinking of packing a spare tube, tyre levers and a pump and was wondering do other people bother ??

Civilian_Target

I do. Needed them once or twice.

GBX

depending on your bike ..might be worth investing in some of those tyres that dont get dont puncture easily.. on mine the name is something like "no flat tyre" theres like membrane which takes a lot of ware before they go down. not sure of the cost as I got my bike from a friend and they have them on it already

Cabaal

GBX wrote:

depending on your bike ..might be worth investing in some of those tyres that dont get dont puncture easily.. on mine the name is something like "no flat tyre" theres like membrane which takes a lot of ware before they go down. not sure of the cost as I got my bike from a friend and they have them on it already

Armadillos?
like this perhaps
http://www.cycleways.com/store/product/19250/Sp.-Infinity-700X32C-Arma/

Raam

I always carry em. Never had to use them on the road yet. Have been commuting for about a year and a half

daymobrew

Puncture resistant tyres ... my favourite topic

I always carry tyre levers, puncture repair kit and small pump. I use another brand, with similar puncture resistance to the Armadillos. Others carry a spare tube. I have a small j-cloth and laytex gloves in my saddle bag to clean up after a puncture repair job.
Similar to King Raam, the tyres have made all the differences - the number of punctures has dropped dramatically in the two years since I got them.

Johnny Jukebox

I always carry 2 tubes, small high pressure pump and Park tool levers. This will cover about 99.9 % of all possibilities.

TBH, the most useful on the road repair tool is a mobile phone

ruprect

I got tyre liners for mine, made from kevlar, very strong. you cut them to size, I took the offcut and was hard pushed to drive a corkscrew threw them.

bibibobo

Hi,

I think i will just go with packing tyre levers and spare tube and fitting pump to frame for the time being. This should be sufficient to get me out of most situations. I'm not sure about a mobile phone being much use, particularly when calling a friend / family in rush hour traffic. Sure the tyre repair would be quicker - I've done one before while mountain biking in 10-15 minutes.

I think I have seen a can of 'sludge' or 'slim' which can be used in fix or prevent punctures - this would be useful for small holes. Has anybody got experience using these products??

Also, are these glueless patches of any use? http://www.cycleways.com/store/product/23866/Weldtite-Glueless-patch-kit/

D

Morgan

bibibobo wrote:

Sure the tyre repair would be quicker - I've done one before while mountain biking in 10-15 minutes.

Also, are these glueless patches of any use? http://www.cycleways.com/store/product/23866/Weldtite-Glueless-patch-kit/

Did you stop for a rest halfway through?

I wouldn't bother with glueless patches - they tend to peel off after a while. Tip Top repair kits (in the little green boxes) are the best I've used.

blorg

The Specialized Armadillos work _really_ well, I cycled on them for three years without a single puncture (until the end, when they were seriously worn out.) Replaced now with Vittoria Kevlar ones which I hope will do as well.

Note a puncture repair kit is generally smaller than a spare tube.