I hate walking my bike

after running a high adventure mountain biking program with the scouts, I will say patches will hold for some time. However it really depends on where the hole is. If it is near a seam, you are SOL. If it is on a sidewall you are fine and can run it for a long time. zGranted i was running 8-10 kids through a bieking afternoon and only had a patch kit and maybe a spare tube. Milk levers were a plus and so was my pocket pump.

Road bike tires, I will curse more but they don't take too much longer than a mtb tire to repair on get back on the rim.

Maybe I should start another thread, but I'll ask here. Mini pumps, frame pumps or CO2 cartridge. I currently carry CO2, but have realized in repairing this flat that I couldn't find the leak without putting air in the tube. If I was on the road, then I'd be using up CO2. I used to have a mini pump, but it seemed a royal pain. Too many pumps and not enough pressure. Are the larger frame pumps any better? I've been reading reviews and every pump out there has people who love it and others that hate it. What do you guys use?

I use a frame pump on my MTB, as I can fill a tire relatively easy on the trail, and I run fairly low pressures in my tubeless setup. I use a mini-pump / CO2 combo in my road bike kit, so I can pump a couple pounds of air into my tube to find leaks, and then fill with CO2 when the repair's done. Thankfully, I've only needed to use this one a couple of times. I'm not confident that it would hold up for long under frequent use.

When I was riding regularly in the past, it was mostly 4 to 5 hour rides on the weekends. I carried the CO2 and my wife carried the mini pump. Now that I'm riding more frequently, but for less distance, in the evenings, I'm trying to decide whether to add the mini pump, or just get a frame pump. There will be times when SWMBO won't be able to come and get me, so I'll need to be self sufficient on the road.

Craig, have you ever used the frame pump with the road bike? How much pressure can you generate? Brand?

Toothpick said:

isn't there a "run flat" bike tire yet? cars have them why not bikes?

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You have the green goop for tyres but I don't know how effective it is.

strop said:

Craig, have you ever used the frame pump with the road bike? How much pressure can you generate? Brand?

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My newer pump (on the MTB) is a Blackburn Mammoth 2 Stage (switchable between High Volume vs. High Pressure). I haven't had a reason to use it yet, but I think I'll give it a test run before I take out either of my bikes next month, to make sure I can work it when I need it. My old pump was a basic stubby MTB pump, maybe a Blackburn also, but it was over 15 years ago when I bought it. I'm guessing I was able to get about 50 lb. from it, but it wasn't fun. It was basically enough to get me back home to the floor pump or to the nearest gas station.

I like 95 - 100 lbs. in my road tires, so I'm sticking with CO2 for that one. I don't want my riding (or repairs) to start turning into an upper-body cardio workout, if I can help it. Thankfully, I'm rarely more than a few miles from a bike shop or sporting goods store in my neighborhood, so I can re-stock easily.

Thought about running some Gator Hardshells or Gator Skins, Mark?
6 months so far, and not one puncture (touch wood) and have ridden over some pretty nasty looking stuff on the road.

Inalways carry tubes and patches. Usualy i put a tube in and repair the puncture at home. Ive had a patche on a tube for months and its always been fine.
As for the green slime stuff, its okay if you arnt doing a big distance but if you are I wouldnt bother. It adds alot of rotational weight making the bike seem sluggish, also if you slash your tyre are your unfortunate for the tube to blow, it makes one hell of a mess.
I used to work in a bike shop a few years ago and a customer was pumping up his tyre with slime, it exploded in his face which led to him crawling on the floor saying he was blind. It was okay in the end he wasnt blind but the slime is still on the ceiling of that store.

Andy said:

Thought about running some Gator Hardshells or Gator Skins, Mark?
6 months so far, and not one puncture (touch wood) and have ridden over some pretty nasty looking stuff on the road.

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These tyres are amazing, also specialized armadillo tyres are great too but they dont roll as well.

I think patches work perfectly fine IF you let the vulcanize for a couple of hours before using the tube again, preferable 12h+. For that reason I always carry an extra tube and only have patches as an emergency if a get a second puncture. Get at small saddle bag to put the tub in and you don't have to think about it again.

So far so good. We'll see how today's ride goes. Never used the slime, but have heard others say it adds weight and affects balance.

Andy, those tires look interesting. If this starts to became a habit, I will definitely look into those.

Chris, what size CO2 cartridge do you use? I could never seem to get them to go up that high.

Mr Tuffy tire liners. Good stuff. Prevention is better than repair.

Ive got Gator Skins on my road bike after a few fixes in a couple weeks, due to the dirty, dirty roads here in LA (state, not city).

I run a spare tube and fix the popped one back home, CO2, and a mini-pump. I can get about 80 lbs out of the mini easily and quicly enough. My last two pops I used it vs the CO2. I haven't had a flat since I put on the gators.