Gotta rant from my soapbox today.....
So, this a.m., I met my friend, Terry, for our commute in to work.
He parked his truck at my house, and we started our ride.
Three miles into it, he hits a pot hole - BAM! - and flats.
We pull the bikes into a parking lot off the road, away from traffic.
He's got a standard snake bite. I ask him when the last time he checked the pressure in his tires was. "Oh, I don't know," he said. "Two or three weeks ago?" Arrrrggghhhh!!! No wonder he pinch-flatted!!!
He's got NO spare tube (and it's 27" tire with a schraeder valve, so I can't give him my spare), NO functional patches (ancient and non-sticky), and a pump that can't work for beans. We need to spread the stays on his old touring bike with horizontal dropouts just to get the wheel back on. So....after spending 20 minutes fighting with the wheel, finding the hole and patching it, we get the wheel back on (the spread of the brakes is such that he needs to re-mount the wheel deflated), and re-filling the tire....only to discover that we, somewhere, missed a SECOND hole in the tube!!!!
Aaarrrrgghhh!!! At this point, he's on the phone with his wife and I continue my ride without him (arriving at work 1/2 hour late). He ended up going home, fixing the tire, putting a spare tube in his saddlebag (yay!) and riding from our half-way point, so he'll be here for the p.m. ride home.
But, geez, people......
Please...as a matter of practicality, convenience, safety, and everything else, have a full set of proper tools on your bike so that you can make roadside repairs...and be able to do them quickly and easily. If you can't fix a flat....visit your LBS and have them show you how. And then practice in the comfort and convenience of your home so you are prepared for incidents on the road! Oh....and check the air in your tires before EVERY ride!!!
Okay. Off my soapbox. Thanks!