I never carry tubes and I’m not tubeless. Not had a puncture in years

Poor you. You must be running tyre pressures ridiculously high or average speeds over the fun stuff depressingly slow.

I too have lately started taking less kit on rides however I’d always take a pump and tube out at minimum in a hip bag. Over the past few years I’ve probably given away more tibes to fellow cyclists than I’ve used myself.

Always take a tube, two CO2 and a nano flate. They’ve never let me down. For epic must get home, I have a frame mounted mountain morph and carry two tubes and some patches too

Had two tubeless fail on the road needing tubes in the past two years. One was a very fragile Corsa Speed. The other a robust G One Speed

I take 3xC02 and a tube and a puncture kit. I run tubes though.

Dunno when the tube left my commuting pack, but haven’t carried one I reckon for a few years. Got stranded once, but that was because my pump broke.
One mtb puncture in memory and that was fixed by Dyna-plug and a quick pump.
Not sure why it upsets Trailrider Jim that someone else doesn’t get punctures. 😂

Can I ask what pump you use? always good to get a recommendation. Maybe my pump is inadequate

Try a lezyne. One of the higher volume ones.

Never carry a tube or a pump. I’ve done the walk of shame twice in the last 20 years.

I have a dynaplug its excellent, great for using where a ride isn’t too far from the car, so winch and descent spots. I think that if it happened, the dynaplug would get me back to the car where I leave the tube, pump, etc. I haven’t needed to use the dynaplug myself, but I have been generous enough to use it on friends punctures and its worked fine each time.

Bigger rides, yes still carry a tube and a pump which does CO2 and holds a canister.

i have a pump, tube and dynaplug permanently in my downtube.

if im solo and i get a flat then fine. however anyone getting a flat in a group that doesnt carry a tube should be rolled into a ditch and their bike stripped for bits

I was going to say why would anyone do that, but yes once or twice on local rides when I’m packing light/could walk home in a disaster without too much hassle, I’ve taken dynaplugs and a pump only.

The Topeak Mountain DA (and I presume others) comes with a mounting clip that fits under your bottle cage. Fit it, clip and strap the pump in and forget about it until you need it. There’s no need to consider not taking it.

I’ve the Sahmurai tyre plugs – the applicator replaces your bar end plug so again it’s fit and forget until you need it.

That leaves the inner tube: either put in a plastic bag and tape it in to one of the angles of your frame or get a small top tube bag and mount that inside the main triangle as in the yellow bag here which gives you room for the rest of your toolkit.

Not by design I have ended up with bikes with all the current wheel sizes so each bike has a pump and tube strapped to it. Ok this means having three pumps but I have been cycling a long time so have accumulated a few over the years . {whether they still work or not is another matter!]
This means I can get out quickly without searching for stuff and don’t need to carry very much at all.
Somebody mentioned trail centres, why do you see people with huge packs going round?
Most trail centres have a bike shop and caff so surely the bare minimum would do?

I’m happy for people who don’t carry basic spares, but please don’t try to bum them off me when things go wrong.

This. I’ve handed out but my tyre plugs and experience/expertise for fellow tubeless riders far more than I’ve ever needed a tube.

Pump and tube in my backpack. Backpack on for every ride, even 1 hour pootle from home. I just dont see the point in risking it. It not like its a massive hardship to carry them.

Tubeless for 7 years and required a tube 3 times. 2 of those times would have involved a massive walk back.

I mostly ride with my son and/or groups of other riders these days. For safety for him and out of consideration to the others, I’ll always carry enough kit so that I won’t be the one scrounging tubes, or be put in a situation where my son ends up stuck somewhere remote when the weather might turn. Our bikes are (mostly) tubeless these days, even the road ones, but I’ve still gashed the odd tyre, or had the occasional burp that wouldn’t reseal, such that I wouldn’t go out without the means to fix it.

For me, this means a few CO2 carts (not used pumps for years), spare tubes (to suit the bikes we have, but at least one each), tyre boot to patch a gashed sidewall and enough tools and spares to fix basic issues. All fits in a small saddlebag, with the tubes stuffed in jersey pockets. If I’m doing a bigger or more remote offroad ride with no support available, will also carry spare tyres in rucksack.

I guess it depends on who you choose to ride with, but I don’t want to be “that guy” who always scrounges bits from those who have come properly prepared. They are the ones that don’t get invited out on future rides…

Always carry a tube, just hate getting caught out! But I’m old too, so carry more than I need…Also got a beto 2 in 1 pump and has been used on other peoples suspension. Well handy Still cheap on ebay I think.

I always carry a tube. I have tube, levers, CO2 & inflator and multi tool strapped to my frame; quick link under the head cap and usually carry a puncture kit with bacon strips in.

On the fatbike I carry a pump that mounts next to the bottle but I can’t fit the bracket to the other bikes and still be able to clamp it to the roof rack.

Not had a puncture in a tubeless tyre yet, last punctures we’ve had to sort were a bust valve on the fatbike tube and a snake bite on the back of my hardtail doing the great glen way, I hadn’t got around to switching to tubeless yet although it bust the tyre so definitely would have used the spare tube either way.

however anyone getting a flat in a group that doesnt carry a tube should be rolled into a ditch and their bike stripped for bits

depends on the situation – a 2 hour evening group ride like I do every week, I’d much rather someone with a broken bike made their own way home, rather than take 15 minutes to repair their bike while the rest of us shiver or get bitten by mozzies depending on season.

Happened to me once, dodgy old valve with a slow leak went soft in the first 10 mins. Was happy to take myself home and reflect on my maintenance regime rather than ruin everyone else’s evening.

Riding with no backpack is amazing, so much extra movement in the shoulders, and helps with heat management too. I avoid one wherever possible.

I’m in the “over prepared” camp. Mountain Morph, Tube (wheelsize isnt important – you can stretch a 26 to fit a 29 or stuff a 29 in a 26 to get you home). Anchovies in toolkit as well. Nearly always riding with K who has another tube plus CO2 (used to be another pump, but current pack doesn’t take a MM). Yes, there are loads of rides when the walk back to the car wouldnt be a problem but equally could end up a few hours away

Having tried many pumps the morphs are the only ones that will reliably get a tyre up without risking ripping the valve off (ive a road morph for road rides).

Always aim to be independent as you never know when you end up split up for some reason.

Strapping pumps and tubes to the bike has always seemed a bad idea to me – when i tried it on my commuter the pump was useless when i actually needed it.

Can I ask what pump you use? always good to get a recommendation. Maybe my pump is inadequate 🙂

“topeak turbo morph g”. its the same as a mountain morph but with an additional flip out gauge

Pump and tube in my backpack. Backpack on for every ride, even 1 hour pootle from home. I just dont see the point in risking it. It not like its a massive hardship to carry them.

Road riding got me out of the rucksack habit and I find it really hard to go back now, so that I only ever take it now on days when the weather is changeable and I want to carry clothes. The problem with me is that the rucksack became a bit of a dumping ground, with spare tubes, tool kits, and other rubbish chucked in the bottom so I could just grab it and go. The problem was that I was carrying around loads of junk that I didn’t really need because I couldn’t be bothered to clear it out.

Like many riders, I’d stick a tenner in the rucksack for a snack, and then throw the change into the zip pocket at the back (“that’ll come in useful next time”). I once emptied it and found nearly £30 in pound coins and assorted other change rattling around at the bottom that I’d been carting around for months!

I now have a small saddle bag and stick tube, snacks, waterproof and phone in my back pockets, with a bottole on the frame. That’s 90% of the rides I do, wet or dry.

I’m on my first bike with tubeless tyres, I carry a dynaplug tool, two tubes, patches, levers and a pump. I used to average less than a puncture a year with tubes but with the plus tyres on the current rigid bike I wanted to be able to run low pressures so moved away from tubes. I think the reason I carry so much is that as far as I can tell nothing has happened yet to tell me my tubeless set up is going to work when it needs to and I don’t want to cut a ride short for the sake of carrying a bit of kit.

Run tubeless, still carry a tube.

Only needed it once, at BPW.  Rear tyre was pretty old so got a snakebite and I hadn’t checked the sealant so there was hardly any in.
Other than that, I’ve only ever used the tube on other people’s bikes and never needed the tubless plugs I also carry.

I make sure the sealant it topped up and that my bike gets regualr bolt checks etc – touch wood, I dont seem to suffer the number of issues that some other people I ride with or hear about do.

I agree with BWD above – feel free to not carry whatever you like, but don’t then ask others to bail you out.
I know of one guy who carries the TINIEST pump I have ever seen.  When he get’s a punture (he runs tubes for some reason) I no longer offer my bigger, heavier, bulikier pump that I have carried round with me.  As long as he knows the route and we’re close enough to the end or a shortcut back I don’t wait for him now either.
Sound harsh, but he continues to make the choice to come out unprepared, despite his experiences.  If I kept coming out without food or drink and expected people to give me some of theirs I would expect to be told to sod off!

I agree with BWD above – feel free to not carry whatever you like, but don’t then ask others to bail you out.
I know of one guy who carries the TINIEST pump I have ever seen. When he get’s a punture (he runs tubes for some reason) I no longer offer my bigger, heavier, bulikier pump that I have carried round with me. As long as he knows the route and we’re close enough to the end or a shortcut back I don’t wait for him now either.
Sound harsh, but he continues to make the choice to come out unprepared, despite his experiences. If I kept coming out without food or drink and expected people to give me some of theirs I would expect to be told to sod off!

Pump size is a bit different to not taking spares/tools at all though.

I take a tiny little thing (topeak something or other) on road rides that clips in under the bottle cage. It’ll do 100psi+ but it takes a little while longer than the big pump on my commuter but I’m quite happy to use it for infrequent punctures every 600 miles or so. I either take that or CO2.

99 times out of 100 though on a clubrun someone will have a full size frame pump and lend that rather than either wait for the little pump or waste a cartridge. Evening rides are different, tools or not most people would tell the group to go on without them and they’ll fix it/call the team car and meet them at the pub if there’s a stop. Conversely I’ve given away more CO2 canisters than I’ve used myself on winter clubruns as really no one wants to be sood at the roadside whether group or solo, and the exchange rate of 1x 50p co2 cartridge for 1x tea and cake at the cafe makes Wonga look like a poor business model!

Decision Made:
After reading all the comments and in particular the video link that ‘whitestone’ posted https://thecycleclinic.co.uk/blogs/news/living-with-tubeless-tyres and doing quite a bit of other investigation I am going to do the following.

–I’m not going to carry a tube or tyre lever anymore
–I have ordered a Dynaplug Racer to plug the tyre if ever required & spare plugs
–I will carry a spare valve core and tool
–I might carry a small bottle of sealant if I can find a suitably small bottle with nozzle
–I may add a small tube of flexible super glue to that
–I already carry 4 Co2 on the bike but am undecided about the pump

It seems to me that is a perfectly good list to cover most tyre related emergencies in this modern tubeless era. Especially a well maintained Tubeless setup.

To the few that have just gone on about not being sufficiently prepared just because you dont have an inner tube (yes if you go out with nothing then I would agree) but I would counter that list above is being pretty well prepared in the puncture department and that you can never be prepared for everything and maybe one day you will suffer from not having ‘something’ that you wish you did have, while someone who has got that ‘something’ on them rides off into the sunset!

Secondly to those who have commented on being a ‘Weight Weenie’ – its got nothing to do with weight, its about having a compact and efficient setup that allows the joy of doing most rides without a backpack of water and tools (and it is a real joy in many ways) – if you think that doesnt matter then you really should try some rides without one.

Anyway – some good comments so thanks for that, its helped me make my decision.

I have ordered a Dynaplug Racer to plug the tyre if ever required & spare plugs
I will carry a spare valve core and tool
I might carry a small bottle of sealant if I can find a suitably small bottle with nozzle
I may add a small tube of flexible super glue to that
I already carry 4 Co2 on the bike

Doesn’t all that counter your point of taking less stuff? That’s more than a mini-pump and tube.

Pump size is a bit different to not taking spares/tools at all though.

A bit, yes.

If you still need someone else to lend you a pump that actually works in a reasonable time then it’s only a bit different IMO.

I agree that at least you are self sufficient though, which is a big difference.

Each to their own though,  On current evidence I could get away with not carrying a tube, chainbreaker, tyre boot (grand name for a small bit of plastic!), self adhesive patches, tyre levers, tubeless repair kit – or for that matter my pump.  The second I do that I will need at least a couple of those things.  And I’ll be a long way from home / the car.

Also agree that it’s nice to ride without a pack – thankfully my frame has no bottle cage mounts and I hate being without a drink, so I always have a pack.

Doesn’t all that counter your point of taking less stuff? That’s more than a mini-pump and tube.

NO

I already carry the Co2 and suggest you investigate the size of the rest of it! (the rest of it is way less than a pump and tube and if I can find a suitably small bottle it would be about the same) and as I said its as much about carrying a setup thats best suited to a modern tubeless setup, automatically assuming an inner tube is the answer may not be the right way to go.

Re: bottle of sealant. Stans do a 50ml bottle that has a nozzle/spout that can be used to top up a tyre through the valve. No doubt other sealant manufacturers do something similar. I’ll take one on multi-day trips but don’t bother for short rides.

Spare valve core – yep. They can gunk up and I’ve had one break, admittedly it was about four years old. If you’ve a Lezyne multi-tool with chain breaker then one of the slots fits a removable valve core so you don’t need another tool. I’ve a small tin with spare nuts and bolts in, the spare valve core goes in there.

Flexible glue: I got “Loctite Power Flex super glue” from our local handyman store. The princely sum of £3.40 for three 1g tubes.

Work out what your “ideal” repair kit is for short or local rides then you can add to it for longer or more remote outings. The shot of the blue Cotic Soul above is my wife’s bike – a pump on the frame, tube and tools and repair kit in the Alpkit bag, add water bottle and she’s good to go.

Here’s my tool/repair kit:

Packs down to about the size of a medium compact camera. The multi-tool is in a small pouch to stop it rubbing against other stuff. Pump mounted on frame.

Re: bottle of sealant. Stans do a 50ml bottle that has a nozzle/spout

Yes thats about the size I want but I use Muc Off so need to look for a 40-50ml empty bottle (i’m sure ebay will have something)

Flexible glue: I got “Loctite Power Flex super glue”

I will look for that, thanks.

I carry two bottles (its a hardtail) a small seatpack takes multi tool and other tools and parts and any overflow goes in my Dakine waist pack. I feel pretty well prepared for most of my riding – my kit will look similar to your picture. Big remote day rides I will most likely take a backpack for more space for the stuff you should take on that sort of ride.

Bacon strips, stabbing tool, tyre booth, inner tubes, mini-pump.

Have it all. Not taking any chances, since I had 6 miles walk on one of my rides.

All the stuff is more-less residing in my backpack all year round 🙂

Cheers!
I.

I already carry the Co2 and suggest you investigate the size of the rest of it!

Read my earlier post, and try not to be condescending. I carry most of that kit for the fat bike where spare tubes are heavy, bulky and a faff to inflate. I take the same setup on short rides where a walk back isn’t a problem and the risk is low anyway.

For a quick evening blast or a race then plugs and a pump/co2 work perfectly well, possibly the ideal setup.

But why carry four CO2 cartridges (240g+inflator, and bulky) when a pump would do (110g or so, and clipped to the frame).

And for longer rides where reliability and being able to ride back to the start are more of a factor, carrying a pump and tube solves a lot of problems (they also make great slings if you break an arm!).

Read my earlier post, and try not to be condescending.

I wasn’t really, I could try so you could tell the difference 😉 I was answering your comment – its about the same and from what you said you didn’t know that.

Comments are good for helping people make a decision, but then people make their own decisions which may well be different to yours….

Before we start bickering …

What you (generic you) take depends on where you ride and what you are used to in terms of tools and techniques. If you are happier with CO2 then use that. Prefer a pump? no problem. There’s also a difference between “carry on riding” and “get me home/back to the car”.

Before we start bickering …

As if we would 🙂

But I did say in my ‘Ive Made a decision’ post that..

–I already carry 4 Co2 on the bike but am undecided about the pump

which means I am undecided on the pump front. I will most likely at least put the clip holder on the rear bottle cage and then I can carry it on some (or maybe all) rides, as it weighs next to nothing really even if its not the most efficient its still air!

Before we start bickering …

Way too late for that 🙂

Way too late for that 🙂

Yep, I’m sharpening up the tyre plug insertion tool for some combat action as we speak…. 🙂

It’s funny, I carry a tube but I will do anything I can do to fix a tubeless flat rather than give in and fit the tube. I also will never give it away since being caught out after giving my spare away.

I hate walking so carry a tube, tubeless repair kit and a couple of patches incase I miss a thorn. Quick link and suitable multitool. For a big day I’ll carry a gear cable, mech hanger and a few cable ties. None of this requires a pack.

Oh, and a decent mini pup

I carry as much as i can, two tubes, pump, tubeless repair kit, multitool, bike tool and so on, on a group ride it’s for others as much as me, it’s not as if i’m a racing whippet or really care about carrying an extra 0.5kg, i prefer wearing a backpack for back protection any way, so having it with kit in isn’t much of an issue.

it took around 500 strokes just to get to 22psi

You need a better pump.

I’m with the co2 doubters. I’m sure it’s awesome for racers but it’s an environmentally expensive affectation for regular riders. Not cheap I’m cash terms either unless you buy a kit that is never used…