state your setup then, How often do you use a spare inner tube mid-ride?

All my MTB’s are tubeless with Schwalbe tyres, Muc Off sealant and a Rimpact in the rear.  Last two issues in need of tubes were in 2018 at Chatel when a rock sliced open a new Magic Mary and in 2022 at BPW where the rim tape failed.  On the second one I had to go buy a tube from the shop as the one that was in my pack from the Chatel puncture has rotted!  Worked out it was 9 years old and had come fitted to my old computer bike so very much doubt it was decent quality.

The commuter bike is tubed with tough tyres (Kenda currently) and a small amount of sealant in each tube, never punctured it although it hasn’t had much outdoor use in the last few years as it’s my current Zwift bike and I don’t cycle to work as I don’t have a permanent one currently.

MTB – FS & HT + EMTB FS

Me=75kg

Tyres=Schwalbe Super Trail (No inserts) 17/18psi front & 19/21psi rear

All set-up tubeless with Stans sealant (110-120ml in each tyre) check/refresh sealant twice a year when the clocks change. Have had a total of 2 hawthorn punctures in last 5 years & both plugged no issue.

Have the OneUp EDC stabber/plug, but also always carry a tubolito tube & a tyre boot but not used either in 7+ years

Mtb…. A long time. Fortunately always been able to plug a hole, but still carry one tube strapped to the bike just in case.

On the gravel bike I had to fit a tube due to a pinch flat on the front a month or so ago when riding some rough tracks near Perugia.
Although it was probably more than a month back as I looked at the spare strapped to the downtube in the weekend and it was rotten and cracked due to being in the sun for so long.

Used to take a spare tube if planning to do a 40+ mile road ride, but only barely managed one of those since having long covid for almost two years now, so I don’t bother these days.

Even when I was typically doing ~3 rides of 30+ miles a week, punctures were so rare, maybe one a year.

Qualifying Megavalanche 2019 🙁

Have now added inserts to the set up.

Road bike, not for a few months whilst commuting, therefore I’ll need three this evening…

Always have bacon strips, spare tube, pump & C02, (EXO+ tyres & Cushcore XC inserts) and after 1200 or 1300 odd miles, I finally had to use the spare tube last Thursday night, as an impromptu sling for one of the crew who’d (subsequently spent 8hrs in A&E to be told he’d) broken his collar bone. We had a wee walk to get to a point where he could be picked by a vehicle. So it finally came in useful!

Off road my last tube was in 2018 on my gravel bike. Hole was too big for the sealant and I didn’t have any anchovies so a tube and boot got me home. The second round of The Beast from the East was starting to roll in so it was absolutely freezing and we were in a big hurry to get home before the snow.

I’m still tubed on the summer road bike after a few bad experiences as an early tubeless adopter. Get one or two punctures a year. My next bike will have clearance for bigger tyres so hopefully the lower pressures will mean I can de-tube again.

I still carry tubes with me on and off road although am considering carrying TPU tubes as spares.

I had an annoying puncture that wouldn’t seal last year. Tubeless had been totally reliable for ages, to the point that I had to cut my seat pack open with a key as the zip had corroded. On trying to fit the tube it turned out to have perished and split. For those carrying tubes that never get used, check them at the same time you carry out the annual seatpost grease.

me: 60kg, all my bikes = basic mtb tubeless, even the commuter is on old mtb rims and some schwalbe ones.

I think I’ve fitted a tube once in the last year, which was because I broke a valve off at fort william! In fairness I’d had a random air loss problem for a while so I think it’d cracked before and was just resealing, and then when I went to pump it the entire thing just fell off.

Before that goes back a long time, I had to do one on an uplift trip IIRC for a little slice that just wouldn’t stay sealed for some reason and was needing pumped up every couple of hours, but that was only cos I was away from home- normally I’d have patched it properly but I didn’t have any of the stuff for that.

A few times over the last few years. Somewhere near Reeth I couldn’t get a cut to seal on the mtb. On Great Dunn Fell I managed to damage a sidewall on those stone slabs. An unlucky landing some where near Slaley dented the rim so the tyre wouldn’t seal.  Lightish XC setup – racing ralphs/ mezcals/barzos.

I still run tubes on my road bike but probably have 2 punctures a year at most.

Can’t remember a puncture on my gravel bike that didn’t seal – use the tough Panaracer tyres though as I’ve done a few races like the DR and Gralloch where I really didn’t want a puncture.

On those bikes I carry two tubes due to length of ride and remoteness unless it is something like a short circuit where I will pass a tech zone to get a spare tube/repair.

Enduro bike I carry one tube, never used it. If I was in walking distance of the car I’d probably do that. Much more likely to be close to the car on those rides.

I’ve been tubeless for over 10 years now, probably only needed to use a tube a few times in an those years. I still carry one though.

Pump, multi tool, tube, plugs and a sample tube of lube.

I’ve ‘pinched’ a tubeless tyre against the rim before and that never seals, I think it’s happened 4 times in the last 4-5 years, and has required a tube every time.

Happened to me last week running 30psi.

Happened to me running inserts too.

Normally carry a tube and plugs because I often need them.

Zero punctures since going tubeless across 2 bikes since 2019. Carry a tubeless repair kit, CO2 and a spare tube in the SWAT box. Might carry a mini-pump for longer rides where I’m going to be further from civilization.

EDIT: I’ve remembered one! Put a dent in a rim at BPW, but the sealant did its job before I noticed. The amount of dust around that day probably helped.

This has made me realise that the only time I take a spare tube is on proper multiday rides on the fatbike. Ironic really because the pump I carry would take a week to inflate a Jumbo Jim!

I think that is partly the kind of riding I do. Most of the time, in the rare event it was a long way back to the van I would phone a taxi.

I would take one if I was off to the Lake District.

Tubeless on MTB and road these days and recent issues have been sorted with plugs but one a few years ago that definitely needed a tube was when MrsP managed to snap a valve off the rim descending Bowderdale off the Calf. Nothing else damaged, but it would’ve been long walk without a tube.

No inserts and up until recently, nothing heavier than EXO casing tyres with Stans sealant.

Despite carrying one for ~6 years, I haven’t actually needed to fit a tube since I converted everything to tubeless.

I did however fit my spare tube into a young lads rear wheel after finding him wandering around Cannock in the rain. The insert was hanging out of his back wheel and he seemed to be having a fairly terrible day trying to find his dad.

I didn’t bother replacing the spare tube because I hadn’t used it in so long.

The following week I managed to somehow snap the valve off my front wheel after going over the bars which gave me a nice long walk back to the car.

I now have a spare tube again and also a spare valve. I also don’t buy alloy valves anymore. Even if they are pretty colours.

I’ve recently swapped tyres to some Bontrager SE which is a heavier casing. They work better at lower pressure than I’m used to and I’ve had a few pinch punctures that would almost certainly have been avoided if I had an insert.

The SE5 that I’ve got on the back now has 3 plugs near the bead but I haven’t had to repair the tyre mid ride, Stans has done it job admirably.

The only one that didn’t seal was in a Dissector EXO after I managed to land a small jump right into a tree stump. The sealant was old and there wasn’t a lot left in the tyre so I reckon if it had been fresh, it would probably have sealed.

I might do my own thread asking what are the actual benefits of tubeless, cos I don’t get it.

I was gravel bikepacking in the Highlands in July and a couple roadies were asking me the same question as they watched me removing a tubeless tyre covered in sealant and putting a tube in (tyre had split at the bead) at the Glen Lyon cafe.

I then proceeded to cut out +10 thorns from the tyre BEFORE I put the tube in.

As I pointed out, if I’d been running tubes that’s 10 punctures I’d have had, that with tubeless I didn’t (over the past couple of years that the tyre had been on).

Road and MTB still on tubes, winter road and gravel are tubeless. Do 3-4k miles a year, two thirds of that on the tubeless bikes.

I haven’t replaced a tube mid ride since before Covid.

MTB & Gravel, both tubeless, can’t remember the last time I used the dynaplug let alone an innertube …… actually come to think of it, it was when I went to Afan with a mate, the weather was terrible and I’d dinged a rim but that was pre-covid so a while ago!

Still carry a tube just in case, but it’s been rattling around in my pack for years so it’s probably useless anyway.

I have regular tubeless with Stans and very rarely get punctures, nothing since setting up tubeless in the last few years. I carry a Dynaplug but never needed to use it yet, plus a spare tube on  longer rides.

I have UST rims that don’t need tape and the bead locks in very tightly. Last time I changed tyres I couldn’t get the old ones off with regular plastic levers and had to resort to a metal knife (carefully! Blunt cutlery/eating knife, not a sharp one). No idea how I’ll manage if I have to use a tube on the trailside, will feel a right idiot with all the stuff ready but too feeble to unseat the tyres!

Tubeless. Last had to use a tube on a ride about 7 years ago

Carry a x2 TPU tubes for road/gravel because I could be 40 miles away and they don’t take up much space.

Carry a normal tube on the MTB just in case.

Use tubeless and carry a tube either strapped to the underside of my saddle or in a bag. Hadn’t used it for years and then I needed it last winter. Turns out it had been unused for so long that the whole valve was coming away from the rest of the tube (not just the valve but the harder rubber around it too was coming away from the rest of the rubber).
Thing is me and my mate had already put it into the sealant & mud covered tyre. We spent ages wondering why it wouldn’t hold air – luckily we weren’t that far to roll back to base but oh did we laugh

[edit]: Lighter weight ‘normal’ tube, bacon strips, tyre boot – either $1 or toothpaste. longer / big distance rides: extra tube in pack, patch kit, 1m of dental floss and a sailmaker’s needle for tyre slashes. Can’t remember using anything but the bacon strips on my own bike in years. [/edit]

I have lightweight ‘normal’ tubes as spares on both my MTBs, and haven’t used them on my own bike in years. I’ve used bacon strips far more. I did have a gravel bike for a bit but kept flatting as I was riding stuff like an eejit and pinching the tyres.

I’m considering the superlight tubes as local ride spares, but put off by both the price and the horror stories.

One tube is in the sandwich hatch on my FS bike, so just lives in there with the other bits, and the other is in a wrap under the saddle on my hardtail. I tend not to get punctures or pinches (I’ve ridden in the Alps, BPW and Lakes so far this summer as well as closer to home). Where I am in the Surrey Hills, one ridge in particular (the North Downs) has lots of loose flint, so I’ve written off two Ground Controls in a week on sharp flint in the past. In both cases, I patched with a US dollar bill or a bit of toothpaste tube and a spare inner tube and road home gingerly with a big old slash in the sidewall. $1 bills are light and tough and, er, cost 79p at the moment, although mine are from my last work trip to the States about five years ago.

Tubeless on all MTBs but find inserts too much of a PITA, carry a tube in my hip pack just in case.

Punctured on the final descent on tonight’s ride, a proper rear wheel wallop with sealant pissing out onto my leg rather than a have-I-punctured. Needed a thick anchovy in the sidewall and a thin one down near the bead. Reckon I was stopped for way less time than fitting a tube would have taken. Tyre was totally flat, decent pump makes a difference and the tyre had plenty sealant, but still much better than the tube option.

Tube’s the last resort. Pretty much useless when the tyre’s older though, a load of thorns in it by then. Probably still better than walking all the way home though.

I only carry a tube now for multiday rides if I am on a bike with tubeless.  Last time I used a tube was for someone else 3 years ago

I previously ran both my bikes tubeless for a few years.  But over time, the rims became a bit dinged, and I found it increasingly difficult to get a good seal. On top of that, i had a few instances of trying to reseal a tubeless setup while miles from anywhere – when I eventually had to give up and use a tube. Lastly, I’ve had a few times where I’ve had to give the tube in my pack to either a friend on the trail, or a total stranger, because they just couldn’t get their tubeless tyre resealed.

All of these experiences mean that I moved back to tubes. And honestly, I’m not even slightly tempted to go back to tubeless. I’m happier with tubes, and I don’t notice a difference to be honest.

To answer the OP, it’s probably 1-2 years since I had to use a tube on the trail, but I’d estimate that I’ve had to do so, or lend one to someone else once of twice every 3-5 years.