fixing a flat on the road

[edgo]

What do you all keep with you to fix a flat tire when you're traveling?

Ed

[Dragonrider]

I have tubeless tires, so I carry a "mushroom" plug gun, with rubber cement, and a small 12v air compressor. In my long distance tool kit there is also one of those "screw in a spark-plug hole" adapters to air up a tire, as they will put out the volume to actually seat a bead if it came off before you got stopped.

They have both saved my butt quite a few times.

The mushroom plugs...secrets are to lube them up with the rubber cement...people are shy to do this as they think it will gunk up the gun, but it just peels right off the steel gun when dry...those plugs will hold till it's time to change the tire, but if the tire has decent tread I use them to get me home, then I'll pull the tire and patch it from the inside with a "stinger" patch.

Keep in mind "get me home" for me might be 8000 miles

I also have all the tools to pull the wheel...cause in a pinch, you can get any tire place that can do mag wheels to unmount it and patch it for you if it's something you can't get to hold...

Me, replacing my back tire in the Yukon Territories

[MAXIMAN]

Mushroom plugs are the ticket. They will not come out. They are also referred to as a "plug-patch".

I use a CO2 gun for inflation. It will re-seat a bead as well. Then I have a small hand pump to inflate totally. Yeah it takes a little muscle but it doesn't take up much room.

[Dennyz]

I had a nasty flat last summer coming back from Revelstoke. I picked up a nail that ripped a 3" hole in the tube. Not much can be done with a fix it kit.

Out of air and out of country!

I ended up riding 35 miles to a bike shop. At 10 miles I stopped at station where I bought a can of tire flat fixer. It was not much help. As I was shooting the gunk in, it was shooting across the lot from the nail hole.

I continued on my way to Abbotsford to the Yamaha dealer where they fixed me up with a new tube.

The tire was completely flat with the bead popped off by the time I got to the shop. Due to the bead locks of the "F", I was able to maintain around 45 mph on the freeway shoulder. Anything slower got pretty wobbly and anything over just did not seem to make sense.

I was sure glad it did not happen up in the mountains out in the middle of no where. It would have been a lot longer wobbly ride.