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Very useful biking tips!

Pete, I've decided to just keep my tube in it's original box. I had my last tube wrapped in cling wrap and it was still punctured!

That's the way to go, Mike. No more unpacking before puncturing.
 
A small pack of glueless patches can also save the day when you run out of spares. Unlike regular patches they don't take hours to cure, so you can slap 'em on, ride to where you headed, and fix the tube properly later. (They are a temporary fix and won't last much beyond 200 km.)
 
And My 2.6 yr Lucky Streak Just Leaked Away...

I hear you on the inner tube blues. The other Friday, the wet one (yes, I know, they've all been wet lately), I heard that terrible slow hiss from the front tire just as I passed the Chinese Embassy, and I wondered, Will there be enough left to limp home? as another bucket of water sprayed up from a passing car. There wasn't, and I resolved to test my form!

I had gone two & a half years in Tokyo without a puncture on any of my three bikes (2 road, 1 commuter), so I can hardly rant & rave at the Kuuki-atta-sama (ill-fated cousin to one of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune), even though it was raining. I went through the somewhat unfamiliar routine of changing the inner tube, but had a sudden panic attack when I pulled out the brand new inner tube from its plastic packaging: it was a race tube, and I had commuter tires (running 700x34-45). Something had to give here, and sure enough, I managed to hand-pump the inner tube to oblivion before the tire even had enough pressure to lift off the rim!

I didn't have patches, so I ended up pushing my trusty steed the remaining 4 clicks through rain-soaked back alleys and Meiji-jingu-gaien, formulating the lessons of the day:

1) Know exactly what inner tubes you're running (or know the price of ignorance!)

2) Practice changing inner tubes every once in a while under adverse conditions such as rain, darkness, inebriation (anyone can follow directions from a book in the comfort of a well-lit, dry garage)

3) Carry at the very least a set of those self-adhesive patches (but remember to remove and do a proper job in the comfort of your well-lit, dry garage, either sober or inebriated)

4) And this one I learned from this thread: Check your spare inner tubes at least once a year for nicks, cuts and general deterioration
 
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