Wondering what peoples’ views are regarding carrying a puncture repair kit while racing.
My situation…I am typically near the front (let’s say in the top 20%) of my age group and am asking in the context of 70.3 and full IM events. My repair kit includes tire levers, spare tube, CO2 cartridge, CO2 valve and a small multitool (I need a hex wrench to remove my wheels). Given this, would you advise carrying a repair kit or saving the weight and not racing with it?
isnt a repair kit kinda essential? if you flat you’re pretty much done if you cant fix it.
For me, yes on anything longer than a sprint. I’m paying to race and would prefer to keep racing if I flat instead of waiting for the sweep van or on course support. The sprints I’ve done tend to be small enough courses that if the worse case is walking back it’s not the end of the world. The weight difference won’t make enough of a change in my overall time for me to care (if I could even really figure it out/isolate it).
isnt a repair kit kinda essential? if you flat you’re pretty much done if you cant fix it.
True enough. I was just wondering whether it is worth taking a risk in order to save a bit of weight, especially if you are racing a bit more towards the pointy end of the age group. And while I am not a pro, I see quite a few of them racing without repair kits.
If you decide to call it a day, you still have to wait forever for the sag wagon to arrive. I rather fix the flat and ride. Sprint tri, no. There’s no point carrying it. Olympic and up, yes, I carry them.
fair point about waiting for the sweep/sag if I were not to carry a puncture kit. OK, with that in mind, would you carry anything more than tire levers, spare tube, CO2, CO2 valve and a small multi-tool (not necessary if you have quick release)?
Why not try minimizing your kit? So only one tire tool, glueless patch kit instead of tube, and a single hex wrench for the axle instead of a mult-tool (plus the Co2 and inflater). That way you’ve minimized weight some, but also still given yourself a shot at finishing the race.
fair point about waiting for the sweep/sag if I were not to carry a puncture kit. OK, with that in mind, would you carry anything more than tire levers, spare tube, CO2, CO2 valve and a small multi-tool (not necessary if you have quick release)?
I wouldnt ditch the multi tool. You may not need it for a tire change, but what if you need to fix something else. Maybe your pedal cleat bolt comes loose or you need to adjust your derailleur you are out of luck without a tool. I also carry a chain quick link just in case I broke my chain. My multi tool has a chain breaker, if it didnt I probably wouldn’t carry the quick link.
I will always carry what I need to fix a flat, doesn’t matter if I’m at the pointy end or not.
Carry a few less ounces of fluid, or have more coffee in the morning and drop a bigger deuce before the race if you’re really worried about a few ounces on the bike. N=1 I’ve never NOT carried a flat kit…and have never said to myself after a race “man, if I only left my flat kit at home I would have gone 20 seconds faster and gotten that KQ”. Pros also do some dumb stuff, so just because someone is really good at exercising and can go faster than 99% of us, it doesn’t mean we need to make the same decisions they do when it comes to equipment. Carry the flat kit or risk a DNF regardless of whether or not you’re FOP.
Going without would be pretty stupid. It’s not a ton of weight, and it’s in an aerodynamically inconsequential location. You aren’t losing any real time to it being there, even on a hilly course.
Like a lot of others have said… definitely carry a repair kit! you don’t want your race over to save a few grams. Ive been at races where people have flatted and still been able to win. obviously longer courses but still you don’t want your day to be over!
i know that it partially depends on your wheel, tire, and rim tape combo but with a little practice and good technique you could learn how to change a tire without levers at all.
If you are somebody who can do your own repairs and adjustments then a multi tool is a nice-to-have. If you really only think you need a tool to take your thru axles off, then i’d do what somebody else said and just include a single hex wrench. Or you can get the Rapilock thru axles that have a hidden lever inside so that you don’t need a tool.
Personally, I’d be less concerned with the weight and more concerned with the aero impact. A tube, CO2, and inflator would be relatively easy to hide underneath your saddle with minimal weight or aero penalty.
I always carry one. Even in a sprint, you could easily be 5mi. from T1/T2 (ex. the bike is a loop around a lake); that’s a lot of walking.
A lightweight setup would be:
1 lever
lightweight tube (ex. tubolito)
hex wrench for the wheel release
micropump (slower than the CO2, but lighter and won’t misfire)
For longer races, you may still have a decent finish even with a few min spent fixing a flat. For a sprint it’s just about avoiding the walk.
Personally, here is the flat kit I use for all distances (stuffed in my Shiv’s Fuel Cell).
1 lever
1 tube
2 adhesive patches
hex wrench
CO2 and inflator
micropump
Basically, I always want to make it to T2.
don’t forget the seemingly lost art of patching a flat, without taking the wheel off the bike. If you catch the flat early, and get off the bike right away, 9 times out of 10 the offending goathead, nail, glass, thorn, whatever, is still in the tire, telling you right where the hole is. Pop just enough bead off the tire, pull the tube out, patch it, remove the offending object, stuff the tube back in, air up and go. I carry a patch kit, and use real glue, as I’m willing to take an extra minute (30 seconds on a hot day in the sun) to let it dry, and get a good solid patch. But a self adhesive patch would make this process even faster. We all got really good at this in the 70’s- 80’s, as tire technology wasn’t nearly as good, and this was routine. These days not so much. I did this for a friend last summer, and he looked at me like holy shit, you can do that? And he was good to go, quicker than it would have taken him to take the wheel off, and get it back on.
isnt a repair kit kinda essential? if you flat you’re pretty much done if you cant fix it.
True enough. I was just wondering whether it is worth taking a risk in order to save a bit of weight, especially if you are racing a bit more towards the pointy end of the age group. And while I am not a pro, I see quite a few of them racing without repair kits.
How can you tell if they don’t have repair kits? High end bikes will all have the ability to store this internally, so they won’t have a saddle bag.
I didn’t carry spares when I raced on tubulars, mostly because I was blissfully ignorant about how to repair a tubular and didn’t want to carry a spare. Only time I’ve flatted in a race was in a sprint, 1km out of T1. It was a long 1km walk back to the race village. I then pumped my tubs full of sealant and only carried Co2 for the rest of the season.
Now I race on clinchers and always carry a spares kit, regardless of distance. If I flat in a sprint, I would use the opportunity to practice changing the flat in prep for my A race. I carry 1 x tube, 1 x lever (however I can get the tyre off without it), 2 x Co2 (risk mitigation of miss-fire), inflator, valve extender key (one tube to cover 808 and Super9). This fits easily into a small spares bottle behind my saddle. If that slows me down I’m not aerodynamic enough.
isnt a repair kit kinda essential? if you flat you’re pretty much done if you cant fix it.
True enough. I was just wondering whether it is worth taking a risk in order to save a bit of weight, especially if you are racing a bit more towards the pointy end of the age group. And while I am not a pro, I see quite a few of them racing without repair kits.
How can you tell if they don’t have repair kits? High end bikes will all have the ability to store this internally, so they won’t have a saddle bag.
^^^This.
Looking back a few years, all the pros had some flat kit (even if it was a Vittoria AirStop “fix-a-flat” cannister taped to the seat tube).
These days Kona and some other races have neutral support for the pros, so fewer flat kits.
Even if you flat, how much time do you lose (a) carrying it, and (b) using it if necessary.
And for both of those, what impact will it have on you position on a half or full race ?
Whilst at the pointy end, is it really AG win or go home in a sulky mood for you ? Or is 2nd rather than 1st still OK after a flat.
I always relate back to Chrissie Wellington flatting in Kona. 1 CO2 was dud. Other she fecked up. Had to hang around til another girl tossed her a spare 3rd CO2 cylinder. Finally sorted, and buggery knows how much time lost (Waaaaay more than a well-practiced flat fix !!) she STILL went on to win with time to spare. Why does a flat have to kill your race - unless you want it to ?
Get the Portland shiny object and you will never have a co2 dud
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