If you are worried about getting bad knees and therefore want the lowest rim weight wheels -- thin tires w/o 100 gms of sealant in each tube -- and/or you know the location of the puncture and can get away without removing the wheel or the entire tire, small punctures can be repaired with construction latex:

Inflate the tube to somewhat larger than service, ~ 110% - 120% of the tire diameter. If you aren't removing the tube from the wheel just reinflate the punctured section of the tube. Dab construction latex sealant onto the puncture and stretch the rubber around the hole as you smear it in. You might as well repeat this two - 3 times as it takes just a few seconds.

Dust, deflate, mount and reinflate as usual.

Only a few micro liters make it into the puncture and inside of the tube when it is deflated. That's all it takes to stop a leak from a 1 mm puncturing object. Most of the sealant ends up wasted smeared around the puncture. Latex cleans up easily wet or dry.

A water based construction latex sealant will last years in a 50 ml travel bottle -- less weight than the spare tube -- and is enough for a hundred small punctures.

I average a small puncture every 10 - 20 miles and stopping more than a few minutes is not acceptable. It's better than patches even working back home.


Bret Cahill