Minuteman Road Club

Instead of using the traditional dollar bill, or power bar wrapper to repair a tire blowout, I cut up small patches from coke bottles (any clear thin rounded bottles)... Use the naturally curved section of the bottle and round the edges.

they're cheap (free), weigh nothing, and you can make a dozen from one bottle. I usually make them 1.5" x 1".

Make a bunch and pass them out to friends. I have saved at least one random rider with a blowout on mi 35 of a century (he finished and was so grateful he didn't have to call his wife to pick him up).

happy trails

I have used old (road) tires to do something similar. Coke bottle section sounds good though, since it seems less likely to bulge out through the cut.

On a recent MTB ride I got a huge (~1.5" long) in my side wall. The old tire sections that I had brought bulged out too much. I was able to ride out with the help of one of these guys though:

http://www.parktool.com/product/emergen ... -boot-tb-2

I'll be carrying some of those from now on, and probably some gorilla tape too.

Thanks for the tip

Chris