2 reasons I was glad I took gaffer tape on tour

inaperfectworld

I was in France and had a puncture, strangely on inside of tube. thought it was a freak, but it happened again a day later and I then realised that the rim tape had slightly slipped exposing a spoke hole edge. Used the gaffer tape as rim tape which worked fine for another 300 miles. I had another problem with a brand new Schwalbe Durano that I was using for the first time and after about 10 miles thought i'd picked up a bit of soft tarmac, but this turned out to be a distortion in the tyre which developed a bulge in the sidewall and on the contact surface and had what apperared to be a manufacturing fault as the sidewall was thinned down at this point. didn't seem to be anything I could do (and being a folding bike I doubted a bike shop in France would have a 22" tyre). anyway it lasted about 300miles before the bulge wore through and ounctured the tube and fortunately I had only the last 30miles to go. I stuck tape down over the hole in the tyre carcass and used arectangle of old toothepaste tube that i carry as a tyre boot.
So I heartily recommend gaffer tape.As the tyre failed within a few miles, a run at home before setting off would have spared me this problem
I always say never put anyhting on the bike that I have not already used and tested; for example once I put on a variable height rack but didn't tighten the screws enough so eventually the rack slipped down onto mudguard and mudguard onto tyre. easily fixed but when you are on tour something like rthat gives you a worrying moment

unCivilServant

I always carry duck tape on tours, whether cycling or trekking. My holiday snaps are a bit like 'Where's Wally?'--somewhere in the photo will be an item held together by tape.

Bike uses experienced:

#holding together cardboard packaging round the bike (or bits of) in transit #patching up worn handlebar tape #keeping broken ends together on luggage rack

Other uses I've found:

#stopping a loose sole from detaching off a walking boot #keeping the broken-off handle on a trekking pole #sleeve to cover broken end on tent pole #covering holes in waterproof liner sacks #sticking my watch to the side of my face so I could hear the alarm--was worried I'd miss it if the watch or my head got buried in my sleeping-bag (had to cut some of my hair off to release it though!) #keeping a camera together when the back/film/battery case catch has broken

I've also done a 'tyre boot' with a train ticket when just on a day trip when the inner tube finally burst through a knackered old tyre--luckily it was a dry day--in fact it worked so well I only remembered it was there when it finally disintegrated 2 weeks (and quite a few more miles) later.