The Genuine Innovations Tubeless Tire Repair Kit came out some time before 2009. So technically they don’t belong in a 2009 best of. But it wasn’t until a recent ride that these little gems came to my attention. And they are good enough to justify making a little exception here.

The concept is the same as plugs for car tires. The kit includes several “ropes” that are coated in some orange stuff, and an insertion tool. All you do is load a rope on the tool, find the hole, push in the plug, pool out the tool, and that’s about it.

The idea may not be a new one. In fact, anyone who has ever found a thorn in their tire in the middle of a ride and resisted the temptation to pull it out, has already used a “plug.”

Instead, the genius is how well it works to compliment the puncture protection of latex sealants. By fixing the tire from the outside, plugs are much faster and less messy than throwing in a tube or trying to patch a tire. Your back up is no longer a thorn vulnerable tube. And because you are not breaking the seal at the bead, you don’t need to worry about tires that are difficult to re-seat.

Sure, major sidewall cuts are still going to be a tire booting suck the fun out of riding experience.

For the remaining 99% of the time, flats are now relegated to a very minor inconvenience. Not bad for less than 10 bucks.