In my neighborhood I get a flat every other month. If I had to pay someone else to replace inner tubes it'd cost as much as driving a car.
They can be messy, but I've lost count of the number of self-healed punctures I've had over the years. A small loss of pressure and off you go.
Currently running WTB Venture 47c [changed from Horizons] on a 650b 'gravel bike', fantastic stuff, gets me where I wanna go.
Oh no not at all! I hate swapping tires. I live in an expensive and cold country. Swapping bike tires costs $50. I couldn’t afford that twice a year (because of winter tires) I have to do it out of desperation which is why it’s more work than the maintenance benefit I get.
If your bike is your main form of transport and you can’t change tubes, you need to have two bikes. Unless you live next to a 24 hour bike shop...
However, my bike is my car. I'd no sooner swap out my own bike tire than I'd swap out my own car tire. Not that I can't, it's just not something I enjoy doing. My hub-geared, belt drive, hydraulic-disc bike is incredibly difficult to maintain... but I also just bring it in to my local bike shop once per winter. That one trip is all the maintenance it needs for the 3200 miles I put on it per year, mostly in the rain. I'd never go back to lubing a chain every week, putting new pads on every month, replacing the chain every 3, etc. 6 months after I bought this bike I gave away my repair stand and it was glorious.