Seriously!?!?!?! You don't know how to change a flat?!?!?!

[Meis]

I take my repair just one step further. Where the patch I put 2 smooth pieces of pinewood and clamp it in a vice grip and leave it over night. Over kill?

 

Don’t know about the vice grip, but under the leg of a coffee table works for me.

 

Even though I don’t think this should be an excuse, I have found that some girls are not strong enough to change a tube. Putting the last bit of the tyre back on the rim is where most seem to fall short. Patching is a whole different story, I haven’t met a lady cyclist yet who understands that or even owns a patch kit...

[iRob]

Don’t know about the vice grip, but under the leg of a coffee table works for me.

 

Even though I don’t think this should be an excuse, I have found that some girls are not strong enough to change a tube. Putting the last bit of the tyre back on the rim is where most seem to fall short. Patching is a whole different story, I haven’t met a lady cyclist yet who understands that or even owns a patch kit...

 

 

Hey, that's why God made boys. To help helpless girls.

[Pookie]

Three words : ignorance is bliss! I know many a cyclist - many of them women as well (yes, female I am) who just take their bike to the bikeshop for the littlest thing - can't even replace a broken seatclamp or wash their bikes properly...have no idea what hydrolic brakes mean or tubeless...."Oh I just got it this way" - and then it's a 29 Grand dual susser...honestly - what a waste!

[Starvin' Marvin]

Don’t know about the vice grip, but under the leg of a coffee table works for me.

 

Even though I don’t think this should be an excuse, I have found that some girls are not strong enough to change a tube. Putting the last bit of the tyre back on the rim is where most seem to fall short. Patching is a whole different story, I haven’t met a lady cyclist yet who understands that or even owns a patch kit...

 

The over kill could come from being a Virgo. We always have to go that one step futher!

[Mojoman]

Don’t know about the vice grip, but under the leg of a coffee table works for me.

 

Even though I don’t think this should be an excuse, I have found that some girls are not strong enough to change a tube. Putting the last bit of the tyre back on the rim is where most seem to fall short. Patching is a whole different story, I haven’t met a lady cyclist yet who understands that or even owns a patch kit...

My partner knows and has her own puncture kit under the saddle. She also knows how to fix a flattie on the 4x4, from changing the tyre to pluging the tyre while it is still on the vehicle! I have told her (and this may sound really tjoppie but its also for safety should anything happen to me) that if she wants to cycle with me or go off roading she must know how to get herself out of trouble, I could be unconscious or dead or whatever and rescue could depend upon her! She is better qualified than some men we meet!

[AndreZA]

Not sure why you leave it overnight though....I press mine with the thumb for a minute or so and just put it back, no problems for many years.

 

I just hang it outside to dry completely for a few minutes and then sprinkle baby powder on it so that it does not stick to the inside of the tyre.

[Johan Bornman]

What Johan just said is very true . Very few people knows how to apply a patch properly . We all think you find the hole , slap on some glue and a patch follows . But don't dispair , I am busy writing a book on it .

 

Dirty, your veiled sarcasm does't elude me. C'mon, give us the steps. I promise I'll still buy the book.

[Ratty]

I stopped to help a girl who looked distressed on the tar section at the start of the Karoo to Coast. Her tyre was flat and she had no idea how to fix it.

 

To make things worse, her friends had converted her to tubeless on the Friday before the race. She at least had bombs, a tube etc so I helped her and she went on her way and left me in her dust.

[Scooterza]

For anyone not sure about patching tyres, there is a post under Tech Q&A (there are probably several) where a number of people give tips on fixing a flat.

https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/61484-patching-tubes/page__p__925959__fromsearch__1#entry925959

 

Check it out - if you follow the instructions there, you should be good to go in 5 minutes or less.

[Mackie]

I must be honest, I am one of those people who replaces tubes rather than patch them. I do know how to patch a tube. I have used a car wheel gator on the inside of my UST tyre, worked like a charm, this after my LBS said the tyre is a right off, I disagreed and popped into Supa Quick to buy the gator cost me R30 and save a R500 UST tyre.

[Stoffel76]

For most it would be logic but for some they just dont remember how many punctures they got on their first BMX's when they were kids cuase dad use to fix them.

 

Not my dad... We had this bush near our house were the kids used to ride their BMX's, but it was full of thorns! Deal was I could ride there, but had to fix my own punctures. But that was my dad's attitude - To learn how something works, fix it. He applied that to my bicycles, motorbikes etc. Wise man my dad was... B)

 

The 'American attitude' is a strange one as well - everything is dramatic. I use to work as a safari guide and when you're travelling through Zim, Botswana & Namibia punctures were obviously common. Driving the one day, the vehicle got a puncture. So we pulled over, I changed the wheel and we were back on the road again. The American's were astounded and asked me how I remainded 'so calm'?

 

But seriously, a cyclist should know how to fix a puncture, even just from a safety aspect. Otherwise it would be a bit like a canoeist not knowing how to swim - it could end badly!

[covie]

I have a three year old daughter who propbably loves fixing daddy's bike more than she does riding her own. (Not that she's any good at it) But she can't wait till i bring out the toolset and she flips her little bike upside down and fixes it with gusto and determination. By the time she's 5 she will fix her own bike that much i can gauruntee.

[Slave]

Yesterday I'm on my jobsite and I see a "cyclist" sitting on the opposite corner of the road. When I asked him what was wrong or if he needed help, he proceeds to tell me that he got 2 flats riding through the construction site and only has 1 spare tube and doesn't know how to change the tubes, so he's waiting for his wife to come and pick him up (he lives about 45km from where he was broken down). Fortunately for him I had an extra tube in my car and showed him how to change them out.

 

However, this is not the first instance where I have come across "cyclists" who do not know how to fix a flat. Two of these other instances are people that I know...

 

So this made me start wondering, is this just a lazy a$$ American thing, or has anyone else come across these "cyclists"?

 

Came across a lady last year sometime with this problem. She was out cycling alone FFS and had a puncture. So she phones hubby to come pick her up, then takes the bike to LBS and forks out R75 for them to "fix" it.

 

Anyway, I stopped told her to phone hubby, cancel the call and showed her how to fix it. Last time I saw her, she was at LBS buying kit to fix punctures.

 

There are just way too many peeps out there either too lazy, or too doff to repair punctures.

 

Many years ago,when I still rode one of those Pick n pay Fireball road bikes with the 27 1/4 wheels, I used to ride without a pump or tubby bag. If I got a flat, it was a long wlak home. But then again, I was never in a hurry to get home.

[Disylizzy]

Don’t know about the vice grip, but under the leg of a coffee table works for me.

 

Even though I don’t think this should be an excuse, I have found that some girls are not strong enough to change a tube. Putting the last bit of the tyre back on the rim is where most seem to fall short. Patching is a whole different story, I haven’t met a lady cyclist yet who understands that or even owns a patch kit...

 

Oh Meis, please tell me you did not just go there! I have owned several patch kits in my time. Patched too many punctures to even count. And as for the pesky little bit of tire that won't go in at the end, that's what the tire levers are for!!!

[AndreZA]

And as for the pesky little bit of tire that won't go in at the end, that's what the tire levers are for!!!

 

Some tyres are fine but some are a pain. I actually got blisters on my thumbs trying to put wires Gatorskins on Fulcrum wheels. I finally got them on by sliding the tyre lever between the rim and the tyre. Trying to lever it over will just pinch the tubes 90% of the times. And can you believe, the day after I struggled like that, I got a flat. And with sore thumbs I tried my new sliding method and tube was changed in less then 10 minutes, including pumping it up.

[bikemonster]

Came across a lady last year sometime with this problem...

 

Bit of an over-reaction don't you think?

 

Couldn't you have just given her a stiff talking to? B)