No longer worried about flat tires

Posted on August 2nd, 2012 by Sacha Chua

My bicycle’s rear wheel has a fast leak. I pumped it up this morning, and by the time I returned to my bike after a good day at the office, it was as smooshy as a cat on a hot day. I refilled it with the pump I carry in my emergency kit – first time to use it! – and headed home, which is about an hour’s ride. (Mostly due to one steep hill near the end; it takes me about forty minutes the other way). Flat again when I got home.

W- will help me fix my bicycle this weekend. He used to be a bike courier, and he knows all sorts of things. =)

The neat thing is that this experience shows me that I don’t have to worry too much about a flat tire, especially on a decent day. Good to know!

More posts about: biking // 4 Comments »

Short URL: http://sachachua.com/blog/p/23624

http://222milliontons.wordpress.com/ Jean-François Chénier

Emergency repair kit – now why didn’t I think of that (asked the man who pushed his flat-tired bike a couple of miles a few weeks back)? One thing I really miss about Japan is that a bike repair shop was never very far away. In LA, not so much.
http://chrisnolan.ca/ Chris Nolan.ca

I’ve gotten pretty good at dealing with flats. After taking it to the shop a few times (once walking a few km to do so), and then bringing a pump with me when I knew I had a slowish leak, and then being faced with flats on the kids bikes I knuckled down and learned figured things out.

I’ve replaced two tubes and patched a couple others the last while. The kids are pretty good with the wrench getting their wheels off too. The silly little tools for getting the tire off the rim are prone to break the first few times as you’re getting the hang of it. I bought 3 but should have bought 5 I think.

Oh, and there are a bunch of books on bike maintenance at our local library too ;-)
http://sachachua.com Sacha Chua

The wheels are hard for me to remove on the road (maybe I should start packing a wrench, too!). W- usually takes the wheels off for me, and then I check the inner tube for leaks. I patched my previous front tube twice, I think, and then W- replaced the tube when the valve broke. When this rear wheel went majorly flat, we decided to replace both the tire and the tube because the tire was looking a little ragged too. =)

I’ve never had a problem with the tire levers, but that could be because I don’t exert enough force to break them off. I just try to wiggle two in close to each other, and then the rest of the wheel usually zips off after a little back-and-forth.
Priya D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCYodiWpwlA. Hi hope it will help you!!

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