Punctures. Some lessons learned.

cycleclinic

Carry at least two tubes. Patches are for home or last resort.

awavey

keef66 wrote:

When I rode as a kid / teenager neither I nor my mates carried a spare tube, just a puncture kit. Spent many a happy 15 minutes at the roadside patching tubes. Being permanently skint probably had something to do with it. Looking back I think we were probably quite fortunate not to end up stranded miles from home. No mobile phones back in the 70s. Well, no way of contacting home since the house didn't have a landline either. And if I'd been able to tell them I was stranded, we had no car so there'd be no chance of a recovery lift.

Funnily I don't ever remember worrying about it at the time. Blind optimism of youth...

when I was a kid I dont ever remember having a puncture & I certainly never carried a puncture kit around with me, thesedays I carry as standard 1 replacement tube, 2 if Im planning anything like a metric ton, puncture repair kit, pump, and tend to favour puncture resistant tyres, whilst spending some part of bike maintainence time deflinting the tyres.

only had to do the walk of shame the one time as there was something odd going on with the rim tape/spokes, which meant however I fixed it, it just wouldnt hold pressure and puncture again.

the weirdest thing is the chalk in the repair kit completely disintegrated into a fine dust, so everything in the saddle bag is covered in chalk dust, which probably makes it completely useless to use now, not sure Id trust a repair job I did anyway other than a get you home.

sheffsimon

1964johnr wrote:

Before my ride this morning I had been on a great run, not a single puncture in over a year. Something which I had never achieved previously. Then it all went wrong big time. The plan was to be out by 9, a short 30 mile ride and back before 11 to watch the cricket, Grand Prix and Tennis, not all live of course. Eight miles in dead on the half hour mark and it happened, a puncture. No problem, I had a repair kit with patches, glue and chalk. I hadn't seen it for a while because I hadn't used it. So out of the saddle bag it came. I turned the bike upside down, chain in the smallest cog, quick release and the wheel was out. Tyre leavers to get the tyre off, all in less than 5 minutes. This is where it began to go wrong. Located the puncture hole, cleaned it and roughed it up. Took the glue and put it over the hole, big enough to take the patch. Glue looked a little strange, but never mind. Took a patch and peeled off the backing which didn't come off as easily as usual. Placed the patch over the glue and firmed down, well I tried to firm it down but it kept peeling off. No Problem, i'll try another patch. Exactly the same thing happened. Maybe it's the glue I thought. I have a spare one, i'll try that. It still would not take a patch. By this time I had already refused at least 5 offers of help from passing cyclists. It still wasn't a major issue because I had a spare new tube still in its cellophane. Out it came, put a little air in it to get the right shape, but it went down. The new b....y innertube had a hole in it. By this point I was in danger of the same riders who offered me help earlier, coming past me on the way back. The upshot was that 1 hour and 45 minutes after the initial puncture I managed to get a patch to stick, just. I got on the bike, more than a little irritated and went flat out for half an hour to get home. The lessons I have learned, which may help others are as follows.

1. Puncture patches and glue degrade after a certain amount of time and need replacing.
2. Carrying a new spare tube doesn't always mean it is in good condition, check it before relying on it.
3. If you attempt to fix a puncture on the side of the road along the olympic road race route on a Sunday morning,
be prepared to accept or decline help from dozens of good willed cyclists.

Turning the bike upside down was your first mistake.....

keef66

I've never understood why turning a bike upside down is frowned on. Is it one of those clubbie rules?

In my experience it makes it easier to remove a rear wheel without dropping the bike / rear mech in the dirt. Or am I missing something?

lettingthedaysgoby

keef66 wrote:

I've never understood why turning a bike upside down is frowned on. Is it one of those clubbie rules?

In my experience it makes it easier to remove a rear wheel without dropping the bike / rear mech in the dirt. Or am I missing something?

I think it’s a rule invented by people too precious to get a speck of dirt on their £300 carbon saddles

slowbike

keef66 wrote:

I've never understood why turning a bike upside down is frowned on. Is it one of those clubbie rules?

In my experience it makes it easier to remove a rear wheel without dropping the bike / rear mech in the dirt. Or am I missing something?

scratches the hoods and saddle

keef66

Slowbike wrote:

keef66 wrote:

I've never understood why turning a bike upside down is frowned on. Is it one of those clubbie rules?

In my experience it makes it easier to remove a rear wheel without dropping the bike / rear mech in the dirt. Or am I missing something?

scratches the hoods and saddle

So it's OK on a nice grassy verge?

chris_bass

keef66 wrote:

I've never understood why turning a bike upside down is frowned on. Is it one of those clubbie rules?

In my experience it makes it easier to remove a rear wheel without dropping the bike / rear mech in the dirt. Or am I missing something?

I heard someone somewhere at some point (maybe, or i may have dreamt it!) that it is to do with not wanting to get the parts of the bike you touch (handlebars/saddle) wet/dirty/covered in poo!

if i'm near a gate i tend to hang the bike by the saddle/handlebars (depending on if it is a front or rear flat) on the gate driveside out.

Alejandrosdog

Imposter wrote:

Franco di Banco wrote:

Think using tyre leavers didn't help.
Tyre levers would have been better.

tyre leavers or tyre remainers...?

Leave or remain, were all tyred now

Alejandrosdog

Slowbike wrote:

keef66 wrote:

I've never understood why turning a bike upside down is frowned on. Is it one of those clubbie rules?

In my experience it makes it easier to remove a rear wheel without dropping the bike / rear mech in the dirt. Or am I missing something?

scratches the hoods and saddle

This

and its probably in the rules somewhere too

chris_bass

but whatever is likely to scratch the hoods/saddle (both of which are replaceable) is as likely to scratch whichever part you lay on the ground though, isn't it? I'd rather scratch the hood/saddle than the side of the frame

Matthewfalle

and its only going to scratch them if you fling the thing around. and, bizarrely, hoods are generally rubber nowadays, so they don't scratch.

worst comes to the worst - shock horror - pop a glove/gel/leaf/whatever under what you think will scratch. it ain't rocket science.

turn it over, pop it on the ground. utterly no dramas at all

#clubbies,hey

Matthewfalle

Slowbike wrote:

keef66 wrote:

I've never understood why turning a bike upside down is frowned on. Is it one of those clubbie rules?

In my experience it makes it easier to remove a rear wheel without dropping the bike / rear mech in the dirt. Or am I missing something?

scratches the hoods and saddle

no it doesn't.

#drama

Matthewfalle

Chris Bass wrote:

keef66 wrote:

I've never understood why turning a bike upside down is frowned on. Is it one of those clubbie rules?

In my experience it makes it easier to remove a rear wheel without dropping the bike / rear mech in the dirt. Or am I missing something?

I heard someone somewhere at some point (maybe, or i may have dreamt it!) that it is to do with not wanting to get the parts of the bike you touch (handlebars/saddle) wet/dirty/covered in poo!

if i'm near a gate i tend to hang the bike by the saddle/handlebars (depending on if it is a front or rear flat) on the gate driveside out.

so just don't put your bike in poo.

#bewildering

chris_bass

Matthewfalle wrote:

Chris Bass wrote:

keef66 wrote:

I've never understood why turning a bike upside down is frowned on. Is it one of those clubbie rules?

In my experience it makes it easier to remove a rear wheel without dropping the bike / rear mech in the dirt. Or am I missing something?

I heard someone somewhere at some point (maybe, or i may have dreamt it!) that it is to do with not wanting to get the parts of the bike you touch (handlebars/saddle) wet/dirty/covered in poo!

if i'm near a gate i tend to hang the bike by the saddle/handlebars (depending on if it is a front or rear flat) on the gate driveside out.

so just don't put your bike in poo.

#bewildering

Hard to argue with that!

slowbike

Matthewfalle wrote:

Slowbike wrote:

keef66 wrote:

I've never understood why turning a bike upside down is frowned on. Is it one of those clubbie rules?

In my experience it makes it easier to remove a rear wheel without dropping the bike / rear mech in the dirt. Or am I missing something?

scratches the hoods and saddle

no it doesn't.

#drama

It does if you're then faffing about with the back wheel - then getting the stuff out of the saddle bag ...

Did it once - scratched the hell out of the hoods - never again.

but if it's your bike then it's your choice .