New to cycling - how do people deal with punctures?

magicbastarder

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Do you turn your car upside down when changing a wheel?

if you get out of your car and walk away from it, does it fall over unless you lean it against a fence or a wall?

brownian

So...it's a sin, but everyone does it, and feels like the right thing to do?

a148pro

brownian wrote: »

Can someone explain why it's a no-no to turn your bike upside down....and how to change a back-wheel puncture without doing so? I'm slow to balance my bike on the rear derailleur? Or is this a 'rule' like wearing socks the right length and never pulling your arm warmers down to your wrists without taking them off entirely?

Genuinely interested in the answer to this? Is there any detriment to the bike?

Thargor

Yeah wondering that aswell, is it bad for disk brakes?

Pythagorean

Nobody has mentioned stuff known as "Slime", I think. It's a green goo that you put in the tube ,and it seals the puncture as soon as it it happens. It does work, thankfully punctures are rare enough nowadays. If you think being stuck far from home on a bicycle with a flat tyre is bad, try it with a motorcycle !!!

riclad

If its a back wheel I turn the bike upside down it does no harm . You might want to remove front lights if they are on the handlebar.
Carry a tube, and a puncture repair kit,2 metal tools to remove the tyres.
Spanner to take off the wheel
Look on YouTube how to fix a puncture .
or change a tube.

magicbastarder

Thargor wrote: »

Yeah wondering that aswell, is it bad for disk brakes?

there's some chatter (after a quick google) that it could potentially let air in, and equal amounts of 'if your brakes let air in that easily you've got issues before the puncture happened'.

Wishbone Ash

brownian wrote: »

So...it's a sin, but everyone does it, and feels like the right thing to do?

Everyone? I've never done it and, in many club rides, I've only seen it done a handful of times (usually by the same person).

It most definitely does not feel like the right thing to do. Everything is upside down and back to front, it causes scuffs to hoods and saddle, damage to garmin, lights etc., water bottles fall out and the wheel often doesnt 'seat' properly.

secman

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Everyone? I've never done it and, in many club rides, I've only seen it done a handful of times (usually by the same person).

It most definitely does not feel like the right thing to do. Everything is upside down and back to front, it causes scuffs to hoods and saddle, damage to garmin, lights etc., water bottles fall out and the wheel often doesnt 'seat' properly.

Those people are obviously doing it wrong WA, if placed carefully it wont scuff and its perfectly balanced, sitting the wheel is a doddle, proper way up, how do you balance it, possible to scuff or damage the RD if it falls over ?
Hoods keep lights and Garmin away from the ground when placed up side down carefully.
Whatever way works for you is the correct way.

07Lapierre

brownian wrote: »

Can someone explain why it's a no-no to turn your bike upside down....and how to change a back-wheel puncture without doing so? I'm slow to balance my bike on the rear derailleur? Or is this a 'rule' like wearing socks the right length and never pulling your arm warmers down to your wrists without taking them off entirely?

1: your saddle will get covered in grit/dirt
2: your shifters (assuming we’re talking about a road bike) will get covered in dirt/grit
3: if you have a Garmin/ phone on your bars, if you for get to remove it, you’ll damage it.
4: the chain will come off the chainring and get tangled.. resulting oily hands as you try to untangle it.
5: it’s unnecessary and it’s easier to remove/refit wheels when the bike is upright.

If Si can do it... you can do it!
https://youtu.be/2pnbJ64zvME

steamsey

07Lapierre wrote: »

1: your saddle will get covered in grit/dirt
2: your shifters (assuming we’re talking about a road bike) will get covered in dirt/grit
3: if you have a Garmin/ phone on your bars, if you for get to remove it, you’ll damage it.
4: the chain will come off the chainring and get tangled.. resulting oily hands as you try to untangle it.
5: it’s unnecessary and it’s easier to remove/refit wheels when the bike is upright.

If Si can do it... you can do it!
https://youtu.be/2pnbJ64zvME

1. It's easy enough to protect the saddle - throw something underneath it if there's a worry about it
2. Shifters ditto
3. Don't forget to remove
4. Maybe, but not end of the world. Don't see why chain would come off if you're careful but it could
5. Far easier and quicker to remove upside down IMO

The big minus for upright is where do you put your bike when the wheel is off? You have to be very careful of chainring and especially rear mech.

Once, I left a bike with cheap hydraulic brakes upside down overnight, air got in and had to bleed fully. Once though.

Leaving a bike with good brakes upside down for the 10 mins it takes to patch puncture, or 5 mins to throw in new tube should not let air in but sure anything's possible.

Whatever works for you is the right answer here in terms of upright or upside down

On tyres - Schwalbe do hard rolling puncture resistant tyres that served me well for thousands of km's with no punctures for 3 years.

mewso

I recently switched from Hybrid to Racer (I'm old...ok road bike) and while I could change a tube easily enough on the hybrid I couldn't for the life of me get it done on the new road bike. Took it to Halfords and the guy there took ages, puncturing the first tube he tried to put in and after a huge effort finally got it in with the second tube attempt. All the while I was watching this thinking how the heck am I supposed to get this done on the side of the road? (Conti Ultra Sport 2 , 28-622, tyres by the way). Phone and wallet it is.

Edit to ask would people recommend an easier tyre (these seem to be very good tyres but a very tight tube fit) to switch to?

Effects

Pythagorean wrote: »

Nobody has mentioned stuff known as "Slime", I think. It's a green goo that you put in the tube

Used it once back in 1990. It was terrible back then.

I've got tubeless setup on one of my bikes, works well for the most part, but it's also given me some hassles.

steamsey

mewso wrote: »

Edit to ask would people recommend an easier tyre (these seem to be very good tyres but a very tight tube fit) to switch to?

I don't think there is a particular road tyre that is going to be obviously so much easier to remove that it's worth switching to it.

My advice is get some really good tyre levers. You can get reinforced ones. Fully deflated, push the tyre sideways off the rim until you can get a lever in there. Spit comes into play to lube up the lever so you can pull it towards you, along the rim and hopefully unseat the tyre. Is easier if the tube is fecked and you don't care about it as you can go at it rough. It can be done with any tyre, pretty quickly. Always carry at least 2 tyre levers as 1) you might need two to get the tyre back on and 2) in case one does break. Re-seating tyre can be the hardest part and can require a bit of force.

Article here might help - https://cyclingtips.com/2017/12/tips-for-installing-removing-impossibly-tight-tyres/

Fian

One thing that hasn't been mentioned and that is somewhat counter-intuitive:

If you are overweight (me too btw) you need MORE pressure in your tyres, not less. Pump them hard, to as much as the tyres can handle. Which should be 120psi or so on a road bike, much less on a mountain bike. also pump them up frequently - I keep mine at 110 - 120 and check them weekly before any long ride. Not that long rides will be a thing for the next 6 weeks

Many punctures are caused be under-inflated tubes, this can allow the wheel rims to pinch the tubes and puncture them. The heavier the rider the more pressure is required to prevent this. It is not like a balloon where over-inflation bursts it. Well you can go too far but if you stay within tyre limits you are fine. Tyre limits are written on the sidewall of the tyres.

Effects

mewso wrote: »

Edit to ask would people recommend an easier tyre (these seem to be very good tyres but a very tight tube fit) to switch to?

You could switch to a tyre that has less chance of getting a puncture.

magicbastarder

secman wrote: »

Hoods keep lights and Garmin away from the ground when placed up side down carefully.

very much depends on what angle you have the hoods at, and how big the lights are.

i suspect the OP has gotten way more information that they expected when they started the thread.

byrnem31

Get hard plastic tyre levers too as metal will mark the wheels.
Halford sell them for 4 quid or that.

mewso

steamsey wrote: »

I don't think there is a particular road tyre that is going to be obviously so much easier to remove that it's worth switching to it.

My advice is get some really good tyre levers. You can get reinforced ones. Fully deflated, push the tyre sideways off the rim until you can get a lever in there. Spit comes into play to lube up the lever so you can pull it towards you, along the rim and hopefully unseat the tyre. Is easier if the tube is fecked and you don't care about it as you can go at it rough. It can be done with any tyre, pretty quickly. Always carry at least 2 tyre levers as 1) you might need two to get the tyre back on and 2) in case one does break. Re-seating tyre can be the hardest part and can require a bit of force.

Article here might help - https://cyclingtips.com/2017/12/tips-for-installing-removing-impossibly-tight-tyres/

Thanks steamsey but while it was difficult to get the tube out and tyre off I did manage it in the end and it was getting it back on was the real problem. Tyre and tube sit very close together so there is a big danger of damaging the tube while trying to lever the tyre back on (which happened to the guy in Halfords). I have several levers but how good they are is worth looking into so I take the point there.

Effects

mewso wrote: »

There is a big danger of damaging the tube while trying to lever the tyre back on.

I've messed up new tubes a few times that way myself. So annoying.

magicbastarder

someone already mentioned it, but pumping up the tube a few PSI is important here, will reduce the chance of pinching it while wrestling with the tyre.

Wishbone Ash

Fian wrote: »

One thing that hasn't been mentioned ...

It was mentioned in post no. 12.

Captain Havoc

Biggest two things in my opinion are tyres, I bought some super dupper Continental tyres last time. The second thing is pumping the tyres to around 100psi before every single spin. After that on the road I have a multi-tool, two or three tyre levers, gas pump with two cylinders and two tubes.

Wishbone Ash

Question for those who use CO2 only (i.e. don't carry a mini pump) - how do you get a small amount of air into the tube to allow it to take shape before seating the tyre? I've heard lads saying that they use their mouth but I've never been able to do that. Perhaps there's a knack to it?

D13exile

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Question for those who use CO2 only (i.e. don't carry a mini pump) - how do you get a small amount of air into the tube to allow it to take shape before seating the tyre? I've heard lads saying that they use their mouth but I've never been able to do that. Perhaps there's a knack to it?

And to add to this question, how do you know when there's enough CO2 gone into the tube? Or do you just shoot the whole cartridge load into it? Any danger of the tube bursting? Thinking about getting a CO2 inflator as my mini pump never gets the tube back up to a decent pressure.

Wishbone Ash

D13exile wrote: »

And to add to this question, how do you know when there's enough CO2 gone into the tube? Or do you just shoot the whole cartridge load into it? Any danger of the tube bursting? Thinking about getting a CO2 inflator as my mini pump never gets the tube back up to a decent pressure.

I've only gave it a blast for a second or so and that was usually as hard a track pump would give it.

(I've never found out how much excess is in the cartridge and, I haven't used one for several years now so I'm a bit rusty).

ED E

D13exile wrote: »

And to add to this question, how do you know when there's enough CO2 gone into the tube? Or do you just shoot the whole cartridge load into it? Any danger of the tube bursting? Thinking about getting a CO2 inflator as my mini pump never gets the tube back up to a decent pressure.

The cartridge fills a road tyre properly when it equalizes, around 110PSI.

A good inflator lets you release a small flow first.

Am I the only one whose eyes are watering at the talk of 110/120 psi? I’d be worried the fillings will fall out of my teeth at that pressure. I pump my 28mm tyres to 80 psi and it works fine.

I quite often fix the puncture at the side of the road as well, if it isn’t too bad. If you can locate the puncture easily, you can do it without taking the wheel off.

But then, I roll my arm warmers down to my wrists at times as well.

Weepsie

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Question for those who use CO2 only (i.e. don't carry a mini pump) - how do you get a small amount of air into the tube to allow it to take shape before seating the tyre? I've heard lads saying that they use their mouth but I've never been able to do that. Perhaps there's a knack to it?

My co2 inflater is a minipump

07Lapierre

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Question for those who use CO2 only (i.e. don't carry a mini pump) - how do you get a small amount of air into the tube to allow it to take shape before seating the tyre? I've heard lads saying that they use their mouth but I've never been able to do that. Perhaps there's a knack to it?

The inflators has a valve, so once you pull it off the valve, it will close the valve. So to inflate the tube a small amount, push the inflator onto the valve and remove it almost immediately. Then once you install the tube and tyre, push the inflator onto the valve and hold it there until the tyre is hard.

BBB also do an inflator that has a regulator valve. Once you attaché the valve, you turn the knob and you can control the flow of air into the tube.