Take wheel off Youngest Son’s bike. So far so good.
Take tyre off wheel. Much grunting.
Push valve into wheel and try to remove inner tube. Valve gets stuck. More grunting.
Finally persuade valve to go through ridiculously small hole. Drag inner tube out of tyre.
Find pump.
Pump up inner tube. Look for hole.
Nothing. Inner tube obviously, clearly, smugly, puncture free.
Bummer.
Push valve back into hole. Five minutes of twisting and pushing later it finally goes through the hole.
Clamp fingers in tyre.
Force inner tube into tyre with a combination of finger prodding and bad language.
Pump up inner tube slightly to avoid pinch punctures
Try to fit tyre into rim.
Fail.
Try using tyre levers.
Bend tyre levers.
Remember that The Shop has a tyre lever the size and shape of a dinner spoon for just such emergencies.
Take tyre to shop.
Find The Boss playing strategy game on computer. (It was a slow day).
Boss is highly amused and demonstrates how to put a tyre on a wheel without tyre levers.
Pump up tyre in shop, tyre goes flat.
Boss even more amused.
Two customers come onto shop which giving your correspondent the opportunity to slope off home with tyre.
Find two holes in tyre large enough to admit small rodents, clearly made by errant tyre lever.
Find the biggest patch in the repair kit.
Fix puncture, put tyre on without levers as demonstrated by The Boss.
Drop wheel, lose wheel bearings.
Find bearings, put wheel on bike.
Return bike to Youngest Son
Make mental note to stock up on puncture repair patches.
10 comments
Comments feed for this article
March 26, 2011 at 10:19 am
Zweiradler
I know how to fix a puncture, but I didn’t know yet how not to do it. Thanks for the tutorial.
When I have a flat tyre I pump it up first to make sure the valve is working and to find the puncture using my ears. To fix the puncture I only pull out a small part of the inner tube, so I don’t have to remove the wheel or the tyre.
Nico
March 27, 2011 at 8:47 pm
Andy in Germany
You’re welcome: I’m providing a public service here…
I should have pumped up the tyre first. I knew this, but I somehow forgot that one on that morning…
March 26, 2011 at 4:05 pm
oldfool
uh I’ve had a lot of days like that lately.
March 27, 2011 at 8:49 pm
Andy in Germany
Oldfool & John: Thanks for that, I’m glad it’s not just me having a brain drain. Hope you found all the bearings John, mind you, I rode on a the Xtracycle with one bearing missing in the bottom bracket for a couple of months and only found out when I replaced the bottom bracket.
March 26, 2011 at 4:42 pm
John Romeo Alpha
Yeah, my week was like that. Bearings. All over the floor. Rolling.
March 26, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Karl McCracken (twitter: @KarlOnSea)
McCracken’s law of punctures: They only occur when you’re in a hurry.
March 27, 2011 at 8:50 pm
Andy in Germany
I can confirm that the same applies here.
March 27, 2011 at 10:49 am
Amoeba
Confucious he say: ‘man who fit tyre with levers get punctures in tube.’
Confucius also say: ‘man who watch this YouTube YouTube video, fit tyre without punctures.’
March 27, 2011 at 8:51 pm
Andy in Germany
Confucious dead right on that one.
I knew this: I fixed loads of tyres at work without using levers to put them on again, but for some reason I had a brain fart that day. Ah well…
March 28, 2011 at 8:03 pm
John
One Day as I was about to go out,I looked at the rear Tyre on a Trek Hybrid HMMMM it looks a tad soft might give it a squirt of air. It will make it easier on the Hill going back from the City. I get out one of those Modern Pumps that has no 4″ Tube connector instead of the Old style Zefal Pump and put it to the Valve. It does not connect properly and I redo the snap Lever and put it to the Valve again. After a bit of rummaging around it seems to work then disaster the Valve tip breaks off making the Inner Tube completely useless. It would have been better if I used the Zefal Pump or else just left the Wheel alone.
Result I just got out the Dutch Bike as I was in a hurry to get to Town and in no mood to Patch another spare Tube for the Trek. That was a Year ago and the Trek has since been sold and I got a New Surly LHT but I still have that Old Inner Tube that I can use the Rubber for something like a Gasket for a Kickstand or Attaching things to Handlebars.