Oh! Here's the book I had: http://cgi.ebay.com/CLEAR-CREEK-BIKE...-/150240887529 It was driving me nuts, I couldn't remember it until I was almost asleep. :)
Now back to your regularly scheduled flame war. :cool:
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Oh! Here's the book I had: http://cgi.ebay.com/CLEAR-CREEK-BIKE...-/150240887529 It was driving me nuts, I couldn't remember it until I was almost asleep. :)
Now back to your regularly scheduled flame war. :cool:
you'd think somebody'd brought up the subject of ear buds. Yeesh!:eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by OakLeaf
The image of this cracked me up! But it is a very good idea and I've picked up several from this thread. I particularly like the one about the glove especially because I have so much experience with chains falling off. Neat idea. And using the phone for photos besides sceanery.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cataboo
Plus I feel the need to say this in general on this thread
Please play nice! Pretty please.
We are here to encourage one another not tear ourself apart. This isn't life or death.
I vaguely remember how to fix a flat, but now that I've read this thread I'm inspired to re-learn the skill! I love the idea of using the phone camera to capture how the back tire should slip into place. Great tip! Thanks!
like most people, the only flats I have ever had (three in 7 years of riding) were in the rear. I know how to flip the bike, take the wheel off, change the tube, check the inside of the tire, do a slight inflation to check for leaks in the new tube and get it tucked back into the tire and then get the tire back into position to put the tire back onto the wheel. Then it gets really reall difficult because I have weak arthritic hands. The changing part usually takes me about 10 minutes , getting the tire back on the wheel can take any where up to an hour or more. I just lack the strenth and flexibility to pry the tire back onto the wheel. By the time I have finished I swear I will never ever ride again and of course it always happens on some way out country farm road with little or no traffic, much less a helpful biker or passerby. I usually get honked at, shown the finger and blasted with the truck exhaust.
Eternal vigilence on the tires before after and during the ride are the price I pay, that and the kevlar lining on my tires.
I learned at a LBS clinic and then have did a couple at home to practice.
I am glad to know how and can if it necessary but what I cherish is the independence of being self sufficient.
marni
I know how. I did just what Susan said, it never dawned on me that changing a rear flat was more difficult than a front flat.
I forgot to mention that during my class with the hands on the bike was upside down and that made it very easy because the bike supported itself. I stood behind the bike and used my left hand to pull the derailleur back toward me and used my right hand to grab the wheel and pull it up out of the dropouts.
I can change a rear tire and fix a flat. I think I learned a lot this stuff, like finding the hole in a flat tire and putting it on or oiling or cleaning things, from my grandpa when I was 3 or 4. My family still laughs about how I always wanted to "operate" my scooter and my first bike when I was small.
Still, I always have to find out how to put the chain in the right spot again if I have to change it or the tire or the jockey wheels, it's a bit confusing.
Glove or no glove, how do you do it without getting your handlebar tape dirty? Once the new tube is in, you still need to pick the bike up to put the wheel back in, and touch the chain afterward. Having a clean rag between hand and handlebar is probably the way to go, but it just seems like an extra level of hassle. Anyone?
Good morning everyone.
I was surprised to see this thread continuing.
I don't think it's a flame war. I feel like I've done some education, on something that is mostly invisible. Maybe I spoke a little more loudly than Bicciclista, but she also said the same thing!
I do carry a cell phone, Cataboo, but I think I have a better chance of just practicing more with my hands than the picture. Looking at pictures and diagrams is notoriously worthless for me, or I would have done it long ago. Funny, I am good with directions and finding my way around; my issues are pretty specific. And I had a great female role model for being mechanical: my mom. She could do everything. She once fixed my garbage disposal after she had mistakenly put artichoke leaves down there and green ooze was escaping from under the sink. I get this from my dad, who I have seen hit his hand with a hammer while putting in a nail, shut his hand in the car door, as well as perpetually winning the last place prize at a golf tournament every year. My older son inherited some of it and had occupational therapy for a year, to help him, when he was little. He is much better than me at this kind of stuff, but then, he also inherited DH's super mechanical genes.
Oakleaf: black handlebar tape.
<----- But ... but ... but ... it has to match my blue tires ... :DQuote:
Originally Posted by tulip
ETA - there's one thing I really suck at, and will go crying to someone else (male or female, that doesn't matter) to do it for me, given half a chance. Wrapping fat handlebar tape. I was fine with the cloth tape we had back in the day ... even the thinner cork I eventually graduated to ... this synthetic stuff is comfortable, durable and pretty, but I just canNOT get it started without leaving a big lump at the bar end, plus I always wind up having to unwrap it and do it over five or six times to get the winding even around the bends.
My next tires will be blue to match my handlebar tape... :DQuote:
Originally Posted by OakLeaf
Well then you will want to know that the Conti GP4000 blue is a perfect match for the Spec' S-Wrap (looks like they've changed the tape styles a bit from what I have, but the colors look the same on the website, anyway).Quote:
Originally Posted by zoom-zoom
I have the metallic blue Sidi tape, but my cables are that same blue as the Conti tires. I can't wait to have enough miles on my bike to replace my tires! I probably need to log another 1500-2k miles before I'll be due. Gotta get pedaling! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by OakLeaf
Well ... if you look at 7:20 or so, he does wind up with a bit of a lump, although admittedly not nearly as much as I usually get. When I let the LBS do it, there's NONE. There must be some trick he does at 1:30 to keep from having the fattest part of the tape at the edge of the bar where it gets folded over - but he doesn't say anything about it. Either that or the tape just isn't as fat as the kind I use. :confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by Muirenn
Also with an ergo bar there's a lot more finessing around the bends, but that's just a matter of practice. Avoiding the lump at the end, there's got to be something I'm not doing (or something I'm doing that I shouldn't :p).
My bike is red with a black fork and black seat stays. My tires are black with red stripes. My handlebar tape is black. There are very practical reasons that handlebar tape and cycling shorts should always be black.Quote:
Originally Posted by OakLeaf
This is a very useful thread, thank you everone for all the links and advice. I haven't changed a flat yet. No excuse, but my errand rides are still so short that I could walk the bike home in less time than it would take to fix the flat, and my off-road rides are a 5mile loop from my front door. That won't always be the case though and I should really fix this gap in my knowledge.
Crankin and others, I get the whole spatial awareness thing. I turned my bike upside down to unjam the chain, and it looked like a completely different thing to me. Swapping pedals between bikes was a real moment of enlightenment as I tried to work out which way to turn the wrench for each pedal.
Once upon a time I was out for a solo ride and had a rear flat. I did not know how to remedy this, DP was unavailable and I had to sit and wait for a cab to take me and the bike back home. :o I was determined that this would never happen again. I looked at several "DYI" websites and then had the guys at the LBS show me, several times, how to do it. I went home and practiced. The first time, I think it took over 1/2 an hour. I have since had to change several rear flats and it takes me about 15 - 20 minutes usually, 10 if I get lucky. I have even helped one of the guys I sometimes ride with and he said he was glad I was there because it would have taken him forever! :)
That's why black bike shorts were invented. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by OakLeaf
Or socks. :o I've been known to remove my shoes and socks, wipe my hands with my socks and then redress my feet before continuing. And I have white bar tape and it is still bee-you-ti-ful! :pQuote:
Originally Posted by Susan Otcenas
I haven't clicked on all the links included here because I can change flats on bikes or cars faster than most people, but if you are flipping your bike over and putting the rear wheel back on, please make sure to put it right side up and THEN tighten (or release and then retighten) the skewer lever. It is possible (and easy) to put a tire on slightly uneven when it's upside down that that makes riding really difficult (speaking from experience here!). If the bike is right-side-up, the weight of it will straigten it out with little effort.
Of course, I can change a rear flat or any flat for that matter. My husband taught me years ago when I first started riding. I've raced for 15 years so many times and have been a "bicycle instructor" so I've probably changed more men's flats than anyone elses. They are notorious for never having the stuff to change their flats!
Back when I was a sulky pre-teen and dinosaurs walked the earth my long suffering father insisted that I learn how to fix a flat before I was allowed to ride. This was back in the days when you needed two crescent wrenches to remove a wheel - and God help you if you used pliers.
So, yes, I do indeed know how to change a rear flat. What I don't understand is how I can get chain grease on my nose by simply thinking about the deed.
As for wrapping handlebars, I gave up on the tape thing and sewed leather covers onto my project bike's bars. No lumps, and they are lovely. Black too, so flipping him upside down is no problem. :D
Does anybody remember how we lived without the internet?
I did take a short class, but my bike repair skills would not have developed without TE, Sheldon Brown, and a couple of people on Youtube.
Now you know why I don't work on anything with more than two wheels. There's something just wrong about 10W30 in your hair.Quote:
Originally Posted by MomOnBike
Okay, I will change the oil in the lawn tractor. If I have to. If batting my eyes at DH doesn't work. :p
No kidding.Quote:
Originally Posted by PamNY
Without the internet, I never would have met my husband, found our last three homes or successfully helped our goat through a delivery gone wrong in 2009. Oh, and I'd probably have long since given up on biking because I wouldn't have known that I didn't have to HATE my saddle without TE!
I'm one of those cursed by fate to only get flats in my rear tire. Usually while riding fully loaded on tour in the middle of nowhere (seriously, it's been years since I've gotten a flat--last one I had to change was while touring). Changing the rear tire is messier than the front, and slower, but not really any more difficult.
I keep a few baby wipes in a ziplock baggie on my bike at all times for when I end up covered in grease.
Cars are a different matter entirely. I know how to change flats on them in theory, but never in practice. The only time I was alone with a flat was on the side of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the middle of the night while five months pregnant. I got out and started the process and could not get the lug nuts to loosen. At all. I had just had new tires put on the day before and they tightened those lug nuts down with such force that even the service I called for help couldn't loosen them. Ended up getting towed back to their shop, they got the tire off there and discovered that the spare in the car was for a Ford. I was driving a Toyota. So they had to break into the tire store attached to their shop (actually they called the owner who came over to open up) to get me a new tire that fit. Turns out that when we last drove with the spare, we took the car in to get a new tire and the mechanic ended up putting someone else's spare in our trunk (so somewhere was a Ford with a Toyota spare).
That was a rear tire and it was MUCH harder to change than any front flats I've gotten.
well, actually, I can change the tires of my car (if i can move those #$%#$% over tightened lug nuts) and have done it myself.
and with bikes, what I excel in is finding holes in tubes. I'm going to be 60 this year and if i don't feel like dealing with tight dirty tires/wheels I don't have to. Further, if my DH is not available, I am less than 5 miles from 3 bike shops, an easy bus ride to two of them. I can afford to pay someone else to fix my flat tire.
I am pleased to see all the women here that CAN do this, but honestly, I proved my womanhood and independence in a thousand other ways. My hands don't need the abuse.
I never would have had the support to lose weight, start running and subsequently biking. I imagine that I would be one of those slow-moving, obese, miserable 38 year old women who I see...the ones who look 38 (or older) and have seemingly "given up." I am thankful every day for my wise friends who live inside my computer. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by PamNY
Couldn't have said it better.Quote:
Originally Posted by zoom-zoom
I WAS one of those women who had given up - until I turned 50 :) I am slowly meeting new people who are road and mountain bikers who are supporting my efforts but for most of last year the only support I had in my efforts to find health and lose weight via cycling and strength training were the good women of TE. I am so thankful for this forum! Even now most of my family and friends think that I've gone off the deep end with my love for riding and other activities.Quote:
Originally Posted by zoom-zoom
Please don't get offended but I want help. What i am hearing sounds to me a lot like math anxiety, women are often conditioned that they can't do mechanical things or mathematical things so they don't really apply themselves. When I said look at, the goal isn't to memorize it, it's to reason in your mind how it works. I never memorize anything scientific, I learn concepts that let me reason what I need when I need it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crankin
Elaine, I do believe you want to help. You are right in that it is like math anxiety, because I can't do math, either. But, this is not just a case of social conditioning. I believe that occurs quite frequently, too, but my issue is a learning disability, perhaps compounded by the anxiety that is made worse by the fact that I have always been surrounded by people who are good in *everything.* Women have been conditioned to think that they can't do certain things, but in my case, as in most learning issues, it's inherited, and it is my dad who has the same exact learning issues as me. Non-verbal learning disabilities are invisible in most cases, as you can survive in this world without being able to do algebra. It becomes more visible when the poor social skills part are involved, which, I hope we can agree, does not apply to me! I've generally been happy with my writing and my books :).
It's funny, my new field is comprised almost entirely of people like me. And in the two internships I've done, it's always been the men who can barely use a computer and refuse to do their notes that way. I actually am a whiz with some of this stuff compared to them, which is really quite laughable.
I am all for encouraging girls to go into math and science, and I did a lot of that when I was teaching middle school.
Eventually, I will perfect the tire thing, but I am still not sure that someone who does all of this stuff intuitively can understand how my brain works. I don't mean this directed at you, personally, I just think it's hard to envision. The same way I can't understand how someone doesn't like to read.
I can change my rear tire, but it does cause anxiety. For some reason, it is hard to picture how the wheel goes back on. Once I reach for the chain, it all becomes clearer.
I became more comfortable by putting new tires on in the comfort of the living room, with the Team Estrogen handout. (I also carry it in my handlebar bag). Do it over and over with no pressure. It helps.
Of course, simply carrying the right equipment with you goes a long way. I've frequently stopped to help people who didn't have a spare tube (and a different size from mine).
I do find it interesting that you all "reach for the chain," use a glove, etc. I was taught (by many different people) that you should never need to touch the chain; if you position it correctly and pull the derailleur back the right way, it pops right on.
I think it is important to remember that there are many different "learning styles" (or intelligences if you are into Gardner's work). Although I teach flat changing with the bicycle right side up, I can see that it might help some folks to turn it over.
Some of it for me is "how I learned" as well as for me it is easier to see where the wheel goes into the drop outs when the bike is upright.
I also think it is important to teach using as many learning modes as possible -- I demonstrate, narrate, guide my students to change their own tire, and I have a handout. Some folks find it easy, others find it challenging, but they all learn with instruction and encouragement (the encouragement part of the show is as important as the instruction!).
Anyway, just another perspective.
I've ONLY had rear flats. Once I had rear flats twice on the same ride (turns out there was a piece of metal in my tire). I learned by asking a girl at my LBS to show me how to change it when I first bought my bike. Then I flatted on a group ride and I made one of the leaders walk me through changing it. The next time I flatted, I was alone on the side of the highway and it was sprinkling. It took me about 15 minutes, but I changed it myself. I felt like such a bad*ss afterward. ;)
You know, I really can't envision it, but as someone at the opposite end of the bell curve, I find it very easy to accept. If I can take one look at a wheel and frame and swingarm and instantly understand exactly through which opening and at what angle the new shock has to go in, why shouldn't there be people on the opposite end of that aptitude scale, too?Quote:
Originally Posted by Crankin
I can change a tire on a bike or a car. I don't patch my flatted tubes; I just replace them.
I probably knew how to do this as a kid on my no-speed cheap bicycle ($20 used), and I clearly recall soaking the chain in gasoline (or maybe kerosene) to clean it (and being just a little worried that something would ignite the fuel), but other than that, I didn't mess with a bike again until a couple of years ago.
I went to an REI bike maintenance talk -- no hands-on, just talk -- two years ago which was helpful, but what was at least as helpful was having a guy talk/walk me through changing my tire on one of my long C&O rides (prepping for doing the whole towpath). I enjoyed talking to the guy; he, his three kids, his wife, and his parents were spending the weekend on a 50-mile ride on the C&O, camping over the long weekend along the way. And he was a good teacher, too.
I've have more flats in the past four months than in the previous 8 years of riding. Should have paid attention to the size of the new tires and not been using tubes that were just a little big for them! :eek:
I carry gloves and wipes with me.
Thankfully, on the MTBs I run tubeless so my flats have been ZERO in the last year off-road. Which is really good, as my Safire is a bit of a pain to reinstall the rear tire. The rear pivot point on the chainstay is kinda thick and right next to the cogs and it makes it rather difficult to get the wheel back on. Chain is not an issue.
On the road bike it's a no brainer; I've been fixing flats since I was a kid. I use USE Spin Stix so I just unscrew the skewer and the wheel pops right off. I only use those patch kits with the vulcanizing rubber and sandpaper- none of that crap peel and stick stuff, so the patched tube is good as new and I won't be dealing with dried glue and leaking patches down the road.