Can you change a rear flat?

[OakLeaf]

Look at about 1:30. This is the video I used when I did the 1.5 rolls of tape on my Miyata. It was easy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs7BY4wKHTM

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.

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 ).

[PamNY]

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.

[GLC1968]

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.

No kidding.

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!

[sfa]

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.

[Biciclista]

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.

[zoom-zoom]

Does anybody remember how we lived without the internet?

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.

[Kerry1976]

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.

Couldn't have said it better.

[Catrin]

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.

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.