My first Flat

[Catrin]

....
I always check my tires thoroughly for tears, scrapes, miscellaneous crap after each ride. also pump my tires and check my brakes, handle bar, stem and seat before every ride.
Prevention is also part of the cure

marni

I do this as well. My mountain bike tires have Schraeder valves and I strongly dislike those. I lose much more air when taking the air pump on/off than I do with all my other tires which have Presta. Part of me hates to replace perfectly good tubes because I don't like the valves but....

[MollyJ]

I had two flats on my new bike in rather short order. And railroad tracks were on my list of suspected factors though punctures were found also.

I got a kit for tire changes which I now carry in my fanny pack--thanks to the LBS guys who helped me put it together. I've read the how-to here at TE and watched some You Tube videos plus gotten some instruction from the LBS guys.

I want to be a "good" bike owner. I took my bike in for its' 100 mile check. I am hearing the message to air up tires all of the time--I was lazy on this at first. I read somewhere that you should before every ride check the tires and "bounce" the bike (drop it from a short distance) to note any rattles or loose parts. Anything else?

Chain cleaning? How often and how?

Anything else people feel compelled to add is okay, too.

[RubyTuesday]

I changed a flat this morning on my sister's road bike. It was also my first flat fix. I struggled a bit getting the lever under the bead. As I am sitting here thinking about it, I might have forgotten to take ALL of the air out of the tube, although it was pretty flat. The videos make it look so easy and it is not easy getting the levers under the bead or getting the last section of tire over the rim. It just takes brute strength. I finally got it off. Getting the tube back in was pretty easy and checking to make sure there was no pinch was pretty easy. Getting the last section of tire back under the rim again takes brute strength.

Oh well, it was my first tire change and I did it. It was a back tire so it took me a few minutes to figure out the chain. They all make it look so easy. Hopefully, it will be easy for me some day.

[new2ride]

I haven't changed a flat tire on a bike since I was a kid. Trust me, it's been a very long time. The last flat I had was on my late Trek WSD 3700 in the summer of 2007. The tires on that bike were like mountain bike tires, really beefy. I took the bike to the LBS and got skinnier tires on it. Then, of course, the tragedy occurred -- I ran her over accidently. I put her to rest and use parts off of her.

I sure hope changing a tire is like riding a bike, you never forget how to do it. I know someday it's going to happen and I'll be forced to change the tire.