Learning how to change a tire???

[Jiffer]

Does anyone know of a good site that teaches how to change a tire? I have everything I need to change one, just don't know what to DO with it! DH hasn't given me a lesson yet, so I just make sure I have my cell phone with plenty of numbers of people who can come and rescue me! He does intend to show me how, but I figure in the mean time, it wouldn't hurt to read about it on-line.

I AM proud to announce that I am fully capable of filling my own tires with air now! I had a tire pumping disability, which actually left me in tears one day. I was trying not to wake DH because he needed extra sleep, but finally had to. He was so sweet and couldn't believe I was actually crying!

Anyways, I finally got my real lesson in using the tire pump and did it all by myself, unsupervised today even.

[Fredwina]

http://www.parktool.com/repair/index.asp
and then click on the region you want to fix

[Jones]

I sat at my computer and used this. http://www.teamestrogen.com/articles/asa_levers.asp
I follow what they say, but use levers on my road tires. I strongly recommend that you change your first flat in the comfort of your own home.

[bikerz]

I sat at my computer and used this. http://www.teamestrogen.com/articles/asa_levers.asp
I follow what they say, but use levers on my road tires. I strongly recommend that you change your first flat in the comfort of your own home.

I concur! Its good practice to change tires at home, over and over again. I love the "no levers" method - I have a hard time with levers myself, and I've had a few snap on me, which is painful and startling! I think some tires can be very hard to remove and replace without levers, but I guess I've been lucky with mine so far. Practice, practice!

Also, many bike shops and clubs will give classes or workshops in basic bike maintenance, including changing and patching tires - maybe there's a class in your area.

[Zen]

There are instructions on the box that my tubes came in. I carry it with me and secretly (well, not anymore) hope if I ever need to use it someone will come along while I'm muddling through the instructions.

[VeloVT]

I got my first two flats in a year of riding on two consecutive days last week. Luckily, because of where they occurred (& b/c the first ended up being a slow leak instead of an instant flat), I was able to change both at home.

I had witnessed tire-changing before so I knew what I had to do... But the first one still took me a really long time. The second one took me less than half the time of the first... and I feel much better about what would happen if I had to fix a flat on the road.

It was really stupid things that made the first change take such a long time -- like me being really uncoordinated when trying to figure out how to deal with getting the chain back on the cassette at the same time as slipping the dropouts back onto the wheel -- once you've done this once though, you know how to do it and it's a cinch (well maybe it is the first time for some people, but... ).

One recommendation -- don't use ultralight tubes the first time you attempt to change a tire, especially if your tires have a stiff bead. It's easy to pinch them during installation.

[SouthernBelle]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79cmQlACL6s

OR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmNo6rFKMzE