So I finally bought a pump this week. My checking account has been in recovery mode after buying my bike. My tires seemed a bit low. Today I found out they were inflated to the minimum pressure. Oops. I'm a bit faster now! Sometimes the power of my own stupid amazes even me. :p

For teh most part I see riders with proper inflation, but sometimes!....I see newbie commuters or cruisers at the beach with super low inflation. I wonder how they pedal the bike at all!:D

Dang, my tires are at 115 and I'm still slow :p

Yeah man, ya gotta have a floor pump.

My son had a flat on his hotrock and as i was at the bike shop getting anew tube in walk this lady with her son. and a Raiagh MTB witha flat rear tire.
se ask for the tire to be chaged ... and walks out the door.
LADY please by you kid a book on basic bike repair..

My LBS will put on a new tube or tire if you buy it there. They can do it a lot faster than me, so I'd let them.

Why let someone do it for you when you can learn to do it for yourself?

My LBS will put on a new tube or tire if you buy it there. They can do it a lot faster than me, so I'd let them.

Practice make you faster.

My son had a flat on his hotrock and as i was at the bike shop getting anew tube in walk this lady with her son. and a Raiagh MTB witha flat rear tire.
se ask for the tire to be chaged ... and walks out the door.
LADY please by you kid a book on basic bike repair..


"While I was shopping for an inner tube(for my son's hotrock) a lady and her son entered the bike shop... rolling in a Raleigh MTB with a flat rear tire.
The lady asked for the tire to be changed...and walked out the door.
Lady, please buy your kid a book on basic bike repair."



NOT trying to be an ass, it just took me a while to comprehend the post. I thought I'd clean it up for other BF members.

I agree that its BS that people actually pay someone to change/patch a tube. But at the same time the last time I had the LBS service anything for me was when I was 14(8 yrs ago).

My LBS will put on a new tube or tire if you buy it there. They can do it a lot faster than me, so I'd let them.

That's fine if your only a couple of miles from the car or home, but what if home is 50 miles away, and the car's 25. That's a very looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong walk of shame. Now of course with 15 minutes of learnin' a $9 pump, a set of $2 levers and a spare tube, your on your way again, as if it never happened. Of course you do have to slap a patch on the flat tube, to make another spare.... :D

I discovered that gauges can be off, too.

I finally got a floor pump last week. It sure makes getting to 110 psi much easier than using the hand pump.

It amazing how many people can't fix their own flats. I don't even dick around with patches, tubes are cheap and make for a faster fix. I once saw a man in his 30's bring his bike into the shop to have the mechanic install bottle cages...

I dont rag on people that let the LBS do small things for them. Some people have no clue about anything mechanical, but are excellent at doing something else. This is what the LBS is for and even the smallest service charge helps the LBS stay in buisness and pay good employees, so we can ask for their expert advice on more technical issues that we may not understand.

My neighbor dosent have a clue about a lot of things mechanical, but loves to ride. I have mechanical skills and pass on my knowledge to him and the use of my tools. But he's awesome at being the buisness/banking guy.

It amazing how many people can't fix their own flats. I don't even dick around with patches, tubes are cheap and make for a faster fix. I once saw a man in his 30's bring his bike into the shop to have the mechanic install bottle cages...

Some people expect to get their windows cleaned at the gas station. What NERVE!

It amazing how many people can't fix their own flats. I don't even dick around with patches, tubes are cheap and make for a faster fix. I once saw a man in his 30's bring his bike into the shop to have the mechanic install bottle cages...

That depends on how much you like money, tubes run $2.99 and up, a $2.99 patch kit contains 6-10 patches, some have various sizes of patch, larger ones can be cut to make smaller ones, just remember to round off the corners. So spending the same amount of money, you get 10 tubes instead of 1. When I replace a tire, I get a new tube as well, the old tube goes into the collection of spares. When a tube gets a hole, I swap it for a spare (always keep at least one spare on each bike), when I get home, the one with the hole goes on a nail in the garage, another good spare from the garage goes on the bike. When I run low on spares, I get out a bucket of water, a pen and some patches, check each one for holes and mark the holes, dry off the tube, and put on a patch. I let them sit for a day, then check again to make sure the patches are good. Dry the tube off, let out all the air, roll it up and either stuff it in a box or with an elastic around it, and it goes back on the spare shelf. Right now, there is a spare on my bike, a spare on my wifes bike, and a spare in the garage. There are none on the nail. I need to get a couple more spares.

Today I was at the LBS talking with the mechanic (because they were really busy) and a guy comes in to drop off his full carbon Fuji Team for a flat tire. The Mechanic said it happens all the time. I dont' really care, and i am grateful that peopel like that help finance my LBS, but i would foresee a problem if you get a flat on the road.

It amazing how many people can't fix their own flats. I don't even dick around with patches, tubes are cheap and make for a faster fix. I once saw a man in his 30's bring his bike into the shop to have the mechanic install bottle cages...

I hope this wasn't me! I just bought a Rockhopper for my son today. I brought a bottle cage to the counter they
took it from me and installed it before I could say anything. I was actually planning on putting it on a different
bike so I had do go grab another one :rolleyes: