Bicycle Mechanics - How fast can you change a flat?

I told a guy I work with how fast I thought a flat could be changed (by someone faster than me, that is). He thought I was being silly.... now I'm talking Basic roadbike, stopping and getting off the bike, changing the tube and riding off...... Who is the speed freak? How fast? (I don't want to say what I guessed just yet......)

I told a guy I work with how fast I thought a flat could be changed (by someone faster than me, that is). He thought I was being silly.... now I'm talking Basic roadbike, stopping and getting off the bike, changing the tube and riding off...... Who is the speed freak? How fast? (I don't want to say what I guessed just yet......)



Give me 1 minute, and i'd be riding off.

1 minute is impossible, even with a tubular! Where do we find such screwballs? Even my old LBS mechanic could not do it that fast and he changed tires for races!

With a front tire, which is faster than the rear, with a tubular about 4 minutes including removal, replacing and pumping. With a clincher about 5 minutes including the same as the tubular except this includes patching the tube with a glueless patch.

The secret for a clincher repair is to only remove about 6 inches of one side of the tire with penetration point being in the center of that; next pull out about 3 inches of the tube with the hole of course in the center; buff the tube apply the patch (no glue step cuts about a minute off maybe more depending on weather for the glue to dry), check the outside and inside of tire for protrusions then stuff tube in tire, remount those 6 inches of tire and pump.

You could take off about 1 minute if you use a CO2 system; but with those systems your limited to the amount of air you can carry.

While 1 minute seems a tad unbelievable I wouldn't say it was impossible. If you're not patching and you're adept with the use of speed levers and a CO2 inflator, I can possibly see someone being able to zip the bead off, yank the bad tube out, plop a new one in, zip the tyre back on and inflate in around a minute. One thing that's interesting is watching MTB races where there's no such thing as outside support. You flat and it's all up to you to change it. There's no mechanic in a Citroen wagon that's going to come up to you and throw you a spare wheel. Some MTBers are pretty quick at changing a flat because they have to be.

I give myself about five minutes. I can swap in a tube much faster but I like to find what caused the puncture. Wheel off the bike, stuff laid out, with a compressor, just see how fast I can do it, 12-15 seconds.

1 min. while out riding is impossible. Even in a shop environment that is alomost ridiculous. I agree with Rev. about 5 min.

I told a guy I work with how fast I thought a flat could be changed (by someone faster than me, that is). He thought I was being silly.... now I'm talking Basic roadbike, stopping and getting off the bike, changing the tube and riding off...... Who is the speed freak? How fast? (I don't want to say what I guessed just yet......)

I'm sure that 1 minute is possible but only with CO2.

I had the opportunity a few years ago to talk with a guy from Carbondale, Illinois who held the Guiness world record. Requirements include riding up to a pylon, removing the rear wheel from a derailleur bike, checking the inside of a clincher tire for debries, pumping up the new inner tube with a frame pump and riding the bike off. He was timed by the mayor of Carbondale at around a minute and a half.

Tricks included having a loose fitting tire, slightly undersized inner tube, the replacement tube was partially pre-inflated and he wasn't too particular about how well he checked for debries or how hard his tire was when he rode off.

I told a guy I work with how fast I thought a flat could be changed (by someone faster than me, that is). He thought I was being silly.... now I'm talking Basic roadbike, stopping and getting off the bike, changing the tube and riding off...... Who is the speed freak? How fast? (I don't want to say what I guessed just yet......)

honestly...10-15 minutes. i'm not good. :o

It depends on how tight the tire is. If its a tire that goes on and off easy then that will slash the time.

I guess if you had to do everything then it couldent be under a minute.

Stopping - 5 seconds
Flipping the bike over - 4 seconds
Pulling the wheel off - 5 seconds
Getting levers and pump out of bag - 5 seconds
Pulling tire off - 15 seconds
Pulling tube out of tire - 5 seconds
Getting new tube out of box and putting minimal air in it - 9 seconds
Putting new tube in tire - 8 seconds
Putting tire back on - 17 seconds
Pumping up with a C02 Pump - 5 seconds
Putting wheel back on - 7 seconds
Getting back on the bike AND getting up to speed - 7 seconds

Total time without checking for why the flat happend - 1 minute 32 seconds.

If your working as fast as you can I am sure you could do it under 2 minutes.

I'm the bronze medalist in the tire changing event from the olympics on a group ride I did last year. The deal was you used your own tire levers. The tire, tube, wheel and pump were provided. The tube had to be completely removed, then replaced and the tire pumped up to 100 psi. My time was just over 2 minutes. The gold medalist had me by a good 30 seconds.

I'm pretty good with roadside tire changes. Using a CO2 inflator, and exercising due care about what caused the flat, I'll be rolling again in 5 ...maybe 7...unless it is one of those narrow *&#$ tires that fit the rim so tightly.

With or without beer?

5 minutes minimum time. 10 or 12 is more realistic for me.

With or without beer?


Beer helps. I can get the old tire off and tube out in like 20 secnods. Opening the beer, drinking some, and deciding what to do next is the time consuming part.

None of the times mentioned, however detailed, include the most important step: investigating the cause. Put a fresh tube in a tire that's just had a flat, without determining what did it, and you're cruising for another flat. I take at least a couple of minutes to find the original leak (meaning, pull the tube all the way out and air it up a bit), and find its corresponding spot on the tire and/or rim, to make sure I'm not gonna just repeat the process. This is another reason I'd rather carry a pump that CO2. This is gonna take longer than the rote mechanics of levering off the tire, peeling out the tube, replacing it, et al.

None of the times mentioned, however detailed, include the most important step: investigating the cause. Put a fresh tube in a tire that's just had a flat, without determining what did it, and you're cruising for another flat.

It all depends on the situation. The question was asked of how fast can a person change a flat and not necessarily how thorough. In a MTB race, most flats occur due to pinch or snakebites as opposed to punctures/FOD. In such a case, it's a safer bet to just yank and replace without doing a thorough inspection. Time will cost you position.

if the weather's nice, who cares? take a chill by the roadside, remove, patch/replace, clean it up, pump it as high as you can, and before you know it you're back on the road and well rested to boot.

in the rain, it's all pain anyway...

sd

There are a couple of people here that could qualify for a world record attempt it would seem. I believer Guiness pays $10,000 for verifiable record breaks.

In the shop...less than a minute. Real world.....2 or so. Been timed.

My buddy toured on tubulars (bad mistake!!) and got so good at fixng flats, he could pull wheel, pull tire, rip stiches, patch tube, re-sew and re-glue tire to rim in less than 10 minutes. I began to tease him that it became such second-nature, he'd be able to do it in a tux in a formal party and no one would notice him doing it!

Just for grins I timed myself. Rear wheel, shift down, remove wheel, remove tire, check tire for sharps, install tube to tire, install tire to rim, inflate, reinstall wheel, shift back into usable gear. I used a floor pump because I did not want to waste a flate and did not have a frame pump handy. two minutes thirtyseven seconds.

Damn, you guys are fast! I took like 15 min in my first race when I flatted on first lap ):

Note that it takes me about 7 minutes just to pump the tire up.. my pump is SLOOOOW.

yesterday, I got a big shard of glass in my tire, and I timed myself. I started at 9:24, and finished at 9:30, 6 minutes. this was on the side of the road, not rushing. I think the longest part was getting the stupid peice of glass out. I had to get a stick to push it out b/c it was very sharp, and i think that took at least 2 minutes.

The mechanic at my LBS told me not to keep the C02 in the tire, b/c it is bad for the inner tube. has anyone else heard this?

Changing a flat was always such a miserable experience, especially in the hot summer months. Standing on the side of the road, the sun beating down on me and wrestling to get the bead back on the rim. Plus I ended up with grease from my fingers to my elbow.

I don't know why I never thought to bring along some wet wipes.

Standing on the side of the road, the sun beating down on me and wrestling to get the bead back on the rim. .

Is there a secret to getting the bead back on? I've got tendonitis in my hands and thus my hands are weak. I have the hardest time getting the bead on. I tried the "palm" method and didn't find that to be very successful because I couldn't grip the bead with my palm.

Is there a secret to getting the bead back on? I've got tendonitis in my hands and thus my hands are weak. I have the hardest time getting the bead on. I tried the "palm" method and didn't find that to be very successful because I couldn't grip the bead with my palm.

You might want to try using the Crank Brothers Speed Lever (http://www.crankbrothers.com/products/accessories_speedlever.php). It makes peeling off and reseating the bead much easier.

I've been changing them lately one at a time at 2 minutes 14 second with one good hand.

With two hands 1 minute.

Tricks included having a loose fitting tire, slightly undersized inner tube, the replacement tube was partially pre-inflated and he wasn't too particular about how well he checked for debries or how hard his tire was when he rode off.

When I shop for a tire, how do I determine that it is "loose fitting"? Same question for the undersized inner tube.

In the shop...less than a minute. Real world.....2 or so. Been timed.

Gads you guys are fast! Here's my tire changing times Ha ha!

Remove the tire out in the garage
Wipe the thing off
Turn on the TV and get comfortable

Fumble around and remove a really tight tire with some weird blue sticks ... (15 minutes)
Partially inflate, soak the thing in the sink, and find the flat
Mark the flat with a pen, score, and apply and set the glue (10 min Yee ha love those fumes)

Fumble around with the Kevlar strip and put everything back together.
Wala! 60 minutes!

i take it these times are with disk-brakes?

my V's are set-up with about 3mm of travel and can't be taken off so quickly

i take it these times are with disk-brakes?

my V's are set-up with about 3mm of travel and can't be taken off so quickly How long does it take to open the brake at the noodle? Ten seconds, maybe?

How long does it take to open the brake at the noodle? Ten seconds, maybe?

if there set-up well you can't take them off that way

How long does it take to open the brake at the noodle? Ten seconds, maybe?if there set-up well you can't take them off that way If they're set up well, you can back 'em off by turning the barrel at the lever, and then open 'em at the noodle. If the "gross" adjustment (clamp bolt on the cable) is set so close that you don't have that much to adjust out at the barrel on the lever, then they're not "set up well".

If you are trying to change a flat at maximum speed, I'd guess you'd use a road bike with a quick release. The lever can be flicked in less than a second, and depending on the tire/rim size, it's may not even be necessary to do that.

1 minute 36 seconds, front tire flat in a mountain bike race. I filled the new tube with a CO2 cartridge and held my lead for the win. A spectator was right there when I went flat (got a 3 inch nail in my tire). She timed me and shouted the time as I rode off.

Have a plan and practice it.

Lynda.

10 minutes, counting the time it takes for my heart rate to drop enough to do the work. I only flat when my heart rate is up, sprinting, or desending.

In the shop, 5 minutes with a road bike, about 2-3 minutes with a MTB/crusier.

Spare wheel ready to go? 8 seconds rear, 5 seconds front.

under 1 minute is definately possible. It does take practice too though. Also theres your environment.....and if you have tools on hand right away.

This was a pretty cool thread and it seems to be true that the first liar doesn't have a chance. On the road or trail, a flat means the tire is hot/stretched from use, the bead's loose because you rode on it for a bit, and the tube's probably totally deflated. Then there's the considerations of whether it's a front or rear tire, do the tires have steel or kevlar beads, if it's a mountain bike are you running tubeless tires (All bets are off), what caused the flat, how will you inflate the tube (Mini-pump or CO2 cartridges), and how hot/humid is it (I almost passed out trying to inflate a tube after fixing a flat on a road bike while riding the Natchez Trace in Mississippi in July - I know, no one else could believe I was riding it in mid-summer either / "heat index", what's that?) There's also the issue of where your spare tube is stored (Mine's stuffed in the classic "ten pounds of crap in a five pound bag" seat pack which literally explodes when I pull anything out of it). Then there's the "your buddies just showed up for a ride and you get your bike down from the ceiling hooks and one or both of your tires are flat" scenerio... So, the fact is there's lots of variables and as a result repair times will vary. Having said that, from my experience, I think that if you're an "enthisiast to serious" cyclist, your in-the-shop repair time (Using a repair stand and floor pump) should average around two-to-three minutes, and on the road/trail it's reasonable to achieve a time of four to six minutes. The main thing is that you do it right - Riding a bike's fun but pushing/carrying one isn't.

I'd say 15minutes is about normal if you flat while riding. eg for MTB
1) Take speedo or lights off the handlebars, then turn the bike upside down.
2) Turn bike back up the correct way and undo the brake tension adjuster and undo V brake.
3) Turn bike upside down again.
4) Undo quick release, pull off wheel.
5) Find tyre levers, and remove tyre.
6) Pull out tube and check for cause of puncture.
7) Put new tube in and re-seat tyre.
8) Undo pump from frame, while bike is still upside down.
9) Pump up tyre (2mins normally).
10) Put wheel back on bike.
11) Turn bike up correct way and re-pack levers, old tube and pump.
12) Ride off.

13) Realise that you forgot to put the V Brake back on!!!!

About 15 minutes normally.

CHEERS.

Mark

If they're set up well, you can back 'em off by turning the barrel at the lever, and then open 'em at the noodle. .

and, slowing up your time, yes?

If they're set up well, you can back 'em off by turning the barrel at the lever, and then open 'em at the noodle.
and, slowing up your time, yes? Uhh, no. If your brake is set that the pads are too close to the rim to be able to open 'em at the noodle, and you make no room for adjustment at the barrel, your only choice is to loosen the pinch bolt. Guaranteed, that's gonna take longer. Okay, one alternative is to run with your brakes out enough to be able to open at the noodle, but that's at an obvious cost to brake effectiveness.

 Phshssssssss oh no a flat tire!
 Before you stop moving shift into your small chain ring. If it is a rear flat shift into the best rear gear for wheel removal
 Get out your spare tube, open the valve and start blowing it up with your mouth.
 Remove your wheel.
 Remove your tire from the rim on one side only.
 Remove the flat tube.
 Check the inside of the tire for sharp objects with your hand and at the same time inspect the outside of the tire visually. Remove anything sharp.
 Put the new tube into the tire (which by now should be half inflated by your mouth).
 Press the tire back onto the rim.
 Check the tube is not pinched between the tire and the rim.
 Inflate with CO2 cartridge.
 Replace wheel.
 Hook up brakes.
 Spin wheel to make sure brakes are not rubbing and that wheel is straight in frame.
 Hop on and get back into the race.

Time = less than 2 minutes and hopefully you have not even lost a place in your race.

The sudden stop after a flat tire can be a shock to your legs. When you get back in the race give your legs a minute or two to warm up before you put the hammer down to make up the lost time.

Lynda.

<snip>
 Remove the flat tube.
 Keep track of which way the tube was installed. Inflate the flat tube and find out where the leak is, so that when you get to...

 Check the inside of the tire for sharp objects with your hand and at the same time inspect the outside of the tire visually. Remove anything sharp.
You'll know where to look first. Oh, and use your glove for the above, unless you've got a band-aid and some antibacterial in your seat bag.

 Hop on and get back into the race. Race? Wh-where am I? No one told me about a race. I'm just late for a meeting (or getting home to feed the cats, or rushing so as not to get eaten alive by mosquitos, or....). (IOW, a race is only one of many sitches in which you wanna change a flat fast.)

My rims ..under 3 minutes....GREAT FRAME PUMP.
My wifes rims.....somewhere less than two days.....Campy blew on these rims, they suck

You might want to try using the Crank Brothers Speed Lever (http://www.crankbrothers.com/products/accessories_speedlever.php). It makes peeling off and reseating the bead much easier.

Well you must have arms of steel. I just got my first flat and in hooking up crankbrother's lever with the top part (circled) under the edge of the tire.and the other end on the axial. The crank budges, but is bowing under pressure and will probably break if I force it around the rim.

After rubbing and power per the web-site...it's not a very convicing tool. Good thing I'm not at the side of the road. So what's your technique for getting the tire off...in less than 5 mins???????

Tire size: 23x700 Kenda
Rim: Sun Venus 32 spoke

EDITED: The crankbrothers lever survived the 'Kelley stress test' and did not break. This was pretty new tire, A struggle. So I removed the tire from the rim twice and that seems to have stretched the bead out for quicker removal. You use one side of the crank to remove the tire and the other to leverage the last bit back on the rim.

EDITED: But after about the fourth try, the lever lift broke off! It has a lifetime warrenty tho...hmmmm
Hope this helps others.