Commuting - It Had To Happen Some Day

My first in transit flat. Apparently our clueless DOT crew has been out throwing cold patch in all the chuck holes on my back road route. They don't seem to be to particular as to the makeup of the filler as I observed a lot of glass in the mix.

About half way (doesn't it seem that everything happens at that point) into the 10 miles, I felt a sluggishness in the ride. Glancing down and back I noted my tire seemed under inflated (Michelin Rock, semi-slicks). Stopped and dismounted, could hear the air whistling out.

Spun the tire and found a big chunk of glass stuck in the tire. Pulled it out and she really started to whistle.

My first instinct was to reach for my cell and call the wife to come SAG my butt back into town. But then I realized

1 - I'd catch hell for waking her up
2 - I'd break my streak for straight days commuting
3 - Why the hell was I dragging around a spare tube, lever and pump, if not to use them

So I dumped my backpack, stripped off helmet, glasses and gloves. Got out the tube and levers. Flipped the bike over onto bars and seat. Shifted the rear derailleur to the smallest cog and unhooked the brake cable.

Pulled the wheel off. Broke the bead on one side of the tire and pulled the tube out. Pushed the new tube in, after first checking the inside of the tire, and reset the bead with a minimum of grunting and cussing.

Pumped the tire back up to an acceptable "it will get me there" pressure. Mounted the wheel, flipped the bike back over. Packed up, geared up and back on the road within 10 minutes. Even remembered to reattach the brake cable noodle.

Only had one person (of the three who drove past) stop and ask me if I needed a lift. Of course the first thing they asked was "Got a flat".............to which I though, No, I often take my rear wheel off in the middle of a swamp at 5:45 in the morning just for the fun of it.......heres your sign.

The big mud turtle sitting across the road laying eggs seemed disinterested in the entire affair.

Word,
That's awesome that some people offered to help. Good to know some people in cars are nice. Good job with the flat. And the turtle, that's hot. The only "wildlife" I see on my commute are pigeons. I almost hit two the other day but they flew out of the way just in time. Lator Gator

Congratulations! Self-sufficiency rocks!

To make your life easier, you might want to pick up a CO2 inflator. They make reinflating so much easier, and generally you can get cartridges which will inflate your tire to the pressure you desire before the cartridge is depleted. As we all know, mini-pumps are not the world's easiest things to use.

The big mud turtle sitting across the road laying eggs seemed disinterested in the entire affair.
LMAO!

I thought you were going to say you hit more glass
and got another flat...

A good friend of mine got a flat yesterday too-only her second in eight years of commuting. As it turns out, she didn't properly patch the tube and the air she was pumping in was escaping just as fast. She gave up after wrestling with it for a while and took the Metro from Arlington Cemetary. I met her with my car/bike rack and took her home. The thing that gets me is that only one guy offered help. I know that she sees tons of other riders but most just passed without offering help. I always ask "you ok?" and have stopped at least 4 times in recent memory to help with everything from flats to stuck chains etc. I love being completely self-sufficient and try to encourage that in her. I'll show her again how to find a punture (I'm guessing that she had a snake bite and only saw one of the holes) and fix it.

I'm expecting to reach 12,000 flat-free km this weekend people. Ra!

reminds me of the time I saw some guy absolutely DECKED OUT in full gear and his decked out Klein road bike...walking the lake path by the oak street beach in his socks, cuz he had a flat and didn't want to mark up his shiny new sidi road shoes...

poor (rich)bastard!!

reminds me of the time I saw some guy absolutely DECKED OUT in full gear and his decked out Klein road bike...walking the lake path by the oak street beach in his socks, cuz he had a flat and didn't want to mark up his shiny new sidi road shoes...

poor (rich)bastard!!http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/5763/733.gif
What a Brainiac!

i had a flat this weekend in the rain. i had to figure out how to haul my bike home in my '74 vw beetle which took some engineering.

<snip>
Of course the first thing they asked was "Got a flat".............to which I though, No, I often take my rear wheel off in the middle of a swamp at 5:45 in the morning just for the fun of it.......heres your sign.


Good job with the tyre. Fixing a flat always makes me to write notes to self: "clean bike more often". Brake pad gunk / chain oil / dirt -combo can be difficult to get off of your hands on the road.

(Ah, Bill Engvall! "Got a flat?" "No, I was riding around and the other tyre just inflated right up on me. Here's your sign." :D)

--J

Last week was a bad week for me. 3 holes in my tube, (2 from one nail) and my tire blow out 3 days later.

I was looking to get a thinner tire anyway. But it sure does stink when it happens. I love that I'm able to fix my own flats. I was so dependent on a garage when I had a car. It is very nice to be self sufficient. If the same thing were to happen on a car it would cost at the very least twice as much as it did for my bicycle.

YAY flats!.......I'm pretty self-sufficient, but it's nice that I usually have at least one person stop and ask if I need help. My biggest problem is having my rear wheel go out of true.

[QUOTE=Juha]Good job with the tyre. Fixing a flat always makes me to write notes to self: "clean bike more often". Brake pad gunk / chain oil / dirt -combo can be difficult to get off of your hands on the road.

I keep a pair of latex gloves tucked underneath my saddle for keeping hands clean if I have to mess with the bike on the road. But I'm on the lookout for a good handcleaner that comes in a tube. Anyone?

There's a big bottle of Oranj Peelz by my front door looking reproachfully at me. I'm gonna clean my bike this evening. Really.

like sparky, i was too was waiting to hear that you got a second flat. perhaps that was because this happened to me twice in the last five weeks. i was riding to work, and was about three miles away when i heard that hiss and felt the that "rim on the road" feeling in my seat. pulled over and got the spare tube out too and check the tire. felt nothing, so got the new tube in, and the co2 cartridge and off i went, only to get another flat a couple of minutes later about a mile from work. rode to work with a flat because i'd be late if i stopped again.
the second time i was coming home about 2 weeks later, and i was about 6 miles from home, when i got that same feeling. i didn't even hear the air go out. so i pulled over and went through the same routine. then about 5 minutes later, another flat! i was fuming, so i pulled over and pulled out the tube and i had not set it in there right so the tube near the valve got torn in two spots. i had already patched this one up from two weeks earlier, so i pulled out the tube i had just take out a ocuple of minutes earlier and patched it up.
a week later i got another flat, so i bought some different tires after readind a different thread and so far so good after 200 miles.

I keep a pair of latex gloves tucked underneath my saddle for keeping hands clean if I have to mess with the bike on the road. But I'm on the lookout for a good handcleaner that comes in a tube. Anyone?

Castrol Super Clean Waterless Hand Cleaner

It comes in a purple squeeze tube, and it is great. You squeeze a little out into your hands, and then start rubbing. It removes the oil, grease, and grime, and turns into little rubber balls, much like the leavings of a pink pencil eraser.

Castrol Super Clean Waterless Hand Cleaner


Thanks for the tip!

Nevertheless, I am going to clean my bike more often. Really. :beer:

--J

This thread reminds me of how bad I need to buy a pump and start carrying tire levers and a spare tube.

Well, that and the fact I failed to see a peice of borken glass and ran over it yesterday...thank god for my choosing to go overkill on tire liners and buying puncture resistant tires...otherwise i might have had a flat. Either way, puncture resistant tubes are next...Overkill is sometimes the best answer...and to me for tubes, it's the easiest answer...I hate changing tubes...i suck at it SO bad.

Hey you guys getting flats on your commutes- what kind of tires are you running, if I may ask? Just out of academic curiousity.

My flats have usually resulted from a tiny piece of glass slowly working its way through the outer tyre. The pieces have been so small there's no way I could have deliberately tried to avoid hitting them. I have probably tried to steer clear of a larger chunk of glass. I have used Schwalbe, Nokian and Kenda. Puncture resistance is not a deal-breaker for me when I buy outer tyres. I don't get flats that often (and I know what this statement means for the rest of this summer...) :D.

--J

I don't get flats that often (and I know what this statement means for the rest of this summer...) :D. Here in the States, we say "Knock on wood."

I put Panaracer kevlar 28's on my roadie about 500 miles ago and haven't had a flat since. I really don't notice a change in performance either, and I spend a lot of time on gravelly shoulders and intersections.

Before that, I had about 5 flats in 200 miles on 700-23 slicks. That includes a snakebite followed by sheering off the Presta on my spare because I forgot to unlock the valve on my pump. Thank you Jason, wherever you are, for rendering aid. High performance tires just aren't worth the extra pain of changing them.

Here in the States, we say "Knock on wood."

We have the same proverb. I'm banging my head as I type this...

--J