acidinmylegs

As I was leaving my neighborhood this morning, on my morning commute to work, I noticed that my rear tire was low. So, I asked myself, do I change it now? Do I go home and change it? Do I add some air now? Do I go home and use my floor pump and add air?

I went home -- adding about 3/4 miles to my commute -- and added air with my floor pump. It was too cold to do it there on the road.

I rode to work without a problem.

Now, 7 hours later, I have a flat. I do have a tube, so it's just an inconvenience, but clearly the hole that held a little air overnight, isn't holding anything now.

So, what would you have done?

greenstork

I probably would have done the exact same thing, based on how low it was and how long it had been since I last saw the tire fully inflated. However, I'm lucky in that my LBS is only 4 blocks away from where I work. If I have an issue with my bike, I typically drop it off in the morning and pick it up on my commute home. I know how to work on my bike, but my time and the convenience are more important to me.

If the tire was flat, I would have drove. <runs and hides from flying fruit>

I guess my point is that I enjoy bike commuting every day. I don't ever want it to feel like a burden. The money that I save from driving or even taking the bus enables me to spend it on the occasional bike service call. That said, I still change and patch my own tires in the evening, when it's convenient.

ax0n

I'd find it, figure out what caused it, clear the offending debris or cover the offending spoke, and patch the tube before going home. I'm the kind of guy who'd just leave it patched and not worry about changing it (and that's in my 85 PSI MTB slicks)

mercator

I think you did the reasonable thing. I had a similar experience a couple of weeks ago, a fairly slow leak in the rear tire that caused me to stop and pump it up three times in my 10 mile ride to work. I could have changed it but it was cold and I needed to get to work. That evening, I brought my wheel up to my (warm) office and repaired the tube, no problem.

CommuterRun

What would I do?
I check my tire pressure every morning that I ride before the bike leaves the livingroom.

I would have switched bikes and fixed the tire on that bike later.

noisebeam

I give a thumb check to both tires before leaving home and would instantly know if tire had a 6hr+ slow leak. I'd then take out tube, check for hole in sink, match hold to tire, find cause and eliminate then replace with new tube or patch. Since I leave 45min earlier than I need to for work every day I'd still be on time. I'd much rather spend 15min in the warm comforts of home with floor pump and sink than on the road or at work fixing a flat.

Al

CliftonGK1

Pretty much the same thing, except that I would have been lazy and used my mini pump instead of riding back home, then I'd throw a new tube in it at work before the ride home.

(Similar thing happened to me about 3 weeks ago)

acidinmylegs

You leave 45 min early? Man, I can barely manage to drag my carcass out of bed 20 min before I have to walk out the door to barely make it on time.

noisebeam

Yeah, I like the lower traffic levels and settling into work before my first meeting. I keep getting up earlier and earlier and don't even need an alarm anymore as I get up ~6a, usually go to bed ~11p
Al

acidinmylegs

My hat is off to you.

pinkrobe

I would have kept going to work, come out to a flat, cursed for several minutes, changed/patched the tube and headed for home. Alternatively, if I woke up to a flat, I would have grabbed my other bike and used that instead. If I couldn't repair the flat at work, I would have called my wife to come get me from the pub...

Chris L

It depends how low it is. If there's enough in the tube that I think I'll make it to work without having to stop and pump it more than once, I'll probably just ride and fix it at lunch time. If it's completely flat, I'll probably swear a lot, and change it then.

ItsJustMe

I leave around 5:45 to get to work at 6:30. I don't HAVE to be to work until 9:30. But the traffic is a lot better earlier, and I get to leave at 2:30PM.

marqueemoon

I had a similar experience the other day except that I was 1/3 of the way to work. I thought it was a slow leak but once I stopped to pump it up (hoping it would be enough to hobble in to work on without getting my hands filthy) it got worse. Half a mile later I stopped and put in a new tube (5 patches is probably enough ). Between how late I was running when it happened and having to stop twice I was an hour late to work.

I guess the lesson was that if it's slow enough for me to notice the tire losing air while I'm riding it's not a "slow leak".

thdave

I've fixed my flats at work a half dozen times. I don't start until my 8 hours are in, and then I fix it. It only takes 10 minutes or so.

If a tire goes low and I'm at work, I'll fix it. Same at home, although that's never happened.

If a tire goes low and I'm on the way home, I'll pump it up and keep going. Only once did I have to change it, on a pinch flat from going over a frickin' pothole. Of course, that was in the rain .