Sharpshin

Based on route, I can cover 2, 7, 10 or 20 miles each way commuting to work. Which way I take going in depends on how early I throw a leg over the bike in the morning, coming home I generally opt for the 20 if time allows.

So far I have been lucky I that all my commuting flats have been on the way home. There have been many times however that going TO work in the morning I have left myself barely enough time to get to work on time for the route I chose, which is bad on account of I'm a teacher. I figure what I really need to do is leave myself an extra thirty minutes time to get to work in case of a flat.

I'm curious how other folks deal with this issue.

Mike

WestMass

I do not leave time. I'm also a teacher. I can change a flat in about 10 minutes max. On one occasion I tore my tire all the way through (damn you panaracer pasela) and called a coworker who came and picked me up. If I get to work and don't have time to shower, then I just change my clothes and that's that.

g0tr00t

I don't ever leave that time for me. I have gotten 1 flat on the way home and never on the way to work. If I get one on the way to work, I am going to call them and let them know I'll be late.

Now that I have said that I never had a flat on the way to work, I am sure its going to happen soon, so I'll let you know how it turned out

wphamilton

Lately none, but my habit is to arrive 15-30 minutes early. In this weather (in the 20's) I don't really need a shower and every few minutes later is a little bit warmer so I've been deliberately stalling, leaving as late as possible. It's tempting fate though. Flats can happen to anyone, at random.

trailmix

I usually arrive at work 30-45 minutes early because I hate being late. If anything happens I will have plenty of time to fix the problem and still make it to work with time to spare. Maybe this goes back to the days when I was working as a commercial pilot and the saying was "on time is 10 minutes early".

mconlonx

I give myself time to get to work early by about 10-20 min, anyway, so if I do get a flat, I'll still be through the door on time. Since I am not habitually late, bosses give me a lot of slack the few times I am running late, or just make it through the door on time and then change.

NOS88

I'm always the first one in at my office. I like to arrive with enough time to get some work done before the demands of others creep into my day. So, the time to fix a flat wouldn't be much of an issue.

dramiscram

I try to get to work 15-20 min. early for various reasons, time for repairing a flat being one of them. I had 4-5 flat coming to work in the last 3 years.

FBinNY 

Figure that you normally get to work at least 10 minutes early and stop for a coffee while you change and cool down. So if you get a flat, you're still on time, if you skip the coffee and change fast.

There's also the question of how often. Workers occasionally arrive late because of a traffic tie up, car breakdown, mass transit delay, or some kind of family emergency. If you get a flat and show up late once in a blue moon, you're probably still below par.

Sharpshin

My experience exactly, tore the sidewall practically the first time out. Now I'm on 27x1 1/4 (32mm) Conti Gator Hardshells, amazing tires.

Mike

e0richt

and also you can get a flat on your car too... I would much rather fix a flat on my bike than the car...

Sharpshin

It just occurred to me....

...24 years at the same high school and I have never been late, tho' I have come in right on the opening bell a time or two

Nothing says "late" better than twenty to thirty kids waiting out in the hallway by your locked classroom door, while Administrators scramble to find someone to babysit them until you get there.

Not a good way to win friends and influence people.

Mike

idc

Ten minutes if I need to be somewhere at a particular time. Even when I've felt like a flat has been tough to change it's still usually under 10 mins.

Rick@OCRR

I would say 5 min. unless there are some really extenuating circumstances involved with the flat fix. Most of the time the reason the tire went flat is quickly obvious. If not . . . that can take some extra time.

Taking the wheel off, removing the dead tube, installing good tube, pumping up tire, re-installing wheel . . . none of that takes much time.

All that said, even when I had a flat tire that I had to boot with a dollar bill, I still arrived at work ten minutes "early." Since we start our workday at 6:30AM. early can feel very early indeed!

Rick / OCRR

Dheorl

I don't leave any extra time, but then again I'm only a student and also my commute stays within areas with plenty of bus routes. If I get a flat I'll just lock my bike up, hop on a bus and go back to deal with it later (hasn't happened yet though).

MMACH 5

I give myself 30 minutes, minimum, (most days I ride to work, I'm here almost an hour early). Mostly, it's because I never want to hear my co-workers say, "He'd be on time, if he didn't ride that bicycle." Flats haven't made me late, yet.

I've only once had a catastrophic tire failure. I had to walk my bike about half a mile to the bus stop and did get to work on time. At lunch, a co-worker drove me to a bike shop.

2_i 

Get tires equipped with a Kevlar layer or comparable material. It makes a day and night difference in terms of frequency of flats. Yes, you will still need to reserve time for a flat, but the likelihood of a flat might drop to next to zero.

I once traveled to a few-months assignment taking along a new folder equipped with stock tires. I had to ride over a street covered with various road debris and suffered from a flat every second day. After a third flat or so, I put an order for decent tires, but obviously had to wait for these to arrive so my flat count still accumulated. After I swapped the tires, I had no flats for the rest of my stay. At my regular location, I have a flat may once every 2-3 years and it is usually an operator error, worn tire that was not replaced in time or inattention in mounting the tire.

spivonious

I don't leave time, but my job is flexible enough to understand if I'm 10-15 minutes late. In over a year, I've only had one flat occur on the way to work and it took about 15 minutes to change (it was cold).

enigmaT120

I get to the place where I leave my bike and get on the bus about 10 - 15 minutes before the bus leaves, but that is to cool down and change into dry shirts before I get on the bus. If I get a flat I'll fix it if I'm more than a couple miles from home, and go back home and drive. I can do that and still get to work earlier than my bicycle/bus commute gets me there.

acidfast7

0min

never had a flat

Telly

You have now angered the tire gods... expect a string of flats as punishment!

I'm lucky enough to have a tram line which runs 85% of the length of my commute, along with two easily accessible LBS and a third within 10 minutes walking distance of the tram route, so in the three times I've had flats, I jumped on tram to the nearest LBS and had the tube swapped out with a new one within minutes, so I've never been late concerning flats.

Unfortunately I did have problems with broken spokes before I changed to good quality wheels which delayed my arrival to work substantially.

acidfast7

I don't have the pressure of "punching" in, so I don't worry about it. My students would be OK if I showed up late, sweaty and taught in cycling clothes.

However, I'd just flag a taxi and ask him to radio for a van and finish the commute that way or run to one of the 4 train stations around and take the train to work

However, Frankfurt was much more convenient (5.5M ppl) than here (100k is largest city).

dramiscram

Talk about perseverance! I hope you get your diploma soon

bhop

I just call/text the boss and tell her I got a flat. No big deal at my job.

Walter S

+1. I had one flat last year (why does saying that feel like the kiss of death?)

Typically my 1.5 hour comute time varies by a few minutes max. The variance among car drivers stuck in various incidents is way more than mine. A few times a year bunches of people will be delayed about 45 minutes.

I change tires slowly and carefully because I'm (thankfully) not practiced at it and because I want to find the leak and make a good repair. It's not hard to spend 20 minutes before I'm done and riding again. And because I remember Charlotte's good advice (never hurry, never worry).