Originally Posted by
datlas
Just back from a bonus Labor Day ride. It was mostly good, with one minor exception:
One of the riders had a flat. That's no big deal, I don't get angry about flats, it's part of the deal. I usually try to be at peace with this and only really get annoyed if I am under a time crunch (which I wasn't). My general strategy when others flat is to ask if they know what they are doing, and if so, just stand back and bite my tongue if they have a minor screw-up....and only give suggestions if they are really messing it up.
So I sat back and found a shady spot. The guy with the flat is a very experienced rider, and I was hopeful this would be a 3 minute pit stop. It was not meant to be.
He got the tire off and popped in a new tube. I usually think it's best to run the inside of the tire to find/remove the culprit shard (unless this was a pinch flat). He did not do that. He got frustrated remounting the tire and had to use a tire lever (I bit my tongue about that too). Then he broke out his "new" C02 inflator. He screwed the cartridge on and then screwed the inflator onto his valve. He started messing with the device and after a couple of minutes he was not getting any airflow and decided to take the inflator off. He could not, it was stuck, so he took the cartridge off (BOOM!) and was able to extricate the inflator and borrowed someone else's. They inflated the tire and (of course) it did not hold any air. I finally spoke up and said "please let's run your tire for any shards and please put another tube on without using the tire lever," one of my friends who was closer to the action apparently ran the tire with no shard, and the rider was able to (with some frustration) install a borrowed tube, remount the tire without a lever, and get it inflated.
Total time: approx 20 minutes.
I really wish all cyclists who run tubes and want to use C02 would do a trial run in their garage so they know how to use it. I also wish they would know to inspect the inside of the flat for the cause, and to use the center channel of the rim to minimize need to remount tire with tire levers.
TL;DR datlas had a fun ride but was slightly annoyed by his fellow cyclist's amateur flat fix skilz.
#stillgrateful
#firstworldproblems
It is shocking how clueless people are about flat repairs. I ride with a very experienced touring cyclist, when he visits in March each year. He knows what he's supposed to do, but is not good at it. We were discussing something about doing it at home and he made it abundantly clear that he would do no mechanical maintenance unless it was absolutely necessary.
I remount tires with a lever and rarely have issues. You just have to know where the tube is, and don't go about it ham-fisted.
Occasionally I have to use a lever for the first bead.