Upside down or right side up?
 

Occasionally I will stop to help bike riders broke down on the road. While mainly flat tires I also see broken and sucked chains and derailleur cable problems. What seems to almost be a trend is many of these cyclist turn their bikes upside down to try and find out what's wrong. If they ask for help the first thing I do is right the bike mainly because I can't mount a rear tire on an upside down bike. Is it just me, or is there a correlation between those that don't know how to work on or fix their bikes and those that turn it upside down on the road?

I typically turn my bikes upside down to work on them, and I perform all of my own bike repairs (including complete rebuilds).

For almost a century folks turned bikes upside down to work on them. The handlebar and seat made a perfect tripod.

Drop bars broke most of the habit because doing so damaged the brake cables where they left the lever. In the sixties and seventies, Cable housings folded at the top of the lever were about as common as white bread.

Nowadays, with aero brake levers, there's no longer a reason not to flip a bike over when working in the field. It's not my cup of tea, but there's no problem either.

Upside down on road fix, repair stand at home.

you could often invert a old school road bike on a picnic table for emergency field repairs such that the handlebars were supported but the brake cables were over the edge. handy for readjusting the derailleur after a cable repair, truing a dinged wheel, etc.

Personally, for simple things like a dropped chain, adjusting a DR, or removing/replacing a wheel for a flat I find no advantage in turning the bike upside down. Generally, to do so I'd have to remove my bike computer and water bottles, stuff would drop out of my open seatbag...

For a front wheel flat (rare) I'll stand the bike upright on the fork dropouts after I remove the wheel. For a rear flat, I remove the wheel with the bike upright and lay it down on the non-drive side while I change the tube and then hold it upright while reinstalling the rear wheel. I don't want to turn the bike upside down and scuff up the saddle and brifters.

+1....A common thing in a bike shop is for someone to come in with their bike, and before saying a word flip the bike upside down in the middle of the floor and beckon for someone to come over and take a look at whatever the problem is. Depending on the specific situation we typically go over and politely talk to the person about what they need and then take control of the situation by righting the bike and wheeling it away to the repair area.

I find it much easier to remove and replace a rear wheel on the road when the bike is upside down. I have a work stand at home, but on the road having the bike upside down makes life easier. I put something under the saddle (tool roll or saddlebag) and levers (gloves or whatever else I have) to avoid marks.

So to answer your question:
No. Lots of us who know what we are doing do this.

got used to coping with a loaded touring bike, & doing wheel removals laying the load down,
trying to remember to loosen brake and hub QR , first..

OP: "mainly because I can't mount a rear tire on an upside down bike"

Why not??

OP: "Is it just me,"?

Probably...why do you care how someone plops down their bike...?

Fietsbob; As almost always, finding I agree with your line of thinking. But I have no idea if the OP was actually constantly finding broken loaded touring bikers along side of the road and he just forgot to mention it... We should ask the Shadow to get on this Forum as the Shadow always knows...

Because I don't care to take the time to figure it out because I it's a waste of time to me. When you R&R a bicycle wheel you should always place the bike right side to tighten the QR's; it makes sure the axles are anchored in the verticle dropouts and with horizontal dropouts it allows me to center the wheel against the back of the dropouts or adjusters.

When I was a kid riding BMX and/or coaster brakes bikes, I always flipped the bike, but when I started riding derailleur bikes with non-aero brake levers, I didn't want to smash down the cables and later with aero brakes and brifters I didn't want to damage the top of the hoods. Also when I started paying $50-$150 for a saddle, I did want it all scratched up either.

I have never found a touring bike rider broken down, but I am often asked directions; getting from Santa Cruz/ Watsonville to Monterey can be tricky. What brought this on was a used Sora brifter I bought on eaby. While in good shape. the top was ground down and the seller said it was from turning the bike upside down to repair flats; see below, it's the one on the left.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=292522

Im living on the Pac Coast Route now , the touring cyclists went through the Case-lot of ODOT free, coast route maps,

but of that 500 or so, only a few per day need the services of the LBS..

used to be great Pacific Coast Bike Route signage all on that route, I rode the monterey->scruz->monterey route a bunch of times in the 70s/80s. sadly, the signs are largely damaged and gone, and haven't been replaced.

Whatever works. I happen to rarely work on bikes upside-down. If it's a drive train problem I typically turn the bars to the side and then put the bike nose down so the rear wheel is free and the drive train is at a good height.

The Shimano doc on my hydraulic disk brakes advises that you should not turn the bike upside down or on its side as this can cause the air bubble in the reservoir to travel down into the calipers and cause the bike to lose braking or at least braking force.

If I turned mine upside down it would damage the lights and the bell. You do have those don't you?