Rev.Chuck

This is also bull****(Today I did 9 board repairs, three walkins, and three flat repairs. This was with four people working. They did no repair work, not their job. They work the floor, stock, clean). When you know as many shops as I you can beg to differ.
Most shops have one or two guys that do 95% of the repair work. However, even the 15yo kid sweeping the floor changes ten times the tires of anyone posting. Repetition, with supervison, is key in learning to do the repair quickly and properly.

cyclezealot

Inflation. It used to be 5 bucks. I used to use Armadillos. They are a b**** to change. Couple of times, i'd have a shop do it, if they were near at the time of a flat. Use Continental tires since they are easier and a Morph pump. No big deal, I'd rather spend the seven bucks on bike accessories.

Mr. Beanz

You're fooling and impressing yourself with superspeed rather than quality!

mark9950

You can do it,if you deflate the tube with the stem puller(put it back in if you want to or let the hand pump hang),but before that find the hole if possible and reference the hole with respect to the valve stem.take of the tire on one side,take out the tube and inflate it find the hole and buff it(I use a buffer that is used to buff your feet for callouses,works great)patch it(I use those glueless patches),put everything back in and fill up.

This works best if you have a wide rear fork for your back wheel and thinner tires.I have 2.125 tires and I am able to do it,but with quick release skewers wouldn't taking it off be more convenient?I have bolts and sometime I forget my wrench.

No,I charge $1.00 and the people take everything off,the patch only costs about $.10.


I make a $.90 profit.

I do do it myself,especially when i am 20 or more miles from home.

becnal

+1

SweetLou

Ok, that is what I thought, you aren't changing the tube, you're just patching it.

Sixty Fiver

Change enough tyres and you will get pretty fast... they clocked me at 3 minutes for a road tyre last summer and mtb tyres are even easier.

Old 26 by 1 3/8 and the 28 inch fractional tyres on vintage steel rims are usually a bit more work.

Patching the tube while it's on the bike is easily done and my dad showed me how to do this over thirty years ago.

Retro Grouch 

Maybe, maybe not. Flats don't just happen on Saturday. Working in a bike shop on weekdays my boss has asked me countless times to drop whatever I was doing and fix a flat for a customer. I've never put a stopwatch on myself but I'd guess the whole process will typically take me between 5 and 10 minutes.

cyclezealot

Changing tires quickly is unimportant to me. Maybe if your in a race , it is important. I am with the group, its ok for them to not wait for me. I take doube their time. When In a hurry, I have not done it right and had a flat a couple miles later. I like to take off the tire and throughly check the inside of the tire thread for thorns, glass fragments, etc./ I notice most of the clubs members just take one bead off the rim and insert a new tube. That is not thorough enough for me.

Retro Grouch 

Interesting. I take the entire tire off of the rim because I think it's faster. I ALWAYS check the inside of the tire for glass or whatever.

cyclezealot

Just popping one bead. It is fast. Using their technique, I doubt I'd insert the new tube properly and the result would be a pinch flat. No thanks. Whats the hurry.

apclassic9

I happened to be the LBS last spring on a particularly nice Friday afternoon... I was waiting for the owner to return so I could talk to him about some weird little part. I must have been there about an hour & a half, and during that time at least 8 people came in with thier "ride about the neighborhood on a nice day" bikes with flat tires - $10 per change. The wrench hated it, because he had to stop what he was doing to fix them, but the guy at the counter merely stated (when I express my incredulity - HIRE someone to CHANGE A FLAT??) - "Hey, on a nice day that pays our salaries!" So, yeah, I can see the occassional cyclist walking over to the LBS to have a flat changed when they're out zipping around the 'hood.

On the other hand, one time I brought Salsa's bike in for some post-crash repairs - the front tire was flat, too - they fixed what needed to be fixed, and I picked it up - flat fully intact. Salsa was about to question that when - a little tire iron must have zapped his teenage brain - and he promptly fixed his flat. (his record is 2 minutes flat!)

I-Like-To-Bike

True; if your time is worthless and you have nothing else to do.

cyclezealot

We often discuss what is a serious cyclist. Well, on the road, you often see cyclists out without a tool wedge or pump. Or no pump/ tube in their jersey pocket. Following them they seem to be going longer than just around the block.
Maybe a definition of a serious cyclist would be , they go more than five miles AND carry some basic bike tools, such as tubes, etc?

Retro Grouch 

I disagree.

It's hard to think of someone being more serious than a professional bike racer and they don't carry anything with them at all. If they get a flat tire, the team van comes by to fix it.

I'd refer to the rider with basic tools and replacement inner tubes as "self supporting".

Nermal

Right. I once bought a ~$4.00 tube. They installed it for free. It was a very slow day. Tomorrow, they might charge $10.00 just because they're busy and know I can do it myself. I love this shop.

cyclezealot

Yes. But what recreational rider has the luxury. If only they did. Being a pro makes one far more than just serious. For those of us who don't have professional support, that is a whole new category. / Actually , one group ride we did, but it cost us all about a grand to have a mechanic following us all in his truck./ Donta you think Retro . Pro cyclist are one step beyond serious cyclists. Might the word 'elite,' be a better choice.

mark9950

Yes.But of course I still alway carry an extra tube.

mark9950

Who needs a mechanic to fix a TUBE.buy another tube and save 2.00,duh.

Rev.Chuck

Nothing to do with it, that is not even a really busy day. It takes as long as it takes. When you do it for years it takes less time.

I can only hope that you are the last ******* to annoy me on the forum because I have the willpower to never return.-Rev.Chuck, trying to help for for four years but finally the jerkoffs dragged him down.

mike

Wow, good job to the OP for posting such a stimulating topic. Who would imagine that a fix-a-flat topic could have so many people heated up!

DieselDan

You forgot to check for what CAUSED the flat. Taking a flattened tube, then putting a new one in and inflating it is FOOLISH. You need to find out what caused the flat.

We charge $12 to change a flat, $6 for the tube, $6 for the labor. We charge $15 to patch a tube.

mark9950

I may be an occasional cyclist per say, but at least one a week I ride from south side of chicago to the nortwest indiana bike trails thats a 50+ mile ride both ways,now there are no bike shops around there because its mainly woods and if I get a flat around there its either fix it or walk.That would take me about 8 hours of walking the bike home from the turn around point(25+ miles)if I got a flat there.I have no choice but to fix flats.

I walked it one time(forgot tools) never do that again.

Retro Grouch 

Now I'd say that's the rip off.

It's situational. A bike shop has to pay retail rent prices.that's going to be high. They're also likely to have a few thousand dollars for a neon sign just so you'll know where to go to get your flat fixed. They have to pay the light bill and a bunch of other stuff. That's overhead and the only place they can get money to pay for it is from their customers.

My rule of thumb is to figure about 15 minutes for a flat fix. I know, EVERYBODY does it faster than that, but, you don't pay the mechanic just for what he does, you pay him by the hour. By the time you chit chat and make nice and all that you'll have eaten up AT LEAST 15 minutes. At that rate, I think that a $7.00 labor charge is actually on the low side of reasonable.

When you're out riding with your buddy, however, you don't have any overhead. Charging him $1.00 for a glueless patch strikes me as the unfriendliest thing that I've ever heard. I'd never do it.

Pugsly

+1, I would hate to think of the negative karma that would get me. payback would surely be a *****. For that same reason I'll always offer to buy folks drinks, etc, if we stop at a c-store on a long route - I've forgotten my money before on rides and people always have helped me out.