Anytime that I see a bicyclist with a flat while riding my bike , I will stop and ask if they need help, so far, everyone has declined on my offers, and I sure wouldn't charge for a tube or tire sealant if they did accept.

Hang in there Rev, I'm still listening.

My group of cycling friends are tourer types. So you remind me of a run in we had with some tri types. This woman triathlete who fit perfectly into her lycra had a flat on the coastal Highway. She had no pump, tubes, tools. A high end bike and no tools. / Well , her tri friends kept on going, leaving her beside the road. That a surprise. We'd never abandon our tourer friends, I am sure? / So we stopped and helped her out. Of course we did all the work. / Left her telling her maybe she should ride with touring types. / Maybe her friends did not have tools either?

That's cold!

I remember, however, doing a warm weather group ride that was described as for self-supporting riders. As a traffic signal my leg started cramping so I got off of my bike to walk it off. The light turned green and everybody left. One helpful rider suggested I lift my bike out of the street before it got run over. That was a tourer type group too.

Every one of those bicyclists with flats, that I tried to help, was in an uban setting, and they all said that it was not much further to their home. If I was to come across such an incident as you described, I'd probably be a little more persistent on the help department if the bicyclist declined my offer on the first attempt, or at least get someone else to help them get home or to where they are going.

I always just ask if they have everything that they need. That's not condescending to the rider who is truely self supporting but still offers help to any rider who isn't. The last guy who took me up on that only needed a CO2 cartridge.

If they turn down my offer for any reason, that's on them. I'm not going to force my help on anyone.

Granted that I'm not going to ram my help down anyone's throat, but if the cyclist is out somewhere in BFE with little or no means of fixing a flat, I might ask twice on assisting them in getting back underway, be it a CO2 cartridge, tube, sealant or tools, even moral support if need be.

He could have payed me $1.00 or paid the overpriced bike shop $7.00,He decided to pay me.He took the least of both evils.

Also I add that that person I charged $1.00 voluntarily gave me the dollar,I said forget it,but he said you have to take something.If you get a flat and don't want to walk for miles,you will voluntarily pay another cyclist if you have to for help.

I find this rather humerous, I'm wondering if you have ever owned a car and had a dealership or even a small repair shop do repairs on it, then you know that seven dollars to repair a flat or the prices charged by most LBSs to fix and tune a bike are extraordinarily reasonable.

Sounds reasonable. You pay for the service.
If you want to fix it yourself, sure, but you need to go buy a new tube (time), get your hands dirty, it all takes time.

Yes, I need the debeading tool to take my car tire off the rim and fix the flat if you have a rim leak on top of the glass puncture,and that debeading tool is very very expensive.My last flat tire I couldnt take the tire off and didnt have a sledge hammer,so I took it to the shop.

Oh yea just like a car has a spare tire, carry an extra inner tube,also tire if you can.

REALLY?How can that be?I don't have a track bike(I have cruiser bike) but can I sign up too and never get another flat?

[QUOTE=mark9950;6667587]I went to a bike shop in my neighborhood today to look around at new bikes and I noticed his charges for repairs,I noticed that he charged $7.00 to fix a flat tire.

I hope the shop is near me. My local LBS charges $10 and REI charges $8.
Not that it matters as I change my own but 7 buck's is cheap.

I'll agree with you to a point.

I'd take the dollar under those circumstances too. I just wouldn't go around "crowing" about making a 90 cent profit or compare doing that to a reasonable charge by a working person whose trying to earn a living.

By the way. What do you do for a living?

Its not like 7.00-15.00.He insisted saying I have to give you something.

Paris Hiltons chauffer.

I fully understand about taking the dollar. He wanted to give you something to make him feel good about himself - that he was paying his own way. Taking his money was the kind thing to do.

When you get a job that you don't feel you have to lie about you'll understand the concept of providing a service for a reasonable charge. Like I said before, $7.00 labor to repair a flat bike tire is on the low side of reasonable.

Sounds like you missed my point, seven dollars for any type of repair in today's money is what I call ridiculously cheap, even thirty years ago it still would have been considered reasonable.


Oh by the way, down at our race car shop we have a hand tire dismounting/mounting tool, believe me, after dismounting and mounting sixteen brand new Goodyear racing slicks by hand, I'll gladly pay a few bucks extra for a tire shop to do it.

$7 bucks for an LBS to fix a flat is a real cheap price.

The shop has overhead costs too. It is a reasonable price.

$7=cheap in my book

Carry an extra tube.How many of you responders have an extra spare tire in your car if you even have a car or any type of motor vehicle?I have a spare tire with air in it.If I didn't and have a flat in my motor vehicle I would have to pay towing charges.

It costed $8.00 to get my car flat fixed and they took the tire off.They had to take off the bolts(no quick change skewer on cars) and used a sledge to get the wheel off(This never happens on bicycles),and out a patch in it.

At $7.00 per charge on a bicycle flat, I would have had $700.00 worth of patchwork,if I were to pay a shop to fix my flats.Paris Hilton dont pay much.

I wouldnt pay that price unless I am 20 miles or more away from the bike shop with a flat and they come to me.they wont drive to you so I would have to fix it myself,and since I fix it myself why should I or anyone pay,oh I know lazy?

If you're comparing labor costs at an LBS to fixing things yourself, OF COURSE its cheaper knucklehead

You are paying for someones time, expertise, tools, rent, utilities, etc. If you think its so easy fine, do it yourself, but the service remains there for people who choose not to do it themselves.

The other thing is that when you, for instance, change your own tube and pinch the tube when installing, its your fault and time to pony up for another tube. When you have a shop do it, in the off chance they pinch a tube, its their responsibility and no additional cost would be owed by you. That kind of insurance and service is certainly worth a measly 7 bucks.

You've obviously never run a business OP

What tire shop do you go to? A sledgehammer to remove a tire? Man that's so old school. I sure won't be taking some expensive wheels and tires to that shop.
Is your budget that tight? Heck, even thirty years ago with house payments, family to support, etc. my budget wasn't that tight.

Hmm... wouldn't it be profitable for both parties if the shop just charged $30 to teach you how to fix a flat?

The suv is a 93 blazer I inherited it from my dead father and I had it for 4 years and do not know when that tire was changed before.The salt and corrosion prevented me from taking it off.Paris Hilton dont pay much,I told you that.

Ok,I go for this a class to teach how to fix a flat PROPERLY,but of course they will never do this.PROPERLY I mean sometimes softer tires have bead problems.I lived and learned this.But the instructions are still on the patch kit.

A new tube costs $4.00,(where is the overhead?) $3.00 less than a repair and a thornproof tube(no pinch flats) cost $7.50, .50 more than getting a flat fixed at a bike shop.So far 300 miles no flats yet on my thornproof tubes.I also dig out glass out of my tires.

At our shop the cost is $8.50 if the wheel is still on the bike and $7.50 if it's off the bike. Many other area shops charge more. You're getting a deal at $7.00.