this happened to me.
8 years ago i was a noob with a POS $15 bike and got a flat 1 mile from my house.
another rider stopped and asked if i needed help.
i told him i had a flat, and no tools to repair, but i didn't live that far away.
he insisted on replacing my tube and after repairing my tire he refused my attempts to pay him.
he handed me a business card with his # on it and said if i wanted to join him and his group on a ride i was welcome any time.
i now live 75 miles away but i try to go on a 50 mile group ride with him at least 1 time a year.

whenever i ride i always have 2 tubes, a patch kit, 5 co2 inflators, mini pump and a few often used tools.
every year i end up installing at least 2 tubes on other peoples bikes.
when they want to pay me i just tell them stop and help another person on the trail.
i also have given my # out a few times. and have ridden with them more than once.

Being nice to others never goes out of style.

Around here, it's common to offer help and it's common to decline help. That's "kitted roadies". If it looks like they really fixing the flat, I might not say anything because, honestly, they might be better off being left alone.

Since, this also turned into a "why don't they wave at me" thread, I get (guessing) about a 50% return from a finger lift, which I don't always do and which some people just might not notice. I don't care if they respond or not.

Boy I bet you are a real helpful soul when you are out biking. You would fit in here perfectly. Ontario has licence plates that say " your to discover" but I always add, Ontario yours to discover "but me first". So see, perfect for you.

I'm just a big fatty that likes to blow up his 700x23's up as hard as possible. Too many pinch flats after giving up on mini-pump when tire was only semi-hard. CO2 cartridges are quite literally the bomb.

Years ago, I was driving down by Towneast Mall and ran out of gas on sort of a main road. So I walked half a block to a gas station, got gas and a can, walked back, put gas in the car, no problem. But what was funny was that later on, two different people asked me, "Hey, was that you I saw with the gas can the other day?" So it's not just cyclists.

It's disappointing to know there are PLENTY of dicks out there in the cycling community. I am appalled to hear so many cyclists would leave a cyclist stranded just because they didn't have high quality products with them (good mini-pumps, better CO2, etc). It's to the point where the community is punishing a fellow cyclist because they should have known better to buy junk products. Aside the fact EVERY cyclists, one point in their life, have gotten a flat and had to phone someone or walk home, there's something call a COMMON COURTESY to help someone who aren't mechanically smart as you. Sometimes people forget he/she took off their saddle bag or maybe they took something important out of their saddle bag and forgot to put it back before they took off on their ride. As a noob in the community, I'm not that mechanically smart yet. I can do some things but not a lot. Every time I see a cyclist on the side of the trail or they're walking their bike alone, I always slow down and take the time to ask if they're okay. Even if I couldn't fix their bikes, I have my allens, pump, spare tube and levers that they may use and possibly fix their own bike. So far I have the luck of not getting stranded due to mechanical problems. However, I don't need to experience it for myself to know it'll be a ***** to walk home for that reason.

I think it's a different comparison between motorists and cyclists. Some motorists, nowadays, have AAA or they bought the roadside assistance from their insurance companies where they can come out to fix your car troubles. OR in Florida, for example, the turnpike and some private expressways have a truck that drives up and down the highway to look for stranded motorists and fix your minor problems for free. That being said. I don't feel guilty not helping someone. There's nothing like that for bikes. If your bike breaks, you're on your own unless someone is nice enough to stop and take a look.

I ride on my local bike trail a lot and find the casual riders (on cruisers with their family or just a couple on the trail) are more polite than roadies. I've seen other roadies do a polite wave but some just don't give a damn. I don't always wave but I do always make the attempt to turn my head towards them and node to respond back (to everyone: runners, people walking their dogs, joggers, etc.)

The notion that other people need to be in the same mental state or the same mental focus as you when you want them to be is selfish.

People being "rude" might be actually focusing first on riding (safely) as they should be. Responding to goofy wavers is the least important thing they need to be doing.

Feel free to wave but getting mad/upset if people don't do what you want them to at that moment is self-centered.

I think it's also a good idea to learn to stuff one's tyres for emergency rides, in case this kind of thing happens.

M.

That is my experience as a mountainbiker and a regular commuter. Welcome to where I ride, Ma$$holes everywhere. (MA)

I don't recall stopping for riders all that often. I tend to ask if they are OK going by. The answer is usually that they are fine.

One of the few times I got a negative answer was the first time I did The Grand Tour (Highland Double Century). I had gone less than 25 miles and a rider was at the side of the road, he needed a spare tube. It was already his 3rd flat. I figured I could part with one of mine.

I stopped just long enough to throw him the tube.

Looking back I could have regretted this, I caught a piece of steel belt about 40 miles from home just as dusk was falling. I've caught steel belt 3 times, that was the only time I found it on the first try. If I had flatted a second time from that little piece it would have been a significant inconvenience. BUT NOT a disaster, I always carried a spare and a patch kit, even on the shortest ride. I sure did not leave out the patch kit for a double century.

Thinking back on this it was obvious the guy who needed the tube came across as NOT considering that anyone else had an obligation to help him, just that it would be a great help to him.

That was obvious in the first few seconds.

I'm thinking that the guy in question who flatted may well have had his attitude come across in the first few seconds and based on my experiences here that attitude was reflected in his *****ing on FB. If I picked up that kind of attitude I'd just ride on too.

Well, then you're probably smart enough to carry a few CO2 cartridges and very unlikely to need to rely on someone else for such a basic function.

As for the OP: I can see it both ways, but in the end side with the guys who didn't help. I would have helped.... unless I happened to be on a time schedule - like I had to be somewhere at a certain time. I can understand someone who has to be somewhere or is trying to do something specific on that particular ride. Your problem is not their problem. They had something they were trying to accomplish, it was important to them. The OP's story is one of someone who put himself in an inconvenient (simply inconvenient, nothing more) by his own lack of preparation. Use CO2? better be totally practiced in it's use or bring spares. Or better yet, carry your own damn pump.

But to summarize: I would have helped unless I had a good reason I couldn't (totally my evaluation by the way, not yours). I feel the guys who didn't stop had a good reason (totally their evaluation,n not yours), and I would never generalize their lack of "common courtesy" on the basis of this single event.