The other day I was in the Performance bike shop looking to get some Crank Bros pedals and some other stuff for the MTB. I walked back to the area where the bike tools are, which is next to the service area, and I saw 3 grown men waiting in line to have their flats fixed at the shop.

This to me seems so..... geez I can't even think of the words to describe it. They were even told that it would take several hours because the shop was so backed up with other repair jobs and still nobody turned away. Have we really gotten to the point where we as a society are so mechanically inept that we would pay someone to fix our flat bicycle tires?

I think they should take them out back one by one under the guise that they are going to give them a tire change lesson and then shoot them.

I wouldn't be so surprised. There will always be people that either don't have the aptitude or the inclination to repair anything for themselves. Lots of people would rather pay for the convenience. Keeps service companies in business.

I think someone needs to start a AAA for bicycles. Everyone could have his/her own team car.

When I first started riding I used to pay the LBS to fix all my flats. I did this because I was a total newb and didn't know how to fix them myself. Looking back on it now it seems utterly ridiculous. Maybe that's the case with these guys. They simply don't know how because nobody has ever showed them.

You should have offered to put on a tire changing clinic out in the parking lot.

Sad... Back in February it took me one hour to replace one tube. Now it takes me 3min to install GP4000's on tight Bontrager's. Geez, give it a shot and stop paying people to do easy SHlTE. Can't imagine these people if they get a flat 30miles from home.

As you move along in your career, you often have more money and less time. Thus it often makes sense to pay people to do things you don't enjoy, even if you could do them yourself. My current test for wether to pay for a repair is whether I can do the repair in less time than it takes to go to the shop. However, applying that test, I can't imagine it ever makes sense to have the shop fix a flat.

When I worked at a bike shop, the number 1 repair job by an order of magnitude was flat repair. I would do maybe a dozen a day, every day.

I'm embarassed to say that when I first started riding, I got a flat and brought it to the shop to be repaired. The next day, I taught myself how to fix them, and I've done it myself ever since.

Saw a guy with an expensive rolf wheel getting a flat fixed at performance a while ago... I laughed. IMO this is something you have to know how to do yourself unless you're riding around your block all the time. You shouldn't even need instuction.
I think most shops charge $5 for the labor, another $5 for the tube.

Back when I weighed 145, I had a job one summer fixing flat tires on log trucks. The wheels were two piece rims you separated using a wedge and sledge. After you put one back together, you aired it up inside a cage, and we stood around the corner of the building and peeked out at the pressure gauge.

I figured I'd have no trouble at all fixing flats on my road bike. Wrong. Damn patch came off, rim tape punctured the tube, then a bad stem, and lastly, a tube that seemed to get a new hole every day. After 3 patches, I threw it away, replaced the rim tape again, bought new tubes from a different store(I thought I was getting a bad batch from the first place).

What seemed to solve my problem was getting a saddle bag with tube, patch kit and tire levers. Since then, no flats at all.

"If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. Gloom, despair, and agony on me."

Oh man...I've worked with split rims...they're killers...nasty stuff

I do not have the patience to wait for someone to do this for me.
This is the exact same reason I am working on improving my wrenching skills. Plus, a new reason to purchase tools.
Now if I can just get my wife to buy that argument.

I have a friend that does that. He even bought some new tires but hasn't mounted them yet because he doesn't know how. I guess I'll have to give him a lesson.

I guess I'm not that surprised. On the rare occassions I go to the LBS, there's almost always somebody there getting a flat fixed. I'll fix virtually anything on my bike but on my car there are only two things I'll do: put gas in it and replace the windshield washer fluid. I've never changed oil, checked dipsticks, checked tire air pressure, etc. I pay somebody to do it.

My regular riding buddy (who is female) knows more about cars then I knew there was to know about cars. If she gets a flat while riding, she could fix it herself, but if I'm around, she gets me to do it. She pays somebody to do her yearly maintenance on her bike.

She's into cars, I'm into bikes, and I think it's safe to say that neither of us are in the least bit interested in learning how to fix the other one.

Heh. My father-in-law mentioned that he'd taken his bike to the shop to fix a flat.

"How much did they charge you?"
"Ten bucks."
"Aw, heck. I would have done it for seven. I mean, after all, you're family."

Those 3 grown men must have been all thumbs.

I could see it if it's the fifth flat that you have had on the same wheel in a couple of weeks and you are looking for a second opinion on what keeps causing them. Another that I have seen is where a shop offers to do them for free and you are going to be there anyway. Otherwise, no I would say that those were men that you were seeing.

Same for me, and add a frame mounted pump, since then the only flat I have had was on a short trip after cleaning my bike. I had taken my seat bag(with the tube and tools in it) off.

I would be willing to bet that not one of those guys was going to go home after getting his flat fixed and log onto Bikeforums.net to check and see what interesting threads have popped up since their last visit.
Kenal0

Hmm. Perhaps I should start charging for on-road repair. I could've earned $30 last week.

...not a bad idea....

I usually provide on-road repairs for those that could use the help, provided they carry their own repair kit or spare tube....free, of course..

I know my LBS gives free "fix a flat" lesson when you bring it in to get fixed. They'll recommend what tools they need and the varieties of pumps to use.

I've brought my wheel in to get a flat fixed. I kept getting a flat about 25 miles into a ride (or 1.5 hours). This happened on 3 straight rides. They found a small sliver of metal on the inner side of the tire. I examined the wheel after every flat and couldn't find it but their bionic eyes did (actually, I think they used a magnet then a clothe to see where it catches).

I was in my local shop this spring when a guy brought in his new bike to have them install bottle cages.

A friend of mine, who was struggling financially at the time and was riding an old Trek 2300, was riding with some friends who all had the latest and greatest high-end bikes. One of them flatted and started pulling out his cell phone. My friend asked what he was doing and he replied "Calling my wife to come get me"! Turns out he didn't carry any repair equipment and had ended his rides whenever he flatted. My friend schooled him right then and there on how to fix his flat.