Tire Change Phobia
 

I have worked my butt off to become a better cyclist and have completed several centuries, so why am I still so intimidated by the idea of changing a tire? I feel like such a wimp, but I always have to be in a group or be able to call my husband!
I guess I will never be a true roadie until I can overcome this phobia!

I detest doing that as well..The guys at the shop can do it in under 10 minutes...it usually takes me 30 per tire, and i suspect I'm damaging the tire as I do it.......it's an unpleasant part of cycling...At least you've got ppl to do it for you though!

Just practice it at home. It's a pain in the neck, but not hard and you can get pretty good at it quick. With a little practice you usually don't even need a tire lever. I find it easier if there's just a little bit of air in the tube. It goes in easier and is less likely to pinch.

Go get your bicycle right now. Remove the rear wheel. Take off the tire, remove the tube. Then put it back together again. Repeat.

That's how I learned to do it. And guess what ... it's really EASY!! :)

Of course there are different people who have different techniques and you might want to experiment with those too. Some don't remove the tire completely - they just remove one side and pull out the tube. Others (like me) remove everything.

Don't forget to pretend to check the inside of the tire for pieces of broken glass or wires or whatever ... ah, but do not run your hand around the inside!! You could end up with the glass or wire in your finger. Look carefully instead.

And one tip ... you might want to have an extra tube on hand while you're going this just in case you happen to pinch your tube in the process.

My wife is the same way. She usually rides with me when she rides so I'm always available to fix her flat if she has one. But the more you have your husband or other people change your flats, the bigger your phobia will grow. Like PhattTyre said, you just need to do it yourself a few times. Learn the tricks from someone but then practice it by yourself when no one can help you. You learn more when you have to figure it out yourself. I've had the same type of phobia about adjusting my brakes or deraillers or other repairs, but I've just forced myself to do it and it's not as hard as I thought it was going to be.

Your husband will come out to fix your flats? That's so cool.

As with all of the above comments, nothing beats experience. Learn it before you need it. I was fortunate that my first several flats were slow and didn't flat out until after I was home.

I also carry a sharpie and make a reference mark on the tire and tube. Later when I'm home I can search for the puncture and then match it up on the tire. I once got a slash in the tire that I couldn't see with the tire deflated. Once the tire inflated, the tube poked through the slash. I didn't see it. Thankfully I was on my trainer when it blew and not on the road.

Here's a visual guide to tube changing
http://www.chainreaction.com/flattirerepair.htm

I lived in Denver and taught at CU downtown for a year. I took the bike path in and they have these four-pointed tire-flatters. It seemed like I only got in a couple of rides without a flat either in or out. It did get me good at fixing flats. I could often do it in under five minutes, including waiting for the glue to dry (though when it was 20 degrees it was way tougher). One trick I used was to determine where the flat was (easy with those things sticking out) and then just take 60 degrees of tire off the rim, pull the tube out, glue it, let it get tacky, patch it, place tube back in, push tire on, and pump it up.

The last six years I have been using tubulars on the road bike. I do not flat on the road that often, but if I do, it is just pry the old tire off and put on the new one. No tubes to mess with. It costs a bit more (since I do not repair flats anymore except on newer, expensive tires), but tubulars do not flat as often.

One last comment. I think that the number one risk/cause of flats (aside from riding hard in the rain) is an under-inflated tire. Also, watch where you ride. I don't think that I had a flat on the road last year.

hell yeah! do it yourself.

i always just run my fingers around the inside. but i don't rub them along, i sort of pat my way around the tire. you can't always see the tiniest little piece of whatever that got your tube. i've noticed that most of the time, whatever punctured my tire isn't sharp enough to cut my hand, especially if i'm not hap-hazzardly running my fingers around the tire. i also kind of work the tire around between my fingers, and look at the outside to see the offending bit of debris. i usually see it before i feel it. i also carry a pair of needle nose pliers with me to pull anything out.

as far as pulling the tire all the way off, or leaving it halfway on, when i'm at the shop and it's a customer's bike, i pull it all the way off to check for glass and things. if it's mine and i'm on a ride, or on my way to work, i just do half of it, unless it's my second or third flat in a short period of time, or it's dark and raining. i'd rather only stop once and get it right than have to stop again 4 minutes later.

for the original poster: it's really not difficult at all, and there's no need to be phobic about damaging a tire while repairing a flat. the beads are practically indestructable, and if your levers are plastic, it's real hard to tear the sidewall. changing flats, and doing your own repairs is all part of riding a bicycle. know your bike, know yourself, and be a better rider.

Practising at home is a very good suggestion. Here is another, use only the tools that you carry on the bike. Don't go after the good tools in the stay at home box. That is how I found out which brand of cute little tire levers snap like toothpicks and which cute little mini-pump doesn't blow but sucks. Beats walking! It helps to install tires so that the label is adjacent to the valve and if there is a label on both sides of the tire, use a sharpy to mark the drive side. That way you have a reference point when you look for holes. Carry something to boot tires. The tip about putting a little puff of air in the tube before reinstallation is golden as well....you'll never pinch a tube that way (almost). If you keep biking, unfortunately, you will get rather good tire repair!

Some tyres are a very tight fit (tyres and rims have some manufacturing tolerance so a larger rim and smaller tyre can be really hard to remove). When getting new ones, get tyres with a loser fit.

practice putting the tire on the rim WITHOUT a tube first.

I only use two tire levers to get the tire off. And no levers to put it on. Just use muscle.

The worst is when you repalce a flat with a new tube, get back on to continue your ride -- and get a brand new pinch-flat. I love that!

When I can remember, I like to store my spare tube--the one that goes in my seat wedge bag on the bike--in a Ziploc bag that's got a couple of spoonfuls of talcum powder in it. I make sure it gets a thorough shaking before I shove it into the bag.

The powder makes it slide more readily onto the rim, and helps prevent the dreaded pinch-flats.

It also reduces the friction between the tire and the tube once inflated... which some people swear gives them the feel of a sew-up.

I always use powder in mine. That's just the way I learned it years ago.

All great advice, but sometimes the "just use muscle" thing is a little easier said than done. I sometimes have to work a new tire for a few minutes before I can slip the edge over the rim without tools - and I'm a reasonably strong guy. It sometimes helps to hold the new tire down lightly under your feet and pull like a son of a gun to stretch them a little before mounting.

Also make sure to get mineral talc instead of cornstarch baby powder, which is much more common these days. The cornstarch, when wet, will just make a gooey mess. Good luck

I had a rim and tire combo once that was nearly impossible to change. Getting the last inch of bead over the rim almost required more strength than I had.