hmm.. maybe it's just my mad skills, but I can get my tire off pretty damn quick, probably before I'd even get my tire lever out of wherever it's hiding.

Jesus $13 for a tube replacement. What a frigging rip off.

Lesson - repair **** yourself and carry the tools to do it.

i learned the same lesson yesterday after not taking tools for the past few months. now im looking for one of those CO2 pumps or something supersmall so i have no excuse

Astrx, clearly you did not read this post before you went on your ill-advised tool-naked ride. Chump.

I'm not sure that'll hold in court, he chose to continue riding anyway knowing it was loose.
I know someone who used to jam a rubber plug about 4" into his bullhorns so stuff wouldn't fall all the way into them, then jam spare cash and whatnot into them. Perhaps that might be a place to have some spare tools, though probably not a pump, unless you get real creative.

but they also told him it would be okay, and he chose to believe them to one extent or another. he may have known it was loose, but they said it wasn't too loose, and he figured it was tight enough to ride on until he could tighten it. sounds like they not only botched his repair, but also lied to him/misinformed him about the potential dangers of their repair job.

asked the Performace shop mechanic for an English-threaded bmx freewheel: "I don't know what that means. This is for BMX. it's the only one we have. I don't know what brand it is."

another lbs didn't know what single stack chainring bolts were. "You mean chainring bolts for a singlespeed?" Well...yes... So I explained "I need chainring bolts that are the correct width for running a single chainring."

It's always interesting to apply what you've learned elsewhere to real-life situations...

At the shop I used to work for, we charged $15 for a tube repair- $10 labor, $5 tube.

$10 for a tube fix is pretty standard in boston.

Question to employee at Bike Source in Columbus Ohio: Do you carry peanut-butter wrenches?

Answer: Employee looks at me like I'm nuts.

Yea, I got the same lesson on Friday. I was out tweaking my seatpost and saddle position when I ended up a lot further from home than I though I was going to ride. All I had were the tools for the seatpost and BLAM. Rear tube explodes and throws the tire off the rim.

About 3 seconds later I realized I didn't have a cellphone, tube or wrench for the rear wheel. Genius. So, I pick up the bike and start walking the 3.3 miles home (I mapquested it). At least I was wearing mtb shoes. My shoulder still hurts like ****ing hell though.

Yes! We need some sort of AAA for cyclists...perhaps a BBB...Badass Bicycle Bailout. Operators standing by listening all over the world for sounds of swearing, cursing, loud tire blowout explosion noises and hissing.

I went into a bike shop here in Salt Lake City, which shall remain nameless (cough, cough, Guthries) and got such attitude from the sales kid. He treated me like he couldn't be bothered to break himself away from his dicussion of some class he was in. I asked him if they had pedals that took toe clips (for a steamroller I just got) and he was like, "there are some against the walls" in a derisive tone. They had one kind, and they were for mountain bikes. Then I asked if they had locking skewers and he said he never heard of them (again in a tone that said "if I haven't heard of them them must not exist," because I hate quick release. Made a joke about one of the tools (it has a small socket wrench for a 10mm socket) and he responded with offense. This was my first week here, so I was looking for a new lbs. Needless to say, I kept looking.

My local shop has been really great to me, has great mechanics and stuff. But some of the clerks seem a little under-bikeducated at times, not really inconvenient, but amusing. Like I asked if they had any lockring wrenches one time and both clerks had no idea what I was talking about...also I asked if they had a chainring bolt tool once, and they were like "you mean a hex wrench?" and I had to walk over to the one fixed gear they sell, a Giant Bowery, and show them what my bolts look like (apparently not all bikes use that type). But sometimes I don't know about stuff either, and they weren't snide about it so it was OK.

But the other day I got a freebie seatpost when mine broke, so that was cool.

the friendliest bike shop around me has hardly any parts. the one with all the parts has rude employees. the one with lots of parts and friendly employees is far away. can't have everything... i travel to the farthest shop with both parts and friendly/knowledgeable employees and it's always worth it.

Where did it blow out? I always head for Paramount at the Powderhouse rotary (about 3 blocks up College from Davis). Tyler's always been good to me and my bike.

Not that it helps you now...

To be fair, most folks don't know what a peanut-butter wrench is. Its slang, pretty uncommon and cause very few new bikes have crank bolts, most shops don't have 'em even if you ask for 'em right.

Buying a $2 patch kit would have saved you time and money.
You don't need to take the wheel off to patch a tube.

Enjoy

I would never allow a 14 year old **** face to work on any of my bikes, no matter the circumstance.

Yee, the mechanic at Conrad's, just loved the PC track ends on my Rich Adams. Simple and easy to tension.

I had something like this happen to me a little while ago...I apparently lost my adjustable wrench, and I go to look for it in my bag to tweak my seat or something innocent and realize I can't find it. I debate riding home or not, knowing if I get a flat I'm ***ed. so I ride home anyway, figuring "what are the odds?" pretty good, because half an hour later, I pop a flat. I end up carrying my bike 20 blocks to a bike shop, then realize I can't afford to buy a wrench and because of insurance BS, they can't just lend me one for 5 mins, so I have to call a buddy to swing by and spot me. lame.

BostonFixed is right, that's Ace Wheelworks.

We charge $5 for tube, $5 for labor at the shop I work at. I figure if you don't want to pay the $5, learn to change a tube. you wouldn't imagine how many people come in for a flat fix

$13.49?!

Even if you had no tools at all with you, $6 or $7 would have bought a pair of cheap levers (if even necessary for your wheel) and a cheap patch kit. You could have taken care of it yourself without taking the wheel off of the bike, and had money to spare. I'm a big fan of patching tubes rather than replacing them, anyways.

Oh, believe me, I know..

We were a shop that catered to high end roadies, and you wouldn't believe how many people with serottas, litespeeds, and other 3k+ roadbikes would bring in their bikes for flat fixes and the like..one cat 3 racer had us change a flat and install a new set of tires because he couldn't/didn't want to...

Daing where do I get some of those? I don't see them on paulcomp.com... ?

on paulcomp.com click single speed then drop outs.