Act of helpfulness in Barnsley

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Bokonon

Über Member
Riding north out of Barnsley this morning my front tyre went flat for no apparent reason. Eventually I got the tyre off (very tight steel bead) and put in a new tube, which I then proceeded to rip as I levered the tyre back on. D'oh! It was, of course, starting to rain by this stage. After another fight, I got the tyre off again and put my second spare tube in and re-fitted the tyre with more care and a lot more swearing (I hope my thumbs will recover eventually.)

As I was about to start pumping the tyre up with my stupidly small pump, a man came running over from the other side of the road with a track pump, asking if it would be any help. Yes! It pumped the tyre up a lot harder and a lot faster than I would have managed with my pump.

On the off-chance that the pump owner is reading this - a very big thank you!

This act of helpfulness makes up for the act of muppetry experienced in the centre of Barnsley. I can't work out what reasoning a driver would use to suppose that a cyclist in the right hand lane of a roundabout would be turing left and therefore make it possible to over take the cyclist and turn left. No amount of horn sounding and shouting abuse is going to make up for such stupidity.
 

gbyers

New Member
Location
Leeds
Suppose all cyclists carried their track pump in the car as a matter of routine instead of leaving it in the garage/at home.

Therefore cyclicts with punctures would stand a chance of being assisted.

How many cars pass by whilst puncture being repaired? Even if only 1 in 1000 had a track pump, some would eventually get lucky.

Almost a campaign issue?

Sorry about your roundabout experience, were you in the left of the RH lane? Should you have been in the right of the lane, that's where I've tended to sit, with much backward looking and clear arm waving.
 
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Bokonon

Über Member
Er, yes I was in the left of the lane, but at the speed traffic goes on the roundabout trying to hold any other position would be impractical. On the roundabout in question, the left hand lane peels off to a shopping centre (where stupid driver was going,) then there is a short section of painted hatching before the left lane re-appears with traffic coming from the shopping centre. There are three pairs of entrances/exits onto the roundabout. To turn off to the shopping centre, a car would want to enter the roundabout at the preceeding entrance in the left hand lane or would be wanting to move into the left hand lane whilst passing that entrance if already on the roundabout.

I was keeping to the left of the right hand lane in preperation to drop into the left lane when it re-merged into the roundabout, traffic on the right should cause no problems if it is correctly positioned for where it is going. I was, in fact, almost passed the exit when the car tried cutting through me. I guess the driver had forgotten that she needed to turn off the roundabout or had no clue about how position herself on the road or how to cope with sharing roads with a cyclist (must overtake cyclists at all costs even if it buggers up travel plans, couldn't contemplate holding back for half a second in order to turn.)
 

Smokin Joe

Legendary Member
Wouldn't it have been funny if the man had run over with the pump and the conversation had gone,

"Would this be any help?"

"Yes, it would"

"I bet it would", then ran back into the house laughing.
 

bonj2

Guest
that's nothing, I lent a pump to a BIG ISSUE seller last week, he was a sound guy and was admiring my bike.
and ALWAYS go in the middle of the lane on the roundabout - no matter how fast the traffic WANTS to go. You're an ITEM of traffic remember.
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
gbyers said:
Suppose all cyclists carried their track pump in the car as a matter of routine instead of leaving it in the garage/at home.

Therefore cyclicts with punctures would stand a chance of being assisted.

How many cars pass by whilst puncture being repaired? Even if only 1 in 1000 had a track pump, some would eventually get lucky.

Almost a campaign issue?


That's a nice idea. My Mum always has her car foot pump with her in the car, which I guess would work for Shraeder valves, but I've no idea if she'd realise that. I guess cyclists could all carry a P repair kit - or at least a few self adhesive patches, in the glove box, as well.

I don't have a car though. Or a track pump. If I had a track pump, I could carry it in the car. If I had a car...:biggrin:
 

bonj2

Guest
Arch said:
That's a nice idea. My Mum always has her car foot pump with her in the car, which I guess would work for Shraeder valves, but I've no idea if she'd realise that. I guess cyclists could all carry a P repair kit - or at least a few self adhesive patches, in the glove box, as well.

I don't have a car though. Or a track pump. If I had a track pump, I could carry it in the car. If I had a car...:biggrin:

yes they do. Car valves are the same as schrader.
 

barq

Senior Member
Location
Birmingham, UK
bonj said:
yes they do. Car valves are the same as schrader.

...but sadly not presta. Still I suppose that helps 50% of us and awkward people like me could always carry an adaptor. :biggrin:
 

Pete

Guest
But I'm not sure if a car pump would go to enough pressure. Most car tyres stop at about 40psi. (Motorbikes?) I don't have a track pump myself, either, I find that the Morph Road will go to 105-110psi dead easy with road (700x23c that is) tyres. But for fatter hybrid/mtb tyres it's hard work and not recommended anyway, I stop at about 70-80 for those. At a pinch you can probably get home on knobby MTB tyres at 50, and a car pump will manage that I suppose.

Another point: play the good samaritan and offer my morph to a distressed cyclist I will, but reverse the washer (for schraders) I will not. Don't want to lose or damage the washer on the road, you see! I just mutter a hurried excuse ("sorry mate, wrong sort of pump") and ride off. Am I very selfish?
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
Pete said:
But I'm not sure if a car pump would go to enough pressure. Most car tyres stop at about 40psi. (Motorbikes?) I don't have a track pump myself, either, I find that the Morph Road will go to 105-110psi dead easy with road (700x23c that is) tyres. But for fatter hybrid/mtb tyres it's hard work and not recommended anyway, I stop at about 70-80 for those. At a pinch you can probably get home on knobby MTB tyres at 50, and a car pump will manage that I suppose.


Good point... It would be a 'get-you-home' measure, but that might just be enough... Although I seem to remember the dial on Mum's car pump goes up much higher than the usual car tyre pressure, so maybe it would go higher - might just be a bit slow...

I'd have a 50% chance of being lucky on my winter hack, as I'm disorganised enough to have one Shraeder and one Presta on that. On the Trike, I'm hoping one day to have one Shraeder, one Presta and one Woods....:biggrin:

The FCR is at least standard on Presta. But carrying an adaptor would probably be a good idea.

I have a Road Morph as well, it's great, got it cheap at York Rally a couple of years ago, just before they brought out the one with the gauge, which I wish I had...
 

barq

Senior Member
Location
Birmingham, UK
Pete said:
At a pinch you can probably get home on knobby MTB tyres at 50, and a car pump will manage that I suppose.

Another point: play the good samaritan and offer my morph to a distressed cyclist I will, but reverse the washer (for schraders) I will not. Don't want to lose or damage the washer on the road, you see! I just mutter a hurried excuse ("sorry mate, wrong sort of pump") and ride off. Am I very selfish?

50 PSI is easily enough for an MTB.

I know what you mean about reversing the washer on a pump. Someone in a nearby office borrowed one of my pumps and it came back (through internal mail!) with parts missing. :biggrin:
 
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