Changing a rear flat - upright or upside down? -poll

[Trickedem]

I have a portable track stand in my carradice.

 

[snorri]

This sounds like an urban/rural split, different techniques which lend themselves to the location.

 

[IanT]

Take your gloves off (let's face it, you'll need bare fingers to remount the tyre) and slip them under the points where the bars contact the ground.

As for the saddle - just rest it on the least abrasive part of the local surface you can find. My @rse will do a lot more damage to the saddle over the next few hundred miles than five minutes resting on a pavement.

In my experience, it's much easier to get the wheel remounted with the bike upside down and gravity on your side. In fact, I even do this in the garage.

 

[HovR]

This sounds like an urban/rural split, different techniques which lend themselves to the location.

Good point. I was trying to work out how on earth you would trip over or stand on your frame if you had laid it down (as other posters had mentioned), thinking only of a rural environment such as on a club run!

 

[gaz]

I can't do upside down on my single speed. Not possible to get the wheel out of it. I just lay the bike on the non drive side.

 

[HLaB]

[stupid laptop - hhhhhhhhh key isn't working properly]

So I'm not te only one wit tat problem

 

[mickle]

To those that keep it right way up, what do you do after wheel is removed? You have to mend missing air and unless you have a team of guys in a car with lots of spare wheels on the roof you have to put your bike down. So what / how do you lay it without mullering the rear mech.

A video of "how to correctly do it" may help us mortals

Gently.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

[QUOTE 2147530, member: 45"]Too much risk of ripped bar tape, scratched levers and damaged saddle[/quote]
Actually looking at my bikes, the highest point at the handlebar end is the tops of the lever hoods and, at the other end, it's the rear of the saddle. The only danger to tape and levers is if you knock the bike over. and then it would be a side impact. I wouldn't think knocking the bike over is any more likely than if you knocked it when it was perched somewhere upright. And it hasn't happened to me, there's a pretty stable triangle that the bike is resting on.

Though, I admit, one bike has nasty plastic tops on the lever hoods that ''tell'' me which gear I'm in, and they're pretty scratched. However, I don't think I've ever looked at the indicator to see what gear I'm in so I really don't care.

 

[guitarpete247]

The only deflationary incident I've had recently I had a grass verge I could rest bike on. I didn't like being stood upright, upside down, but I could hold it whilst I got rear (why is always rear) wheel out then laid it gently on it's side.
If I had to use a pavement I would like for something to protect point of contact with tarmac. Gloves do seem like the ideal starting point. I would rather keep bike upended on tarmac than risk damaging the dérailleur.

 

[Hacienda71]

Upside down for me. You can wipe dirt off a saddle or bars quite easily, not so easy on a chain or rear mech out on the road. Most of my riding is rural and it is sods law you will get a visit from the fairy somewhere inconvenient. My last was in heavy rain, pitch black, miles from anywhere, no pavement but a busy derestricted A road with a bramble covered verge. Unfortunately nowhere to hang the bike to keep the chain off the ground and nothing convenient to rest it on, upside down worked a treat.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Taking wheel off at home: bike upside down.
Repairing flat on the move: bike on the non drive side, because of all the stuff on the handlebars.

 

[Tigerbiten]

Right side up for me.
Front wheels I can change without removing them.
Back wheel I drop out and then the backend so the chain tensioner is off the ground.

 

[screenman]

Whatever takes my fancy at the time, more often depending on the ground I am stopped on. For sure though the first thing is to drop the chain onto the smallest sprocket first.

 

[palinurus]

I'll look around for something to hang the saddle on- a branch, a bus shelter...

 

[endoman]

upside down for me, on carpet at home, or grass when I am out,