How did I get to my mid 30s and never???

[cyberknight]

My (late) dad used to work in a bike shop and would have shot me for trying this, closely followed by my mum for using her spoons for working on a bicycle Tyre levers from the off for me, never looked back.

LOL !
My dad was an electrical engineer , nowt you cant mend with electrical tape , screwdrivers and a set of liberlly used spoons Nearest LBS was about a 4 mile walk away as we had no car and buses were irregular enough to make it worth walking.

 

[StuartG]

50 years and still without a successful puncture repair. I've tried every sort of kit including Park - the same result - wrinkled or not - they always leak. Its me - I can't solder either.

 

[ianrauk]

i use the Park tool patches: find, sand, peel backing, press on, pump up. = what hassle?

Me too.. and they work very well.

 

[Cal44]

I have to say I am quite surprised by this, as I have fixed more punctures than I care to remember since I was about 6 or 7 years old but I suppose if you didn't ride a bike as a kid then you would never have had any cause to fix one...I seem to catch myself forgetting that not everyone cycled from childhood. Just thinking as I type here and as I say just different upbringings I suppose, on the spoons thing, ive used many a kitchen implement to remove tyres from my bikes over the years...but in the end I now have a set of plastic tyre levers that cost 99p from somewhere like tesco I think. Would have saved a lot of ear bashings over the years if my dad had bought them about 20 years ago!

 

[MrJamie]

If/when i get a puncture in an M+ ill probably just replace the tube because its such a rare event. When my previous tyres were puncturing on most of my long rides, i was repairing the tubes - for cheapness really.

The part i struggle with is getting the patch off the backing, it never seems to come off cleanly and often ends up with the thin edge of the patch getting crumpled by me picking it off and then not giving a smooth edge to the repair. It could just be that ive been using really awful cheap patches?

 

[Hip Priest]

I always repair, though it's a bit of a sore point because I suffered a 'puncture' on Sunday that turned out to be an old patch rupturing.

 

[guitarpete247]

As a kid I remember lots of bent spoons. When I could afford it I bought myself some tyre levers to take out with me but my dad still insisted on using spoons or forks when fixing younger brothers p******es until he knew I could mend them so he gave me the job.

 

[betty swollocks]

Many years ago, I retired a tube after its 32nd patch.
There was more patch than tube.
Patches put on properly are very durable.

 

[StuartG]

I suppose if you didn't ride a bike as a kid then you would never have had any cause to fix one...I seem to catch myself forgetting that not everyone cycled from childhood.

Or in my day we had solid tyres

 

[Dan B]

what they should have said was... "try to find the cause of the puncture on the outside of the tyre... this is often a thorn or bit of glass or metal. Make a note of where it is in relation to the valve BEFORE you take the tube out as this will make locating said puncture a lot easier.

I never bother doing this: there are enough holes in the rubber that working out which one still contains a shard of flint would take longer than licking my way around the whole tube

Instead I make certain to line up some feature of the tyre (e.g the manufacturer's name) with the valve hole, then when I find the puncture by partial inflation of the tube after removing it, I know its cause is in one of at most two places on the tyre.

 

[ufkacbln]

i use the Park tool patches: find, sand, peel backing, press on, pump up. = what hassle?

...... and then fix again in about 2 miles!

No matter how careful I have been, even to the extent of cleaning with an alcohol wipe, these have never got me home

 

[cyberknight]

...... and then fix again in about 2 miles!

No matter how careful I have been, even to the extent of cleaning with an alcohol wipe, these have never got me home

make my own out of the sheets of patch rubber you can buy, i find most kits patches are to big for 23 mm tyres.

 

[I like Skol]

Instead I make certain to line up some feature of the tyre (e.g the manufacturer's name) with the valve hole, then when I find the puncture by partial inflation of the tube after removing it, I know its cause is in one of at most two places on the tyre.

^^^ THIS, works almost every time.

I must say, all this talk of spoons is taking me back to my childhood. In fact, when I visit my dad I still find the odd spoon in the cutlery draw that has a slight kink about ½-¾” from the end of the handle.

Thankfully, all the tyres I have at the moment can be removed just by hand. I was glad to discover recently this includes the 23c tyres on my road bike which I had always previously been worried about.

 

[Easytigers]

I suppose if you didn't ride a bike as a kid then you would never have had any cause to fix one

Cal44...I'm ashamed to say that I did ride a bike throughout my childhood but would just wheel it to my dad's shed if I got a puncture...next day it would be good as new. Unfortunately Dad lives a couple of hundred miles away now or else I'd probably do the same thing...more shame!

 

[Gravity Aided]

It all gets faster with practice . Have more punctures, gt faster