Advice for new bike

[Racing roadkill]

Often you uneed to feel inside the tyre for stuck objects etc and I cant see a novice being able to get a really tight tyre back on without removing the wheel.

You'd be right as well.

 

[mjr]

Often you uneed to feel inside the tyre for stuck objects etc

Often? Punctures are rare enough anyway with modern resistant tyres and ones where the cause isn't obvious is even rarer, so that's a small subset of a rare event. I don't let such rarities deprive me of easier cycling.

and I cant see a novice being able to get a really tight tyre back on without removing the wheel.

I can't see why they'd use a really tight tyre, nor why it's any easier to put a tyre on a wheel that's falling around.

It's a good job that bike above is a piece of junk. It will be sporting an additional set of scuffs - watch it scrape the floor. My bikes are too nice for that abuse.

Sorry, but dropping the back wheel off, placing the bike aside and working on the back wheel with minimum use of levers if far better.

I'd put it on the grass rather than scuff it on a hard floor but the basic principle is sound. Where do you place the bike aside, then? Does it lie down or do you scuff the hoods and saddle by putting it upside down? There's rarely a handy bench or fence to hang the saddle from, especially on typical commuting routes.

Minimum use of levers - so only taking the punctured part of the tyre off the rim, then!

Road salt corroded dérailleur - never happens.

YMMV. Derailleurs spend their lives dangling in everyday crud as well as the excellent salty grinding pastes of winter roads, all exposed and so vulnerable to knocks and falls that they're now generally attached on sacrificial hangers.

 

[fossyant]

I lean my bike upright against a wall or a tree. Back end rests gently on the chain (the vast majority of cyclists remove the rear wheel - you just do it differently). If you've had a rear mech corrode, then I'd question your maintenance.

 

[mjr]

I lean my bike upright against a wall or a tree. Back end rests gently on the chain

So... scuffing the side of the bike against a wall and resting the bike "gently" on a small vital part?

(the vast majority of cyclists remove the rear wheel - you just do it differently)

I feel the vast majority remove the rear wheel because they either don't realise there's a more practical alternative and/or they've been lied to and told it's easier or even necessary.

The number of "how to repair a puncture" guides that start by telling you to remove the wheel seems like a sick joke. I really hope it's ignorance of the alternative, rather than something worse such as hazing from authors who feel that because they had to learn to take the wheel out at the roadside, they wish the same inconvenience on new riders.

How many people have fixed a puncture by slipping a small bit of tube out of the tyre but then gone back to routinely yanking the whole wheel out? I doubt many do. It's useful to be able to do it at the roadside when you need to, for a failed valve or whatever, but it's rare.

If you've had a rear mech corrode, then I'd question your maintenance.

No but my derailleur bikes don't get ridden as much. I've seen a few rear mechs come adrift on group rides, without sign of evidence poor maintenance, but I don't know that they were corrosion. As I opined before, it's a more fragile design. I know derailleurs aren't too unreliable for most uses, but they are less reliable than gear hubs, contrary to the claim I was rejecting.

 

[fossyant]

Let's give it a rest now jesus. This is about a new bike.

 

[mjr]

Let's give it a rest now jesus. This is about a new bike.

Well you dangler fans stop piling into every time someone asks about hub gear bikes then and coming out with the same tired old myths.

 

[Racing roadkill]

tired old myths.

Is that a female moth.

 

[I like Skol]

OK, reasons to remove the rear wheel when fixing a puncture,

1. It's easy.
2. You don't have to carry a soft blanket around to lay your bike on and prevent scratches while you are hefting the bike about trying to get the tyre off.
3. You don't have to work hunched over the bike or kneeling in a wet patch/on gravel/in mud etc.
4. You can move the wheel and tyre around to get the best viewing angle, in the best light, to inspect for the cause of the puncture. You are not working in your own shadow.
5. You want to fit a replacement tube anyway because it is quicker and more reliable to fix the old tube at home, at leisure, in the warm and dry.

Reasons not to remove the wheel,

1. You don't have the spanner to fit a nutted axle or have hub geared bike.
2. You don't know how to or are scared of removing the wheel and getting it wrong.
3. You are a contortionist and enjoy spending 5-10 minutes bent double while working on something below knee height.
4. You are trying to prove a point?
5. I'm struggling for ideas now but feel for the sake of equality both sides should have a matching number of points!

I am not biased at all and can do both methods (always used to do the wheel on method back when because we didn't have spare tubes and bikes had nutted axles) but experience has led me down the wheel off route due to the ease with which the process can be performed, unless for some reason the wheel can't be easily removed.
I think @mjr needs to accept he is in the minority here.

 

[damj]

Do you think Larry1706 might have packed up and gone to another forum?

 

[vickster]

Do you think Larry1706 might have packed up and gone to another forum?

If he's got any sense

 

[fossyant]

I think @mjr needs to accept he is in the minority here.

If the OP does go for a hub geared bike they are more niche products. That said maintenance is relatively low as a bonus.

But if not particularly handy, then the OP may need an LBS that can look after them. Traditional 'gears' are far more common and are easy to maintain (yes I accept hub gears are relatively maintenance free). Down sides, if you prang a wheel or damage part of the gearing system, you can't just go and do a quick swap with off the shelf bits from any bike shop - it will need ordering in unless a store specifically stocks the parts. If you need to take a wheel off, then they are much more faffing, and if you haven't got a clue might be best avoiding !

 

[mjr]

If he's got any sense

Maybe to a forum where people actually offer useful advice on hub gears instead of the same old prejudices. :-(

Personally, when fixing a puncture, ideally I put the bike next to a bench or something I can sit on, else on my waterproof, put the bike on its stand and quickly find and fix the problem. That negates Skol's reasons 2 and 3, whereas 1 and 5 are matters of opinion (if you think wheel removal is easy, go to a Dr Bike session some time and watch the messes people often get into) and 4 is strange because you don't have to sit with the bike in your shadow and anyway, many people carry lights on phones if not otherwise.

If you need to take a wheel off, then they are much more faffing, [...]

...if one considers removing/refitting a cable and a few extra axle washers as "much more faffing"

 

[Drago]

Personally I whip then wheel off cos it takes second and makes life so much easier when wrestling a tight tyre back into place, but if someone would rather do it in situ then I'm cool with it - up to them how they do it, doesn't affect me at all. If they wanted to chant an incantation to the puncture faery while throwing patches over their shoulder then that's fine too.

Live and let live.

 

[Cycleops]

I think @Larry1706 has probably opted for a motorised skate board now.

 

[Larry1706]

A BMX was what I've been thinking, or a unicycle