My Very important advice to all newbies!

[Sam Kennedy]

If you have never repaired a puncture before, I highly recommend COMMAND you to practise. I've just realised now that if I had a p*ncture when I was first starting out I would have had no idea what to do!

Even if you have watched a video/your friend/someone repair one before, actually doing it is completely different.
All you need to do is take the tyre off, take the tube out, then put the tyre and tube back on.

Once you realise how fiddly and annoying it is you will be glad you've done it before when it happens for real.

(Even just now it took me 20 mins to sort out the tyre and tube, since the tyre was on really tight and my tyre levers have nearly snapped, glad I didn't have to do that on a cold rainy night!)

Don't put this off, your next p*ncture might be closer than you think!

 

[gaz]

Plastic tyre leavers are pants, hard to get most tyres off.

Also puncture proof tyres are a lot harder to get off due to a tighter bead, hence why i like to not use a non-puncture proof tyres so i can get it on and off easily. (mainly because i have weedy arms)

 

[palinurus]

I once found I'd been riding around for nearly a year carrying two plastic tyre levers that were so flexible as to be totally useless.

Didn't get a puncture though. I found out when I changed the tyres, in the warm.

 

[Tollers]

+1

I think Sam's advice is good.....even if only to check if your levers are up to the job

 

[Banjo]

Ideally get someone to spray water over you while you change the tube in the dark .
Might as well make the training realistic :-)

 

[andrew-the-tortoise]

Or in an environmental chamber at -3 degrees !

 

[GrasB]

I've never had a problem with plastic levers breaking, however I do tend to find you need the right technique for a certain lever. That said a metal XC tyre lever & a piece of old innertube (if you don't want scraped rims) really reduces tyre change times.

 

[MajorMantra]

These are good:

They're plastic but not like the crappy ones you get with cheap toolkits. The unusually large width gives you more to hang onto than most tyre levers.

Matthew

 

[addictfreak]

I have some plastic tyre levers for the MTB which do the job with no probs. The road bike is a different matter, plastic ones just wont budge the tyre. A mate of mine has one of these and says its just the job for both road and MTB:

http://www.crankbrothers.com/speedlever.php

 

[summerdays]

All you need to do is take the tyre off, take the tube out, then put the tyre and tube back on.

You forgot the bit where you check for what ever caused the puncture and remove it before it causes another.

Levers - yes mine bent the first time... I now have two types: Soma ones with metal in them and that funny shaped one that I can't remember its name (not the speed crank one).

 

[bonj2]

I'm shoot at mending punctures but I'm quite content to be shoot at it because it happens to me so rarely. As long as you can do it, that's all that matters, it doesn't need to be a slick operation.
Don't worry about holding your club mates up. They're glad of the rest, even if that's not what they'd have you think.

 

[electron]

I'm lazy and prefer a tyre with a loose Kevlar bead, which has always allowed me to take off a tyre with a little finger force.

 

[slowmotion]

Thank you Sam. Excellent advice. My first practice was in my sitting room, and it took me 120 minutes. I'm glad I did it though. Oh heck, that was just the front wheel....

 

[Sam Kennedy]

Also, make sure you know how to take the back wheel off, as that is slightly more complicated! And make sure you know how to put it back on again!

 

[jimboalee]

Got a pair of MajorMantra's levers. Brill!


Lesson in puncture repairs Pt 1.

LBS man's (laugh a minute ) wife sticks a pin through your tyre.