A rather unlucky start to the day...

**Warning – Long rambling account of not really doing anything but changing an inner tube. High percentage chance that this will not be of any particular interest so please consider your limited time on this planet before reading: **
Early this morning, whilst in bed, a sudden shocking, hissing sound turns out to be my rear wheel "puncturing" itself.... Suicide? Anyway... i fell back to sleep and almost forgot about it (man that’s cold).

So this morning whilst feverishly trying to get ready for work, i remebered the situation. I whipped the back wheel off and slapped on a patch. (This is my spare inner tube that I’m fixing, the previous still in my bag with a gaping and, unfortunately terminal wound.

'Thank fuck I've got a patch', I thought. “Jeez, it's my last one too. How lucky.” So I re-inflate the now repaired inner, back in the tyre. It starts to go up nicely, but then hissing... “Damn cheap track pump” I curse, certain that the pump isn't gripping the valve properly (as is often the case).. turns out that the patch has ripped! Bugger. So, out of spare inners and repair patches I have no other option than to head out to my LBS.

I buy two inners, a new puncture repair kit and some new rim tape - The rear has been puncturing on the inside, a weird problem for which I have a theory, that relates to friction on the inside caused by skidding, and the previous rim tape being more like a disgusting, thin line of dried ear wax... with several holes exposed... - I set the new rim tape on, crack out one of my new inners. At this point, I'm smugly talking to myself about how the “Schwalbe inner tubes are the best. With quality rubber, valves, and nice clear dust caps.” After the hassle of stripping the rear tyre off, and putting it on three times now, this feels good. I feel good. Good times. I lean in to enjoy watching the pressure get up to point. Gets to 100 and.. POW! The thing explodes. “Fucking Schwalbe inners…. They’re always fucking rubbish”. My ears are ringing. The prospect of changing it out again is infuriating. After wrestling the saggy, limp tube off the wheel (this is turning into a massacre) I can see that the explosion has torn the side of the inner tube open in a line about 20cm long. So un-repairable by one of my new patches. Damn.
This leaves me with just on inner tube now. I put the last of the new ones on… I hate doing this. I get to the point of pumping it up, and notice that the pressure is resisting massively at about 80…. So I check the tyre and notice that the whole thing is bulging like a snakes belly full of child, right around the valve. I release the air… pump up again hoping that this will rectify itself. It doesn’t. Try a few more times. Nope. Turns out the valve base is kind of stuck on the wrong side of the tyres beading. So it keeps inflating the inner tube under the edge of the tyre, and pushing it out of the rim. I'm determined not to lose this last one, so I eventually give in, pull it all off again and put it back paying extra care to keep the valve tucked inside the tyre. Which worked.

annnnd...sleep.

Thats bad luck...however it seems more like just bad technique,

as a child...My dad always told me to check the inside of the tyre for grit and thorns, then when putting it back on fit the tyre near the valve first(as there is more 'room'), and then check for 'pinches', as he had been a motocyclist and having to take one of those mofo's off by the side of the road was a f*cksite more tricky than doing a bicycle one.

User Error.

http://www.ehow.com/video_4415599_replace-bicycle-tire-tube.html

Thats bad luck...however it seems more like just bad technique

+1

You should try changing the tube on a Brompton. Bugger me, that is hard work. Luckily I have strong wrists. Well, one strong wrist anyway.

ha!

I used to run my finger around the inside of the tyre - a man's thumb fits perfectly into a 23mm. Then someone told me an horrific story about a used needle embedded in a tyre. Complete tosh, I imagine, but now I can't do it until I've eyeballed the whole thing. Waste of time.

I used to run my finger around the inside of the tyre - a man's thumb fits perfectly into a 23mm. Then someone told me an horrific story about a used needle embedded in a tyre. Complete tosh, I imagine, but now I can't do it until I've eyeballed the whole thing. Waste of time.

I lol'ed

I never get punctures on 700c tyres, but on other bikes stuff like rusty staples & glass has been common. Always look!

That made me feel better about my relatively minor exploding tube (apparently from over inflating 2 days and 60 miles before? causing a similar rip) and my back up tube having a hole in it...

I wanted to kill on my commute home yesterday, if what happened to you had happened to me there would currently be police following a trail of blood...

That made me feel better about my relatively minor exploding tube (apparently from over inflating 2 days and 60 miles before? causing a similar rip) and my back up tube having a hole in it...

I wanted to kill on my commute home yesterday, if what happened to you had happened to me there would currently be police following a trail of blood...

no there wouldn't, they're all out trying to ticket the cyclists who RLJ....

Gets to 100 and.. POW! The thing explodes. “Fucking Schwalbe inners…. They’re always fucking rubbish”. My ears are ringing.

lmao i have dont this before but when i was a novice working at a bike shop, it scared the living crap out of me. i also got coved in white dust from the huge gash in the inner tube so i was pasty with white dust with ringing ears with my eye lids wide open and shakeing like a leaf, i bet i looked like a ghost on ectascy.

if only there was a resident expert on changing tyres and tubes on this forum.

I heard about white powder.. I'm here... what do you want?

Thats bad luck...however it seems more like just bad technique,

as a child...My dad always told me to check the inside of the tyre for grit and thorns, then when putting it back on fit the tyre near the valve first(as there is more 'room'), and then check for 'pinches', as he had been a motocyclist and having to take one of those mofo's off by the side of the road was a f*cksite more tricky than doing a bicycle one.

fit the tyre near the valve last would've been better advice methinks

fit the tyre near the valve last would've been better advice methinks

no....

absolutely not.

at all.

period.

the rubber around the valve is less pliable and the valve is there too meaning it lays flat rather than sitting within the tyre cavity, which means greater chance of pinching the tyre with the rim. Trying to pop the last bit of a tyre there is a royal pain in the arse.

I was made to do it twice. My dad is like that, He used to build airliners, and racing motorcycles....therefore is bloody mind numbingly achingly anal about doing things....

Correctly.

fit the tyre near the valve last would've been better advice methinks

first

I was shown to start 180 degrees away from the valve so that the tyre bead could slip deep into the rim (unimpeded by the valve) so the final popping in of the bead was not so much of a stretch.I will continue to do it the wrong way cause it's right for me(a bit of a wrong'un I spose)

"trying to pop the last bit of tyre there is a royal pain in the arse"
no....
absolutely not.
at all.
period

I expect you will think me a cnut and carry on doing so if it pleases you but I bet I'm one of the oldest f*uckers here and I've always used this method without trouble or levers or pinches or unexpected explosions.(all you have to do is push the valve up into the void to ensure the reinforcing rubber is inside the tyre and not pinched by it.I'm right ,just like I'm right there's no f*cking god up there and will be proven right one day-won't live to see it mind.Oh and I used to race round the garden with my kids in a wheelbarrow so put that in yer pipe an' smoke it :)

I think that we've all learned how to fix punctures, and we all have slightly different ways of doing it, and they all work.

Am I right?

I think that we've all learned how to fix punctures, and we all have slightly different ways of doing it, and they all work.

Am I right?

fixed

the question is did you get to work on time?

........I'm right ,just like I'm right there's no f*cking god up there and will be proven right one day-won't live to see it mind.Oh and I used to race round the garden with my kids in a wheelbarrow so put that in yer pipe an' smoke it :)

well if you push the valve inside I suppose it's ok!!!

loving the bit about the wheelbarrow, my dad did that too...he also rode round the garden on his BSA when he got home from work with me wobbling around on the petrol tank...big cheesy dad loving grin...

I think that we've all learned how to fix punctures, and we all have slightly different ways of doing it, but hippy's is the only right way.

Am I right?

Yes.

And it's always valve first.

Yes.

And it's always valve first.

You pedant.