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Saw a guy fix a flat tire at a Portland bike rack in under 4 minutes and I have been thinking about it all week
I was locking up my bike outside the library on SW 10th in Portland last Tuesday when I noticed a guy on the sidewalk with his rear wheel off, sitting on an upside down bucket. He had a little saddle bag and pulled out a spare tube, two plastic tire levers, and one of those tiny hand pumps. What got me was he never even took the wheel all the way off the bike, just flipped it over and worked the tire off the rim right there on the sidewalk. He told me he has been commuting 6 miles each way for 9 years and has done this so many times he can feel a pinch flat just by squeezing the tire. The whole thing took him maybe 4 minutes and he was back on the road before I finished locking my own bike up. I have been carrying a tube and levers for 2 years and have never actually practiced using them at home, which now feels pretty dumb. Does anyone here actually practice flat fixes in their garage, or do you just figure it out when it happens on the road?
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dixon.ryan1mo ago
The part about feeling a pinch flat just by squeezing the tire is real, you just get a sense for it after so many reps. And yeah, practicing at home is huge, flipping your bike once in your living room and doing the whole swap teaches your hands the moves so you're not fumbling in the dark when it actually counts.
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