CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help

Bike maintenance recommendations please

(24 posts)
  • Started 9 years ago by lorlane
  • Latest reply from lorlane
  • This topic is resolved

  1. lorlane
    Member

    I've been cycling, commute and leisure, for around 3/4 years now and (touch wood) not yet had to mend a puncture. I have had to replace my bike in that time because it was stolen :( and I've had my new bike for about a year so I think it's only a matter of time...

    I dread the thought of having to carry out a roadside repair or worse - to be stranded somewhere - and I wondered if you knowledgeable people could recommend a place that offers maintenance courses/training? I've tried youtube but I think I'd prefer someone to check what I've done is actually right!

    Thanks in advance!

    Posted 9 years ago #

  2. chdot
    Admin

    http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=14181

    May be booked up.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  3. lorlane
    Member

    Thank-you @chdot! Looks ideal. Emailed and waiting for a response.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  4. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Also;

    http://www.thebikestation.org.uk/eveningclasses/

    though website seems to be so last year.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  5. fimm
    Member

    Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op also do courses - including women-only ones.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  6. Kenny
    Member

    for around 3/4 years now and (touch wood) not yet had to mend a puncture

    Most importantly, can you share your secret?!?

    Posted 9 years ago #

  7. Uberuce
    Member

    I had a similar run(which admittedly ended last week), and aside from using Marathons, I don't believe I do anything special.

    Perhaps it's just chance? Toss enough coins in the air and some of them will land on heads for a long, long time...

    Posted 9 years ago #

  8. wingpig
    Member

    "...and (touch wood) not yet had to mend a puncture."

    Curious phrasing. The bike may still have had a puncture, mended by someone else, or had an innertube replaced, obviating the need to mend.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  9. lorlane
    Member

    Thanks for all these suggestions. The first course I enquired after was indeed fully booked so I'm going to work my way along the list...

    @ Kenny: My secret? I have a mountain bike so rather sturdy tyres but, apart from that, just luck I suppose. I am worried my lucky streak will not last...

    @wingpig: My phrasing - I almost wrote "replaced a tyre" before realising that I would be mending it rather than replacing it at the roadside. Never having done it I can't speak from experience. I did have my bike serviced (not the new one - still "as sold" and going strong) but don't remember any mention of a new inner tube. I did only have it 2 years though.

    I'm almost afraid to ask... What's the average puncture rate then? My commute is about 3.5 miles each way either by road or the canal towpath if daylight allows. Weekends vary.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  10. Dave
    Member

    I would say I get three or four a year, doing 22 miles a day. It's a bit hard to know since I ride a crappy commuter all winter (generally gets no punctures) but then racing bikes in the summer which get all the flats.

    Anyway, since you're doing a third of the distance, one a year would seem about right. If you have sensible tyres and don't ride in the gutter of the road, you should rarely get any flats.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  11. wingpig
    Member

    I've only had five in nine years over an average of 1¼ bikes, through assiduous use of maximally-pressured Specialized Armadilloes and Continental Gatorskins. I'm not counting the blowout caused by rim failure nor the two blowouts caused by spoke-recoil which broke the rim tape rather than the tyre. Prior to using decent tyres and a track pump I would get roundabout one a month but sometimes as many as two a week, through a combination of pinch flats from the Dundas St/Heriot Row junction, glass on the bike paths or Allen keys on Russell Road.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  12. paddyirish
    Member

    I did the 1 day bike maintenance course at the Edinburgh Bike Co-op and learned a lot. Some of it was tricky as people tunred up with a lot of different bikes (brake systems, gearing etc.), but the materials were good and my bike left the workshop in a lot better shape than it arrived.

    It sounds like the 1/2 day course may be more what you need if your requirement is more roadside problems.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  13. fimm
    Member

    Lorlane: you probably do know this, but the easiest way to "fix a puncture" at the roadside is in fact to replace the inner tube - most people will therefore carry a spare tube for this purpose. Whether you then take the punctured tube home to be patched and reused or you throw it away is down to preference/The improtant thing is to make absolutely sure that you find the thing that caused the puncture and get it out of the tyre.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  14. Lizzie
    Member

    Hi Lorlane.
    I don;t mind meeting up with you to show you how to fix a puncture if that would help? I would always recomend replacing the inner tube at the roadside, but you still need to know how to get the tyre off and put it all back together again. I could also show you some very basic stuff about adjusting the brakes etc rather than giving you a full maintenance course. PM me if you would like this.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  15. Kenny
    Member

    I had three punctures in one day, but in fairness it was all caused by a single piece of hidden glass which could only be spotted in the light in my kitchen - impossible to spot in the dark when getting rained heavily on.

    Otherwise, I've had 2 in 2 days, different spots on the tyre, so was just unlucky.

    Other than that, I'd go with Dave's notion of 4 a year, but it is important that you replace tyres when they are starting to wear out - knowing when that time comes is not easy, but I put it down to "I'm getting more punctures than ever before" recently.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  16. Lizzie
    Member

    touching wood. I've only had one puncture in a very long time. And on close inspection of the inner tube this was caused by an incorrectly installed inner tube - not by me,,this was a new bike!! it had obviously been somehow folded in the tyre and the 'puncture' had occured along the fold line. This was on my Brompton and I was a bit disappointed as this was new bike. I use Passela TourGuards on my 26" Thorn and Schwable Marathons on my Brompton. Both give good service.
    Of course having said this....I'll go ut oin the next couple of dys and be plaqued by punctures.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  17. lorlane
    Member

    @fimm I did not know that, so thanks for the advice and caution regarding the puncture cause. It makes perfect sense, so inner tube purchasing coming up.

    @Lizzie I have pm'd you. Thanks for your very generous offer.

    @Kenny - Oh Dear. I think we're at opposite ends of the "normal" distribution of punctures!

    Posted 9 years ago #

  18. Kenny
    Member

    Thankfully, that happened around a 4 week period. The rear tyre was replaced shortly after the last incident, which has improved matters (yeah, I'll regret saying that tomorrow).

    Also, +1 on what @fimm said. It's _really_ important to try to find whatever burst your tyre - we've all been in the position where we forgot to look and then regretted it as we pumped our new tube up...

    Posted 9 years ago #

  19. sallyhinch
    Member

    If you've got self-sticky patches, the absolute quickest way to mend a flat on the road (if it's obvious where it's happened) is to lever the tyre off just over the puncture, remove the cause, whack on a self-sticking patch, lever the tyre back on and you're away. I've seen this done very swiftly by a Sustrans iBike officer (they have to sort out a lot of flats...) and have done this myself but much more slowly. It assumes you can find the cause and the hole - if you pump up the tyre and listen you can often find it from the sound of the air escaping.

    I have to admit, if I'm not that far from home, I just pump up the tyre again and try and make it back.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  20. Darkerside
    Member

    +1 for Sally's slow flat procrastination technique.

    However; if you're sneaking air into a tyre to get back home, keep the pressure low. I used a track pump once and at 90PSI the tube exploded with a gunshot bang. At 0630. In a block of flats.

    Mr Popular I was not.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  21. Snowy
    Member

    +1 Darkerside. My equivalent was a tube change at midnight and track-pumping it to 110psi, not spotting the bit of inner tube protruding from the rim. Gunshot bang and some very, very awake children.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  22. algo
    Member

    I'd also like to admit membership of this club - but mine was at 6 a.m. on a French campsite having spend the previous 20 minutes moving around in almost complete silence. Monsieur apprécié I was also not.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  23. Lizzie
    Member

    I once borrowed someone elses track pump to pump up my rear wheel tyre. There I was pumping away and just at the very point where the owner came out to me and was in the middle of saying 'the pressure gauge is not working'.... there was an almighty bang and I looked to see the rim of my wheel had burst off (the tyre was actually still whole). The noise was just unbelievable. It was in Braemar and a very many folks rushed out to the road to see what had happened. I couldn;t hear properly for days and days afterwards.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  24. lorlane
    Member

    Well, my streak of good luck has drawn to a close. I've had two punctures now in as many months!

    Thanks to your helps and advice @Lizzie, I managed to get the bike back on the road pronto - and the tyre was slightly more pliable this time!!

    Thanks again

    Posted 9 years ago #

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