He recommends bringing two spare tubes on a 30-to-45-mile ride, a third if you’re going more than 50 miles, and a fourth if you’re going over 100. In fact, you may get more than one on a long ride. Come Preparedīicycle flats are a fact of cycling life. For this reason, Darryl recommends giving yourself a 10-day lead time to try out new tires before a big ride. If that’s the case, you’ll know it quickly, probably on the first ride. Occasionally, though, you can get a bad tire or tube (or you put the new one in wrong - we’ll get to that). The tire also grows thinner, providing less of a protective barrier for the tube.
This wider contact area makes it that much easier to pick up a sharp object from the road. As your narrow road tires wear down, the contact surface (where the tire touches the road) expands from a narrow point to a surface roughly 30% wider than it was. You’re most likely to have to fix a flat bike tire - or rather inner a flat tube - when it’s getting old, after the first 1,000 or 2,000 miles. So why do these tubes go flat with that protective layer of thick rubber tire around them? When road cycling, Darryl notes, the culprit is usually a construction staple or wire, though sometimes it can be glass, a rock or just a big bump. “It ’s actually a flat tube.” Unless you’re riding the rare tubeless road bike wheels or a fat-tired mountain bike, you’re going to be changing the tube on the inside of the tire, not the tire itself. “Everybody calls it a flat tire and it isn ’t,” says Coach Darryl. What Causes Flat Tires?įirst things first-let’s get our terms straight. Here again, our friend and cycling mentor Coach Darryl comes to save the day. And, since your chances of evading a flat tire are slim to none, it’s best to prepare yourself for the inevitable. Most likely, you’d like to avoid this situation. But as it is, you have neither, and now you’re stuck 25 miles from your car with no easy way to get back.
Now, if you had come prepared with the right supplies and experience fixing a flat bike tire, this would only be a minor nuisance. You pull off to the side to examine your tire, and your fears are confirmed.
It’s a nightmare scenario for any cyclist: You’re halfway into a 50-mile ride when you suddenly begin to feel your wheel rumbling against the pavement. What to Do About Fixing a Flat Bike Tire While out on a Ride What to Do About Fixing a Flat Bike Tire While out on a Ride
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