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I Love Bicycling is a website that is geared towards cycling for beginners with road cycling tips, training articles, nutrition tips, weight loss, how to’s and bike repair articles.

How to Fix a Flat With No Tools

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Flat tires are part of cycling, and most cyclists know how to deal with them. But there are options for changing tires without tools, and tricks that can help you get back on the road faster.

Pro cyclist get back on the road faster without using tools.
Experienced cyclist sometimes skip the tools when changing tires.

What if you’re caught in the middle of nowhere with a flat clincher? Or you might have already broken both your levers, without getting that damn tire off. Don’t lose hope, you can change that tire without any tools whatsoever if you go about it right.

Steps to fix a flat without tools

1. Remove the Tire

Focus on completely removing the tire from the wheel. Don’t attempt to pull it loose only on one side, you’ll need both hands pulling at the same time from one side, which results in the complete removal of the tire from the wheel.

2. Break the Bead

Clinchers work when pressure from the inflated tube seats the bead of the tire inside the rim. It can be tricky to get loose initially, but once it starts it becomes easier. Crouch down and place the wheel in front of your knees. Grasp the tire and pinch it from both directions to break the bead on both sides, rolling it as you work around the circumference.

break bead two

3. Pull it Off

Place both hands at the top, with your thumbs on the rim. Pull the tire and tube together, toward your body, using your thumbs on the rim to add opposing pressure. Once it starts to come off, it gets easier. When it’s off, inspect it inside and out to find the source of the flat and remove it. Slip the tire back on the rim, seating the tire on the rim, only on one side.

together
Pull the tire and tube off together.

4. Impress Your Friends

If you’re on a group ride, nothing will impress your friends more than what you do next: Get out the new tube, open the Presta valve and use your cheeks to blow air into the tube. If there’s a Superman on this ride, it’s you. But seriously, it’s easier than it sounds, and only takes a bit of air to inflate the tube enough to stuff it back into the tire.

It's much easier than you think.
It’s much easier than you think.

5. Reverse the Procedure

Push the tire back over the rim using your thumbs. It’s easy enough until you get to the last few inches. If it gets too tough, its fine to roll the last few inches of tire over the rim, it will pop back into the bead as it when it passes over the tight edge. Use your frame pump to fill it the rest of the way, even Superman would have trouble filling it up to 100 lbs using only his cheeks.

stuff the tube

Old Versus New

Once you’ve accomplished the no-tools procedure, you might even find that it’s quicker and easier to fix a flat without tools. One thing comes into play though; if you’re working with brand-new tires, it is more difficult to accomplish. Tires with more than a few miles on them are easier, and some brands are just easier than others.

Dealing With Roadside Flats

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With so many objects and pieces of debris littering our cycle paths – it’s inevitable that we’ll have to deal with a puncture at the road side at some point! Before setting out on your journey, whether it’s simply to work at the office, or for a more adventurous excursion over the weekend; you should always be sure to prepare your pack in case the worst should happen.

We’re talking a repair kit, a manual pump, a bike wrench and at least one spare inner tube. The essential bike tools! It’s better to have them on hand should they ever be needed!

So what can you do when the worst case scenario becomes a reality, and you find an object has damaged one of your tires? Even the sturdiest bicycle will lose functionality with a flat tire, but it’s really not the end of the world, especially if you have a repair kit handy. The main concern will arise from your location – especially if you’re near moving vehicles.

The Plan of Action

Dealing With Roadside Repairs Safely

As soon as you notice a puncture, safely dismount your bicycle and make your way to a quiet, safe spot away from danger. Avoid riding your bike if it’s suffered a puncture – especially if the cause of the puncture is still sticking out like a confident cage fighter.

As soon as you can, remove your wheel, and locate the scene of the crime. There are normally one of two typical discoveries at this point – either the cause of the damage has fled the scene, or it’s still embedded, daring you to check if it’s made a way into the inner tube.

Double Check for Safety

If you haven’t already done so, take a look at your location and make sure that you’re not standing in an active pathway. A repair will only take a short while depending on your level of expertise, but it’s not worth standing in harm’s way. Ideally you are able to change a flat tire in 5 minutes or less. This should be practiced before it is a necessity out on the road.

Dealing with Flat Tires

We know that external damage is a minimal concern, and it’s more about whether or not the inner tube has been punctured. If it has, no amount of pumping will keep it filled with air, so the next best thing is to tackle the puncture head on.

Some punctures are tiny, others are very obvious, and the latter event will normally need a replacement tube altogether. For smaller punctures however, it should be a simple matter of grabbing your repair kit, sealing the source and allowing the adhesive to dry. If you are dealing with a tiny puncture, then half the challenge is locating the hole itself!

If you are able to pump air in to the tube, then do so carefully and then run your fingertips along the outside of the tube. You’ll want to pay careful attention to any small gusts of air, as these will give away the location of the puncture. Once you’ve spotted the damage, you can apply your seal, secure it with adhesive and then allow it to dry, before re-assembling your bicycle tire.

Handling Tricky Punctures

The life of a cyclist is never simple, and if your bike has suffered a slightly more challenging puncture, then you may want to pull out the big guns – in the form of your replacement tube. The rubber tire itself is now your main priority, and you’ll want to check if it’s simply been punctured, or split. A split is a bad sign, and there’s not much that can be done beyond sourcing a replacement, but if the rubber seems okay, then the next step is to check the damage on your inner tube.

It’s not uncommon for the object to remain embedded within the tire, and as tempting as it might be to ride to your destination with the debris sticking out, it’s never a good idea as you may be causing more damage to the tire and tube.

A better idea would be to safely dismount your bicycle, remove the object, evaluate the damage, and then perform the same repair procedure as mentioned above! The worst case scenario? You’ll need to make your way to your destination on foot. The best? You’ll be back on your journey in less than 10 minutes!

Tips For Preventing a Flat Tire

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Tips For Preventing a Flat TireIf you have been cycling for a reasonable amount of time then the odds are fairly good that you have encountered a flat tire or two in your time. In many cases you can usually repair the tire with a decent puncture repair kit, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t still an annoyance that most cyclists would be more than happy to do without.

While some flat tires are unavoidable, there are measures that you can take to ensure that there is less chance of one occurring when you are out on a ride. Here we look at a few ways to prevent a flat tire from ruining your ride.

Proper Tire Pressure

First and foremost, the proper tire pressure is the key to making sure you do not get a flat. Over inflating is just as big of a problem as under inflating.

Over Inflation – Many people are guilty of pumping their tires too much thinking that hard tires are going to make them faster. What can end up happening is as the day heats up it will make the air in the tires expand and literally burst.

Under Inflation – Pinch flats are one of the leading causes of flat tires. If you get something that looks like a snake bite in your tube it was likely caused by a pinch flat. This occurs because the rim hits the tire and pinches the tube in between.

Pro Tip: Pump your tires to the ideal psi before each and every ride.

Talcum Powder

While many flat tires are caused by something on the road, general wear and tear on the tire itself can also become an issue over time. In particular, friction between the inner tube and the tire can lead to a hole being created that will cause the tire to deflate over time.

To prevent this, you should aim to make the rubber of the inner tube a little slippery so that the effects of that friction are reduced. Whenever you get a new inner tube, be sure to dust it with a healthy coating of talcum powder so that you can reduce the effects of friction and mitigate the issue.

Careful Riding

In many cases your tire won’t immediately puncture when it has picked up a piece of debris on the road. Sometimes, said debris simply gets caught in the tire and keeps rotating with it until the weight placed upon it leads it to penetrating and causing a flat tire.

This means that, with a little careful riding, you can prevent the sorts of punctures that sneak up on your like this. If you have just cycled through an area that had a less than optimal surface, be sure to take a little bit of time to check your wheels. Simply hop off the bike and slowly rotate each one of your wheels. If you notice any debris there get rid of it and check the area to make sure that it hasn’t punctured the tire. If you’re lucky there will be no problem, but if there is a puncture you will have at least caught it early enough for you to repair it without any issues.

Tire Wipers

Tire wipers are becoming increasingly rare in the modern cycling environment, but if you look hard enough you should still be able to find them around.

These nifty little devices will connect to your brakes or fenders and will work to get rid of any debris that has attached itself to the tire while you ride. It does this through the use of a rubber coated metal bar, which brushes against the tire as it rotates and knocks off any debris. This should mean that the debris doesn’t have the chance to penetrate into the tire during the next wheel rotation, reducing the risk of a puncture.

Choose Your Route Carefully

If you are simply cycling for the sake of fitness and aren’t interested in mountain biking or going off-road, a little bit of route planning will ensure that you avoid areas that present a potential danger to your tires, thus allowing you to avoid causing issues.

In most cases riding on tarmac or asphalt is much safer for your tires than going off road, so try to stick to good surfaces as much as possible. Of course, this doesn’t mean you can get careless, so always have your eyes open when you are riding so that you can avoid any hazards.

Must Know Simple Fixes on your Bike

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Your bike is a finely tuned piece of machinery that allows you to travel at great speed and distances all under your own power.  Compared to a motor vehicle there are not very many parts and each one has a specific job.  Without almost any one of them, your bike will not work.  The good thing with a bike is that they are relatively easy to work on and fix, provided you have a few tools and a little know how.

Knowing these few simple fixes and how-to’s will get you out of the majority of breakdowns.  Practice them before you need to perform them on the side of the road in a cold, wet rainstorm.

Must know simple fixes on your bike

Taking the Wheels On and Off

You may never have had to before, but knowing how to take your wheels on and off will not only allow you to change a flat tire if the need arises, but also if you need to take them off to place them in your vehicle.  Most bikes have a “quick-release” skewer that holds the wheel in place through the axel.  If your bike has “nuts” on the end of the axel you will need two Metric wrenches of the same size.  Typically 15mm. Otherwise you need to open the lever on the quick release to loosen its grip on the frame.  Sometimes this will open the skewer enough and you can slide the wheel out.  If it is still too tight, the opposing side of the skewer is just a threaded nut.  Turn it counter-clockwise to loosen it.

On most bikes you are going to have to open up the brake in order for the tire to fit through the brake.  On road bikes, this is done by flipping the little lever up which will loosen the cable tension.  On other, more recreational, rimmed braked mountain or cyclocross bikes, you will have to disengage the “L” shaped noodle that holds the brake cable to the brake.  You do not need any tools to do this so don’t loosen any bolts.  Your brake may still be a bit different so learn and understand how your brake works to open and close it safely.

Once this is done you can easily pull the front or rear wheel down and out of the frame.  For the back wheel you are going to have to move the derailleur (device that changes the gears) down and out of the way to give enough space for the wheel to exit the frame.  Putting the bike in its hardest gear (gear you would go downhill on) will make this easier.

Now that the wheel is off, you need to put it back on.  Make sure both sides of the axel are in the hooks on the frame for the axel.  The best way to do this is to have the wheel sitting on the ground, vertical, and set the bike over top of the wheel onto the axel.  Once in place you can then push the quick-release lever into its closed position.  It should become firm half-way and then snug when it is pressed down all the way.  If it is too tight or lose you need to tighten or loosen the nut on the opposing side.  (counter-clockwise if it’s too tight, clock-wise if it’s too loose)

Once the wheel is tight in the frame reattach the brakes as they were prior.  Lift the bike and spin the wheel and test the brakes to make sure they are working properly as well as to ensure that the wheel is installed properly and will not fall out.

Fixing a Flat

Another important fix that will be hugely beneficial when it’s raining and cold on the side of the road is knowing how to fix a flat tire.  You first need to remove the wheel (that is flat) by following the instructions above.  Once you have the wheel off you need to take your tire levers (item number one that is needed) and hook one underneath the side of the tire to pull it back over the rim.  You only need to do this on one side.  Expose the inner tube all the way around and then pull out the inner tube with your hands.  You will need to push the valve through the hole in the rim to take the tube completely out.

Now take your hand pump (item number two that is needed) and pump up the tire to determine where the hole is.  Once you have found it, find that same place on the inside of the tire and make sure there is no glass or any other debris in there that can cause the new tube to go flat again.  If the tube has “snake-eyes” or a pinch flat, there’s no need to do this as the flat was caused by too low of air pressure and the tube was pinched causing it to flat.

Once you are sure that there is no glass or anything still in the tire, place the new tube in the tire.  First though, put a little bit of air in the tire to make it easier to work with.  Then place the valve through the hole in the rim and then work the rest of the tube into the tire all the way around.  Once the tube is completely inside the tire, start at the valve stem and press the tire back inside the rim.  This works best with your thumbs.  Now work your way all the way around until you get to the last few inches.  Now make sure the tube is still pressed all the way up into the tire.

This last part is the most difficult.  You need to push the remaining bit of tire onto the rim except it is going to be tight.  You may be able to do it with your thumbs but you may need a tire lever again.  If you can’t get it on with your thumbs, or by grabbing the other side of the wheel and rolling it over with your palms, then place the tire lever on the inside of the rim, making sure the tube is not pinched between the lever and the rim.  Then “lever” the tire up and over the rim into place.  This will take some trial and error and some time so practicing ahead of time will be beneficial.  Once the tire is on, and before inflating, work your way around the tire on both sides of the rim and make sure that you can’t see the tube anywhere.  It should be pushed up inside the tire out of site.  Once you are sure of this you can then inflate the tire with your hand pump.  Try and get it to your original pressure but this may be difficult with a hand pump.  Get as much in as you can as this will help prevent any additional flats.  Put your wheel back on, make sure your brakes are working properly, test them both, and off you go.

Making Sure the Bolts are Tight

Safety is priority number one when riding.  Checking to make sure everything is tight and ready to ride should be done frequently, especially if it’s been a while since the bike was ridden.  Take a Metric allen key (pretty much all bikes use Metric bolts so you must use Metric wrenches otherwise you risk stripping the bolts) and check and make sure the bolts holding the handle bar on are tight.  Then make sure the bolts holding the stem (the part that connects the handle bars to the bike) are also tight.  They should be hand tight.  Don’t over tighten them as that can be just as bad as under tightening them.

The next bolts to check are the bolts holding the brakes to the frame.  There are many different styles of brakes but you can look and figure out how it connects to the frame.  Most have an allen bolt on the backside of the frame from the brake.  Then make sure the bolt holding the brake cable is tight.  If this bolt is loose, when you engage the brakes the cable will slip and you won’t have any brakes.  Make sure this is properly tightened.

The last important bolt, or sometimes quick-release, to make sure is tight is the seat post clamp.  This is the bolt that tightens down on your seat post ensuring that it doesn’t slide down when you sit on it.  If it is a quick release, refer to the above piece about removing a wheel as it’s the same style quick-release as your wheel axel.

Knowing how to do these few simple things on your bike will help you in a lot of ways as well as save you money at the bike shop.  If you don’t know or are not completely sure if you did something right, take the bike to your local bike shop and they will make sure that it is done properly and that the bike is safe.  Riding a bike can be extremely dangerous and having a malfunctioning bike can be catastrophic so take the necessary steps to ensure that it is a safe machine to ride.  Once you get good at these simple fixes on your bike you’ll be able to get out of most situations thrown at you while out on the road.

How To Ride A Bike With A Flat Tire

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How To Ride A Bike With A Flat Tire

Out cycling and punctured all your inner tubes? GCN has got a couple of ways to get you home.

Puncturing all your spare inner tubes is one of those things that you hope never happens when you’re cycling. It’s worth being prepared just in case disaster strikes.

How To Ride A Bike With A Flat Tire

How To Change a Flat Bike Tire

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How To Change a Flat Bike Tire

A flat tire is the most common bike repair that you are going to have to do. Find out how to change a flat bike tire by watching this short video.

How to change a flat bike tireAdditional items to note:

Partially inflate your new tube

Some added items to note are the fact that it is a good idea to partially inflate your new tube so that it can hold its shape a little bit. In the video this had already been done. So, when you take your new tube out put approximately two pumps of air in it before trying to seat it in the rim, this will make it easier to work with.

Putting the tire back on the rim

Additionally, in the video the tire was extremely easy to put back on the rim, I do not know about you but this is generally not the case for me. If you are struggling to put the tire back on the rim it is important to remember that you should not require the tire levers to put it back on. It is actually a bad idea to use the tire levers as this can often pinch your new tube and cause another flat. That would be embarrassing.

After you have put as much of the tire back on as possible, put your palms on the remaining portion and wrap your fingers over the tire until they grab the opposite side of the rim now “roll” the tire onto the rim with your palms. Use the leverage from your fingers by grabbing the rim. The motion is more of a roll because you should be forcing the tire to go up AND over the rim.

Any additional helpful tips? Leave a comment below:

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