Turbo Como 4.0 IGH: How to be prepared for flat tire?

[Stefan Mikes]

Not sure whether anyone brought it up: How do you remove the rear wheel on an IGH e-bike with a Gates drive belt?

 

[jmillr]

Not sure whether anyone brought it up: How do you remove the rear wheel on an IGH e-bike with a Gates drive belt?

I, too, would like to know. Perhaps next week I will be able to figure it out assuming the Como 4.0 I have on order arrives at the LBS.

In the meantime, I have ordered the following kit to carry with me:

• Park Tool TB-2 Emergency Tire Boot
• 2 Park Tool TL-6.2 Steel-Core Tire Levers
• REMA TT 02 Tour Patch Kit
• Air Tool MTB Pump

I can find a pair of needle-nose pliers to add to this.

I'm holding off on adding FlatOut to the mix for now. If I get a few flats this year, I will strongly consider using it.

To clarify, when I was younger, several decades ago, I fixed more than a few flat tires, so I'm familiar with the basic idea of how to go about it. I was mainly asking now to see if there was any new tech I should know about, especially with respect to e-bikes. The kit listed above will at least get me going again, even it takes more than a bit of time. The Como also supports 'walk mode' should I need to use that feature.

Thanks again to all for sharing your thoughts; I feel more comfortable with at least a tentative plan for dealing with this sort of unfortunate occurrence.

 

[m@Robertson]

After many years, I have abandoned the use of co2 in favor of electric battery powered pumps. You get the right one and it doesn't cost a fortune and certain ones have more than double the usual battery inside. Enough to allow me normal reinflation on 4.8" tires after a deep-dry-sand beach run (5 psi to 15) with enough battery to let me be comfortable using it if I also have a flat (on those super fat sand tires) on the same trip. I had gotten to the point I was trusting air pump without a backup pump, but a recent blowout - after dark, loaded with groceries (Costco run so LOADED) in sub-freezing weather, where I needed much of that battery capacity to deal with patches that didn't want to take, made me fall back to my normal practice of ALWAYS having a backup available.

Speaking of which, I had what was my first flat in two solid years a couple weeks ago. Some kind of nasty metal bit tore a 3/4" hole in my tire casing, a matching entrance hole into my tube and a small hole on exit out the inner side of the tube. Flatout has fixed even 1/2" holes on me before, and is a miracle worker, but that was a bridge too far. Tire went flat spewing goo everywhere in about 30 feet. Goo was not easy to clean off AT ALL (lots of water from full water bottles helped, as did the towel I had in my kit). Was shocked to find I had gotten sloppy and no spare tube. W.T.F.! First patch wouldn't take due to goo residue. Lots of effort later and got another to work. Thats when I discovered the second hole. Patched that one. Needed a LOT of extra effort to press the patch on due to the cold, which was a surprise - the cold vulcanizing fluid used by patch kits has a lower temperature limit it seems.

I didn't catch the torn tire casing until I got home and disassembled the wheel to do a parts check. thankfully it was a belted Schwalbe with thick casing that only needed 40 psi... I didn't use the tire patch I had in my kit and unknowingly risked a second full on blowout on the 10 mile ride home.

So... add to your list a periodic re-check of your gear to make sure you have what you think you have and didn't use it at some point in the past and forgot to refill.

 

[m@Robertson]

Not sure whether anyone brought it up: How do you remove the rear wheel on an IGH e-bike with a Gates drive belt?

I have lived that dream. It was what I call an RSB... a Royal Screaming Bitch. Fortunately I planned for it in advance and was able to do it. IGH was the little Shimano 3spd. The key to the process is derailing the Gates belt, which is most easily (!) done by deflecting the belt off the front chainring. First thing to do is screw in the dropout spacers that do the final tighten on the belt, but this is not enough to make the removal process easy by any means.

Taking pictures of the assembled rear axle on both sides so you can get the washer order right on reassembly is a big help.

The worst part is re-mounting the belt.

I loved that bike, and hated it at the same time. If I could afford to do another bike with a belt and a proper IGH (Kindernay, Rohloff) I'd go for it though. Once you have one its obviously a major leap forward in cycling hardware.

 

[TahoeBikeGal]

Not sure whether anyone brought it up: How do you remove the rear wheel on an IGH e-bike with a Gates drive belt?

There are very detailed instructions in the Specialized bike user manuals. https://support.specialized.com/manuals/manuals/electric-bikes

That said, my bro-in-law who is a bike mechanic says these IGH bikes take 3x as long to change an IGH bike's rear wheel than on a derailleur bike.