What's your plan for a flat tire 10 miles from home?
- Thread starter xerxez
- Start date
It's kind of hard to tell from the picture but how big and heavy are those handlebar jacks?
They weigh practically nothing and come folded in a box measuring 6"X2"X2&1/2"
Bruce Arnold
Well-Known Member
Nah -- there are very few places any more that you can't hit a repeater, even in the more rural areas. Caveat: you can get in a valley so steep, or a forest so thick, that it impedes your access to the repeater. Not the same thing as not having a repeater close enough. You just need to get your antenna in the clear. Those are very specific scenarios that will apply to maybe -- rounding up -- 1% of ham traffic.
Mr. Coffee
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- A Demented Corner of the North Cascades
I think you need to come visit me sometime.
If you look out my windows you can see valley bottoms under 2000 feet surrounded closely by foothills that are higher than 5000 feet. As you go into more interesting areas nearby you might find yourself in a valley about a mile across and more than 5000 feet deep. This compounds the challenge that many of the best repeater sites have very limited access and year-round access is unlikely without a helicopter.
In 2014 we lost a couple of cell towers to wildfires, and it basically took until 2018 or 2019 to replace them and get the network to back where it was in 2013.
Maybe I am in that 1%.
This is why I am extremely skeptical of relying on a cell phone.
Bruce Arnold
Well-Known Member
Your firsts example would be those steep valleys that I mentioned as an exception to the rule. Burned cell phone towers don't impede ham radio repeaters, unless the towers that they are on burned also. That is so much an exception that it is squarely in that 1%.I think you need to come visit me sometime.
If you look out my windows you can see valley bottoms under 2000 feet surrounded closely by foothills that are higher than 5000 feet. As you go into more interesting areas nearby you might find yourself in a valley about a mile across and more than 5000 feet deep. This compounds the challenge that many of the best repeater sites have very limited access and year-round access is unlikely without a helicopter.
In 2014 we lost a couple of cell towers to wildfires, and it basically took until 2018 or 2019 to replace them and get the network to back where it was in 2013.
Maybe I am in that 1%.
This is why I am extremely skeptical of relying on a cell phone.
Here's a repeater map for Montana. I chose it because it's a large, mostly rural, thinly populated state. I can see some areas where I would expect repeater coverage to be chancy. They fall smack-dab into those exceptions I mentioned.
The ham radio network is remarkably robust.
Are you a fellow ham? Something else we have in common? KS8L here.
I converted my Ripcurrent to tubeless (Maxxis Minion) and I'm able to fix punctures on the road and fill air back up using a portable digital pump that I carry in a triangle bag. So far haven't had any issue that I couldn't fix roadside in 5 min because of sealant spraying you can easily see the puncture right away and I carry tire plugs with me that almost instantly plug/patch the puncture and I'm on my way.
I also have AAA but yes they won't come to you if you're in the middle of nowhere or out on a trail. I had to use it once when I snapped my chain but I realized later that I could have just came home on throttle only which I did the next time my chain snapped. It was my first time and I was far away and didn't know if I had enough battery to get home and didn't want to get stuck on the trail where AAA couldn't come get me.
I also have AAA but yes they won't come to you if you're in the middle of nowhere or out on a trail. I had to use it once when I snapped my chain but I realized later that I could have just came home on throttle only which I did the next time my chain snapped. It was my first time and I was far away and didn't know if I had enough battery to get home and didn't want to get stuck on the trail where AAA couldn't come get me.
Sounds like a plan. I was just wondering why the chain snapped twice.
D
Deleted member 4210
Guest
It's for real. That's an Aventon Pace 500. My customer sent me the picture. He has Triple A through his Markel Ebike insurance plan. That's downtown Chicago. He commutes to work ( at least before Covid ) on his ebike, and has gone from 2 cars to 1. His wife commutes to her job too.Mike, is that AAA flatbed for real, or are you pulling our leg?
D
Deleted member 4210
Guest
Buy a can of Velox tire sealant dude. It'll fill your tire up and it works better than that slime garbage, that sits in people's tires deteriorating on a daily basis.
Thanks for the tip I'll check it out, so regarding the slime I assume you feel the same way about the tubes? I was planning on getting a couple of spare tubes and I thought about getting them.
Lightning P38
Active Member
i have ridden on a flat back tire when I was a mile from home, before I had e-assist on my bike. I just rode slow...it felt like I was riding on a bare rim. But the tire was not damaged.
I just put a patch kit in my bag...if my rear tire goes flat, I will not remove the wheel, but just patch the tube. My rear e-wheel fits so tight between the dropouts I couldn‘t get it back on if I took it off. So no need to carry an 18 mm wrench along...although the extra weight would make me faster on the downhills!
Not sure I do ride hard though and it's my only transportation so I put a lot of miles on it.
This has been a good thread. I have learned a lot. Everyone's situation is different... here is mine.
I only bike in a pretty populated area (Minneapolis/St. Paul and suburbs). But, I bike with my wife and two sons. My sons are very young (4 and 7). Young children make bad scenarios worse very quickly. Last week, I was out 10 miles from home. If I had a flat there, it would make for a pretty bad day, but not endangered anyone's life. Still, if I can avoid pain by planning ahead, I will. Also, I can see us biking even further out... ideally.
Within 250 miles, my CCS2 has had two flat tires. The rear tire exploded within the first 3 miles (they mailed it with a pinched inner-tube). It was like a concussion grenade. The front tire developed a slow leak. I could ride it a few hours, but it would deflate over night.
Also, in general, many of the bike tires seem to deflate in about 2 weeks. I just blow them up right before we ride. Still, I know there is some risk, and I'd rather avoid changing all those inner tubes.
My local bike shop is under 2 miles from my house. Changing the front flat tube was $19. At that rate, I'd rather pay someone else to do it, as the tube alone is about $10 on amazon. The back tire was a bit more like $27... still worth it, as I have a rear hub. I generally don't have to wait. Maybe i'm lucky. There are many things I would like to learn if time were not an issue. But, it is.
Here are my takeaways.
1) I can call AAA for a bike flat. I did not know that prior to this thread. We do own a AAA membership. I googled, and it appears I can do this in Minnesota. I always have my cell phone with, and it's usually charged.
2) I bought a can of this: Hutchinson Fast Air Puncture Repair and Inflation System
3) I'm buying this pump: LEZYNE Alloy Drive Bicycle Hand Pump Compact, 90 PSI, Presta & Schrader, Bike Hand (seems the right trade-off between cost and quality. I didn't like spending $60 on a pump I'll ideally never use.)
4) I may eventually buy a snake tube, but they are relatively expensive, and while they are an easier solution, they aren't easy.
5) I should bring my bike lock, even if I don't plan on locking up my bike.... as a last resort option, in case i have to ditch my bike for a short bit.
I think that's my plan. It's not fool proof. There are still risks, but in life you should plan for the 80% and not the 20%.
Thank you all.... feel free to provide any additional suggestions, if you like.
I only bike in a pretty populated area (Minneapolis/St. Paul and suburbs). But, I bike with my wife and two sons. My sons are very young (4 and 7). Young children make bad scenarios worse very quickly. Last week, I was out 10 miles from home. If I had a flat there, it would make for a pretty bad day, but not endangered anyone's life. Still, if I can avoid pain by planning ahead, I will. Also, I can see us biking even further out... ideally.
Within 250 miles, my CCS2 has had two flat tires. The rear tire exploded within the first 3 miles (they mailed it with a pinched inner-tube). It was like a concussion grenade. The front tire developed a slow leak. I could ride it a few hours, but it would deflate over night.
Also, in general, many of the bike tires seem to deflate in about 2 weeks. I just blow them up right before we ride. Still, I know there is some risk, and I'd rather avoid changing all those inner tubes.
My local bike shop is under 2 miles from my house. Changing the front flat tube was $19. At that rate, I'd rather pay someone else to do it, as the tube alone is about $10 on amazon. The back tire was a bit more like $27... still worth it, as I have a rear hub. I generally don't have to wait. Maybe i'm lucky. There are many things I would like to learn if time were not an issue. But, it is.
Here are my takeaways.
1) I can call AAA for a bike flat. I did not know that prior to this thread. We do own a AAA membership. I googled, and it appears I can do this in Minnesota. I always have my cell phone with, and it's usually charged.
2) I bought a can of this: Hutchinson Fast Air Puncture Repair and Inflation System
3) I'm buying this pump: LEZYNE Alloy Drive Bicycle Hand Pump Compact, 90 PSI, Presta & Schrader, Bike Hand (seems the right trade-off between cost and quality. I didn't like spending $60 on a pump I'll ideally never use.)
4) I may eventually buy a snake tube, but they are relatively expensive, and while they are an easier solution, they aren't easy.
5) I should bring my bike lock, even if I don't plan on locking up my bike.... as a last resort option, in case i have to ditch my bike for a short bit.
I think that's my plan. It's not fool proof. There are still risks, but in life you should plan for the 80% and not the 20%.
Thank you all.... feel free to provide any additional suggestions, if you like.
Mr. Coffee
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- A Demented Corner of the North Cascades
I'm not a ham, but in my (much) younger days was a radio tech.
Where I live there are exactly three repeaters within 40 miles, two of the three are colocated with cell towers, and the third repeater is on a valley floor and basically useless unless you are about a mile from it.
There aren't many high mountaintops here with decent road access, good lines of sight, and where the landowners will let you deploy mysterious contraptions. One prominent site here has multiple cell towers, wireless internet, tv and FM radio repeaters, a ham repeater, and repeaters for the USFS and the county. And probably more stuff I haven't thought of. And yes, every now and then one of them interferes with the others and it is a mess.
I get my internet and cell service from that mountain, which is about twenty miles from me.
Ever since I switched to tubeless I am never going back to tubes again. I am in Colorado, I go offroad and onroad a lot, trails everywhere there's a crazy amount of goat heads here even so there is a sign posted up about it at my local bike shop.
For 1.5 yr my Ripcurrent S has been my only form of transportation. I live in a small to medium sized city and I can get anywhere I need to. I ride a lot. I probably have 5k miles(I always accidently reset my odometer some how) I do about 30 Miles every other day not sure exactly, always run the battery down to last few bars.
When I had tubes what helped cut down my flat tires mostly from goat heads was tuffy liners and slime (this was recommended by my bike mechanic but I have heard people say there's better options like sealant) but even with my full time riding it cut it down to a flat every 6 months I suppose. I thought that was a lot so I decided to try tubeless.
I had bad luck with my first try with Schwalbe Jumbo Jim I kept getting flats it may have been since I was running my psi too high I don't know it was crazy. I kept getting punctures every other time I went out and ONLY on the rear tire. Not one issue on the front. It was driving me crazy. However it always took like 5 min to get going again. I have a rechargeable digital pump that I keep in my triangle bag. With the way sealant sprays out of the tire and the color you can easily spot the puncture in 2 seconds. I keep a small tire plug kit with me and plug my puncture and keep going.
I got rid of the Schwalbe and got the Maxxis Minion and literally the day I rolled out of the shop. I haven't had a single issue. One time I rolled through like literally 20 or more goat heads on EACH tire. I sat there and pulled out each one, spun my tire and I was good to go again.
The only thing about the Maxxis was they were super hard to get the bead to seat on the wheel. It took a long time and 3 techs at my bike shop. The Schwalbe would seat immediately with just a little bit of air. But again I just had really bad luck with only my rear Schwalbe my front never gave me any issues.
I am not mechanically inclined at ALL like I didn't even know what a derailer was a couple months ago. I am just now learning what "bleeding" brakes are but don't ask me how to do it. So anyway there's no way I would ever even think about changing my own tube. Or even taking my own wheel off my bike. Even for me I can manage tubeless and unless I have some kind of freak accident like a golf ball size puncture in my tire I don't have to worry about being stranded due to a flat like I used to. The sealant takes care of small size punctures and my tubeless plug kit takes care of all the big size punctures but I haven't had to use it since I got the Maxxis Minion. There's a reason they are used on so many high end bikes. I am a Maxxis customer for life.
I ride my bike hard, go over curbs, rocks, branches, gravel, goat head, you name it. I go far all over town all the time, it's my full time transportation and I ride almost every day unless I was too tired from work. I don't worry anymore about having a puncture or flat that I can't fix within 5 min and get back home. The only thing is that I do have to check my psi more often, I check it almost every other ride and you have to check your sealant and add more every few months or so but even so to me it's still worth it to have the peace of mind that I can fix my own punctures in 5 min and get back home if I'm 10 miles away. Even though like I said so far in past 2 months since I got the minion not even one puncture that I had to deal with.
Not to mention the reduced rolling resistance not having that extra weight from tubes and liner. Can totally feel a huge difference. I can take off so much quicker and get up to speed than I could before. That's why even when I was having all those issues with my rear Schwalbe I didn't want to give up and go back to tubes.
For 1.5 yr my Ripcurrent S has been my only form of transportation. I live in a small to medium sized city and I can get anywhere I need to. I ride a lot. I probably have 5k miles(I always accidently reset my odometer some how) I do about 30 Miles every other day not sure exactly, always run the battery down to last few bars.
When I had tubes what helped cut down my flat tires mostly from goat heads was tuffy liners and slime (this was recommended by my bike mechanic but I have heard people say there's better options like sealant) but even with my full time riding it cut it down to a flat every 6 months I suppose. I thought that was a lot so I decided to try tubeless.
I had bad luck with my first try with Schwalbe Jumbo Jim I kept getting flats it may have been since I was running my psi too high I don't know it was crazy. I kept getting punctures every other time I went out and ONLY on the rear tire. Not one issue on the front. It was driving me crazy. However it always took like 5 min to get going again. I have a rechargeable digital pump that I keep in my triangle bag. With the way sealant sprays out of the tire and the color you can easily spot the puncture in 2 seconds. I keep a small tire plug kit with me and plug my puncture and keep going.
I got rid of the Schwalbe and got the Maxxis Minion and literally the day I rolled out of the shop. I haven't had a single issue. One time I rolled through like literally 20 or more goat heads on EACH tire. I sat there and pulled out each one, spun my tire and I was good to go again.
The only thing about the Maxxis was they were super hard to get the bead to seat on the wheel. It took a long time and 3 techs at my bike shop. The Schwalbe would seat immediately with just a little bit of air. But again I just had really bad luck with only my rear Schwalbe my front never gave me any issues.
I am not mechanically inclined at ALL like I didn't even know what a derailer was a couple months ago. I am just now learning what "bleeding" brakes are but don't ask me how to do it. So anyway there's no way I would ever even think about changing my own tube. Or even taking my own wheel off my bike. Even for me I can manage tubeless and unless I have some kind of freak accident like a golf ball size puncture in my tire I don't have to worry about being stranded due to a flat like I used to. The sealant takes care of small size punctures and my tubeless plug kit takes care of all the big size punctures but I haven't had to use it since I got the Maxxis Minion. There's a reason they are used on so many high end bikes. I am a Maxxis customer for life.
I ride my bike hard, go over curbs, rocks, branches, gravel, goat head, you name it. I go far all over town all the time, it's my full time transportation and I ride almost every day unless I was too tired from work. I don't worry anymore about having a puncture or flat that I can't fix within 5 min and get back home. The only thing is that I do have to check my psi more often, I check it almost every other ride and you have to check your sealant and add more every few months or so but even so to me it's still worth it to have the peace of mind that I can fix my own punctures in 5 min and get back home if I'm 10 miles away. Even though like I said so far in past 2 months since I got the minion not even one puncture that I had to deal with.
Not to mention the reduced rolling resistance not having that extra weight from tubes and liner. Can totally feel a huge difference. I can take off so much quicker and get up to speed than I could before. That's why even when I was having all those issues with my rear Schwalbe I didn't want to give up and go back to tubes.
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Luv2ride
Active Member
I use Tannus Armour and no longer get flats.
Tannus Armour Inserts
Tannus Armour protects your tube against 90% of common bike flats using 15mm of multi-cell foam. Say goodbye to pinch and puncture flats.
tannusamerica.com
Papadevo
New Member
Goatheads are the devils cash box. I have thrown away tires because of these and countless tubes. They wiggle and hide into the rubber and will lay dormant until the worst time possible. Then you end up patching, replacing, spend a Co2, only to find out all that movement pushed two new ones into the tube.
Sealant is always a mess, maintaining them takes longer, and it’s equal or slightly heavier than running tubes. For my situation, it makes sense.
Like others have said on this thread, I carry some basic tools to fix what I can when out. I do carry a spare tube as well. I ride a Creo, so same demands as a basic bike.
Like I said I am not mechanically inclined at ALL and when my bike shop put on my maxxis tubeless I have had absolutely zero issues. To be fair it has only been a couple months but my riding style hasn't changed at all. Im just going to take it in to them every few months to check the sealant. Since I agree with you it's not something I would attempt myself.
I don't agree with you about the weight. It feels way lighter to me and turns feel easier too. When I take off hard it feels like my front tire is coming up a little bit. I have put 5000+ miles on my bike and probably 4000 were with tubes. Even when I was having issues with my first try at tubeless with the Schwalbe I didn't want to go back to tubes. I definately feel a reduced rolling resistance. However I also had liners when I had tubes so that also adds weight. So I was also noticing the difference with that gone as well.
At the end of the day no matter if it's more messy or even if the weight was the same. Being able to fix a puncture roadside within 5 min for somebody who's not mechanically inclined or rather not sit around in the 95 degree Colorado sun trying to take off a wheel and replace a tube is all so worth it for me! Never going back to tubes!
I don't agree with you about the weight. It feels way lighter to me and turns feel easier too. When I take off hard it feels like my front tire is coming up a little bit. I have put 5000+ miles on my bike and probably 4000 were with tubes. Even when I was having issues with my first try at tubeless with the Schwalbe I didn't want to go back to tubes. I definately feel a reduced rolling resistance. However I also had liners when I had tubes so that also adds weight. So I was also noticing the difference with that gone as well.
At the end of the day no matter if it's more messy or even if the weight was the same. Being able to fix a puncture roadside within 5 min for somebody who's not mechanically inclined or rather not sit around in the 95 degree Colorado sun trying to take off a wheel and replace a tube is all so worth it for me! Never going back to tubes!
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