Well hello there! …You’ve probably forgotten that I own a bicycle huh?! Me too?! I ended up getting a flat tyre one day; luckily I was close to home so I just walked back. I was a little worried as I had no idea how to fix it, but yay for youtube and google! Oh and for the great guys at Cycle Surgery in London Waterloo.
Just so you know, I DID IT!! …this is how!
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| useful dot com |
I got me bike upside down and released the wheel from the bike and gears. I then used one tyre lever (?!?!) to create a gap between the tyre and wheel so I could use another tyre lever to slide around the entire edge to get the tyre off…
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| upside down…bike you turn me… |
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| first tyre lever on |
…allowing me to remove the inner tube…
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| inner tube |
The next step was to locate the puncture. I’d read that using a bowl of water was the way so thats what I did.
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| where are you hole?! |
FOUND YA! …and used a white chalk marker to remember where it was!
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| hello! |
I purchased a puncture kit which was made up of some plasters for inner tubes! haha! The puncture was the tiniest little slit ever! I think I must have done it cycling up or down a pavement (sidewalk for my friends across the pond).
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| bandaged up |
I put everything back in its rightful place and I was ready to go again! …Until one week later and I got a puncture again, this time, not so close to home! I was close to a train station that I could have got the train from but that weekend the trains were not working and they would not allow me to carry my bike on the rail replacement bus! I had to leave her overnight locked up at the rail station and go and collect her the next day when the trains were working again!
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| travelling back home! |
Three weeks later and I still haven’t fixed that puncture. As it was in the same wheel, I decided to buy a new inner tube. And also a proper bike pump. I had a mini pump which came as part of a Specialized Starter pack with the cute pink bottle holder in the picture above, the tyre levers and a saddle bag.
I was told then that cycling in the rain increased the likeliness of getting a puncture! Why hadn’t some one told me this before?! …Since that day though, it has literally rained non stop for the last 3 weeks but now it’s time I get this sorted and suck it up!
I must get myself a backpack cover and then I can take on the wet weather!
Any must have essentials you own for cycling? and for wet weather? Or are you a fair weather cylcst like me?!
Elle
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