[brooksby]

This might be the wrong crowd  but does anyone have any tips on removing the rear wheel from a bike which has road & stirrup brakes, a full chaincase, and a Sturmey Archer three speed hub gears?  Need to patch a hole in the tube, and have no experience of doing that without taking the wheel off…

Topic

[brooksby]

I have marathon plus on my

I have marathon plus on my main bikes for the bulletproof protection that they offer but the tyres on this bike (which my wife rides) looked almost brand new (and it’s an obscure wheel size).

i usually have to have a stiff drink before I approach having to remove marathons, but removing the tyres on this one felt like pulling off a sock! The tyre was so bendy… Which I imagine is why it gave little resistance to the thorn that punctured it.

[brooksby]

The wheels on this one are 26

The wheels on this one are 26 and 3/8 inches, it appears (I’m guessing that’ll be fun trying to source new tyres eventually…)

[ktache]

I have heard of such things

I have heard of such things as “sausage” tubes, inner tubes that are not circular.

Luckily my rohloff is relatively easy to pop off, external clip box helps. Gone tubeless too, thank goodness. Could all start to get more difficult once I fit a proper mudguard.

Search for “non circular bicycle inner tube” a few pop up.

Easier carry round spare at least.

[HoarseMann]

Those bikes were built to

Those bikes were built to last forever, nice save!

I did a similar thing with an old Triumph Palm Beach that had been tossed in a skip. I refurbished it and used it for several years for knocking about town on. Only really stopped using it because the brakes were so bad and getting tyres and rims for 27 1/4 wheels is not easy!

[chrisonabike]

Running tank-heavy energy

Running tank-heavy energy-sapping slippy-at-an-angle Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres suddenly makes sense when you’ve got that facing you.  I’ve used them a fair bit and they’re actually fine (except for wet cornering quibbles) for this kind of application.

Having said that unless you’re a rock climber you’ll want to get training on those finger-gyms for the one time every couple of years when you do pick up a puncture.  And carry the heaviest tyre levers you can find.  (The “squeeze the tyre into the central groove and work it round” trick is all well and good but sod’s law says you’ll be doing this in sleet with frozen fingers.  And in the dark – everyone knows that tyres are negatively photosensitive).

[chrisonabike]

No, but it’s still a speedy

No, but it’s still a speedy bike, it goes at quite a Cantor and leaves others for dust.  Although I can never seem to straighten out all the bends in the handlebars.

[brooksby]

Does that mean your saddle

Does that mean your saddle bag would have to be a Klein bag?

[brooksby]

chrisonatrike wrote:

Apologies if you’ve been there already but I thought the canonical way (for minor repairs) was not to bother, but just get the tube out of the tyre:

I’d thought that trying to patch the tube without removing it would be too much faff, but having taken the front wheel off to repair that tube…  <shakes head> I have never experienced anything like that horror…  Anything must be better than trying to take the back wheel off.

[brooksby]

HoarseMann wrote:

Is it a woods valve?

Nope – ‘standard’ schraeder valve.  The bike is a 1980s Raleigh Superbe that my wife rescued from a skip.  Sturmey Archer three speed hub gears which still work like magic.  Someone was going to just send it to landfill! 

[chrisonabike]

Yep – that’s deffo the

Yep – that’s deffo the standard way:

Dutch style puncture repair

… or rather it is for those who don’t just push their bike to the nearest bike shop / station with cycle repair facilities – shouldn’t be far:

A ride from Schijndel to ’s-Hertogenbosch

[chrisonabike]

You mean you don’t use those

You mean you don’t use those special moebius tyres…? (I am not a topologist…)

[Sriracha]

chrisonatrike wrote:

chrisonatrike wrote:

I thought the canonical way (for minor repairs) was not to bother, but just get the tube out of the tyre

Some sleight of hand in that video … at about 1:30 the tyre is magicked itself off the wheel for inspection!

If possible I prefer to locate the source of the puncture in the tyre first, then only expose the affected part of the inner tube, and dispense with the water bath which I never can seem to find in my saddle bag.

[HoarseMann]

If you’re just patching a

If you’re just patching a flat, then defo try and do it without removing the wheel. Working on the non-chain side for better access. Once the tube is out, you do get quite good access to it by sliding it down towards the hub.

It’s good to practise this at home in case it happens to you when you’re out on a long ride. Far quicker and less risky than getting the wheel out!

Is it a woods valve? These are a pain as you have to take the valve core out to get the stem through the hole in the rim. Plus the rubber sleeve type tend to leak when they start to perish. So if you struggle to find the hole in the tube, it could be the valve that’s gone.

[brooksby]

Thanks, hirsute.  I’ll watch

Thanks, hirsute.  I’ll watch the video Chris has linked above, and then decide how brave I feel! 

[chrisonabike]

Apologies if you’ve been

Apologies if you’ve been there already but I thought the canonical way (for minor repairs) was not to bother, but just get the tube out of the tyre:

(I do note it looks suspiciously easy in that video though…)

I guess it’s “more expense” but I’d like to see more of something like the Workcycles “escape hatch”.  Still a “major mechanical” compared to a quick release but easier than the full fandango to remove the wheel completely.

(Note that you have to download the video to watch it).

Of course it’s a bit of a computerised steam hammer to undo several nuts but the single-side axle would circumvent all these issues…

https://www.cyclinguk.org/sites/default/files/document/migrated/publication/ctc201601034.pdf

[Author]

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