!!PUNCTURE!! DIY fix.

[newcross]

I just read a post by editor at large reporting puncture ( http://www.abikecentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=257 ), so I thought it's about time we have new puncture dedicated topic aiming to fix it by ourselves.

Please report your puncture experience, share tips and info here.

-------------------------------
see also
"Puncture repair/wheel removal + Storage"
http://www.abikecentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=50

[newcross]

I'd like to introduce a Japanese website, which giving us some tips on changing 6inch inner tube. The 6inch tyre is for Handy Bike 6, and not actually A-bike's, but I'm sure we could learn from this.

I cannot translate the pages now, so please use web-translation sevices (e.g. babelfish).

Vol.1
http://www.geocities.jp/sovtron2001/oth ... b/tire.htm

Vol.2
http://www.geocities.jp/sovtron2001/oth ... kotsu2.htm

The web articles come from the same website I mentioned in here. http://www.abikecentral.com/forum/viewt ... c&start=15
The webmaster rides A-bike too.

[newcross]

One thing I know for sure is that the base of the bulb has to be exposed. see the black bit at bottom of golden bulb in the pic below.

[editor at large]

Well, I'm in limbo at present, because the "glue" in my two old puncture repair kits was all dried up, so I've ordered a couple of new innertubes from Mayhem and am waiting for them to arrive.

Story so far: getting the back wheel off is a bit tricky and the UK manual is misleading. It warns you that the left-hand bolt has a left-hand thread, but then says "so turn counter-clockwise". It means clockwise, of course. And getting the bolt to undo is not easy. When I eventually got some big leverage on the bolt, I found that the force needed was so great that the tyre actually slipped around the wheel in my hand other hand.

Anyway, i persevered and both bolts came off in the end, and the wheel dropped out as described. I'm fairly confident that when I get either some new vulcanising rubber glue, or a new tube, it'll be back on and up and running again without much bother.

Anybody else got stories/words of warning?

[editor at large]

Me again

I should add: I got the tyre off without too much bother. I mean it was about as difficult as on a conventional bike. Plenty of frustration, a bit of swearing and the tyre levers pinging out and flying across the room a couple of times. But the tyre came off in the end. If you're not into fixing your everyday bike yourself, this would be a job for your local bike shop, of course.

[newcross]

About the tyre removal, yes, the instruction confused me totally last time.

The instruction manual is WRONG!!

I hope they (DAKA, Mayhem) will fix it soon.

Anyway, here is a tip for tyre removal.

If you have a "quick action clamp" (*this tool have many names), use it to hold the tyre. This makes removing/fixing tyre a lot easier.

*You need 1/2inch (or 13mm) Ring Spanner. (halfords Deep Offset Ring Spanner shown in pic)




I've never tried by myself yet, but as it was mentioned in previous topic (
http://www.abikecentral.com/forum/viewt ... c&start=15 ), removing outer tyre would be very very hard due to the thickness of A-bike's small wheel size.....

[editor at large]

ok, got some fresh glue, got a patch on, tube back in, tyre back on, wheel back in ... and got straight back into commuting routine this afternoon. All pretty painless, apart from the manual's mistake. Hooray! And all while baby daughter took her nap.

Thanks for tips, Newcross. You're amazing.

[newcross]

ok, got some fresh glue, got a patch on, tube back in, tyre back on, wheel back in ... and got straight back into commuting routine this afternoon. All pretty painless, apart from the manual's mistake.

It's good to know that A-bike's puncture can be fixed with conventional patch and glue! I kept thinking we have to change entire inner-tube to fix puncture because of the high pressure of the tyre.

Please let us know how your patched tyre is getting on (maybe in a week time?)

I onl have spare inner-tubes, so I will get patch&glue too.

[editor at large]

Hi
there's been quite a lot of talk about these "high pressure" tyres, but they're not. My road bike's tyres (20mm 700C road tyres) inflate to 120psi and i pump my everyday commuter bike to about 90psi. And a patch is always possible on both of those.

[editor at large]

Anyway, i will definitely let you know whether my repair survives. So far so good! I've ridden on it for a couple of days now.

[editor at large]

One week on and the puncture repair remains intact, and I've been punishing the A-Bike over the usual dreadful road surfaces and hills and up and down wee kerbs and so on. I think it's solid.

[Bruce]

I found it very hard to remove my tire to fix a flat in the tube caused by a tear in the junction between the valve and the tire.

I am concerned about how to get the tire back on with a new tube.

Is there anyone who could advice how to put the new tube and tire back on?

I have tire irons that I regularly use on my regular bike but the forces needed to get the tire on make it likely that I will slip and tear the tube. Its there a technique that others have found to do this?

Thanks

Bruce

[Amuro Lee]

Here is a video showing how to replace the inner tube.
http://abikesupport.ning.com/video/vide ... :Video:226

[newcross]

!!CORRECTION!!
Remember I posted about using a clamp to fix tyre in position? This doesn't work when tyre is deflated = cannot be used when panctured!!!

sorry about that.

[andytaylor]

I found it very hard to remove my tire to fix a flat in the tube
I have tire irons that I regularly use on my regular bike but the forces needed to get the tire on make it likely that I will slip and tear the tube. Its there a technique that others have found to do this?

Bruce

The Manual says to use plastic tyre levers only, perhaps this is the reason?