Wilsons Sandbox

Hmmm. Lessee here. Hey, Frank, what did it take to change the FRONT tire, 30 minutes? With Frank supervising/learning Of course, I've been changing tubes much longer than the KLR has been alive(and probably the GT550 at that) I think it took longer to carry the cinder blocks over and get the thing up on it than it did the tire. The "extra" air (didn't want to wait for the little compressor to reach bead seating pressure) came from the "right next door" gas station. Anyhoo. Practice, practice, practice! That and a working knowledge of "yes, you can do it alone". That's usually the biggest factor until you learn to do it, at least for me. "Mever be afraid to make a mistake". I carry 2 9" cheapie irons, an extra front tube w/ valve core remover as a cap, baby powder in a film can, a patch hit, a sans plastic wally world compressor and the "combo" wrench. Front tire, lay it on the ground or prop it on a log/block, friend. (Rear I use a 1x1x18" square aluminum tube from Home Deopt. The irons and extra SS clamps fit inside as well as some tie wraps) A crescent will work fine for the front if you don't carry a combo. Slime them to start with, and probably never have to worry about it ever again. Just my opinion, yours might vary! millerized --- In DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, "kknorpp001" wrote:

> How do you avoid getting stranded by flat tire, especially when > alone? On my bicycle, I carry extra tubes and air and can change a > flat easily and really never go further than walking distance from > civilization. > > I have heard of people patching a tire within an hour (with two or > more people). Is this something anyone can do? Do you need a

center

> stand? What tools do you need and how much air must you carry? > > And if you do get stranded, what do you do then? Who can you call > (if you have a cell phone signal)? Are there services that can

find

> you if you have a GPS? Can you call a forest ranger? Etc? > > Thanks.

In a message dated 2004-05-13 8:02:44 AM Pacific Daylight Time, kknorpp001@... writes:

> > How do you avoid getting stranded by flat tire, especially when > alone? On my bicycle, I carry extra tubes and air and can change a > flat easily and really never go further than walking distance from > civilization. > > I have heard of people patching a tire within an hour (with two or > more people). Is this something anyone can do? Do you need a center > stand? What tools do you need and how much air must you carry? > > And if you do get stranded, what do you do then? Who can you call > (if you have a cell phone signal)? Are there services that can find > you if you have a GPS? Can you call a forest ranger? Etc? > > Thanks. > >

I carry patches, tire irons, CO2 and a Motion Pro Quick Jak. It takes about three cartridges to do a front and four or five to do a rear. My enduro tool pack has enough pace in the pouches on the straps to carry enough to do three or four tires. I used to carry tubes when I was racing XC, but you still had to carry patches, just in case, and things got to the point where I equated patching my tires with the leisure of riding for fun, odd how we pick up our habits. Rather you use patches or carry spare tubes, with practice you should be capable of running the drill in a leisurely twenty minutes, or less. When racing, you just closed the petcock and laid the bike on its side to get the wheel in the air where we could take it off, break the one bead, replace the tube, reset, air up and go and if it took more than ten minutes you were slow. Those that patched never removed the wheel, they just broke the bead, pulled out the tube, found the hole and patched. If you were running for a district or series championship you would get serious enough to run two tubes in the tire - get a flat, break enough of the bead to reach in and swap valve stems, reset, air and go. Options to CO2 are a hand pump and an electric pump. For my tastes a hand pump is too much like work. An electric pump is a great option if all your bikes have the charging system to drive one - I've got a couple of dirt only bikes that wont drive an air pump. A trick with the tire irons is to have at least one with a loop in one end - you can stick the other tire iron through the loop, stick the spoon between the bead and the rim, twist, move the tire iron, repeat until you break the bead. Motion Pro makes such a tire iron. I carry two of these tire irons with several yards of duct tape wrapped around the shafts. Someone was asking how to miniaturize their took kit, this is one of those ways to do it. Pat G'ville, Nv [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

As the others have stated, you carry what you can to fix the bike. I Slime my tires, carry a repair kit and hope for the best. Also be prepared to "survive" until you find a way out of the situation. The world is a crowded place, sooner or later you stumble upon other folks out there. In addition, "Adventure touring" has risks. If you can't accept and be comfortable with the risks, don't take them. Stay on the street or in crowded OHV parks. The last thing I want to do is die alone in the middle of nowhere with a flat tire, broken bike or body... but it is the "risk" I accept when I venture out on my own. West --- In DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, "kknorpp001" wrote:

> How do you avoid getting stranded by flat tire, especially when > alone? On my bicycle, I carry extra tubes and air and can change

a

> flat easily and really never go further than walking distance from > civilization. > > I have heard of people patching a tire within an hour (with two or > more people). Is this something anyone can do? Do you need a

center

> stand? What tools do you need and how much air must you carry? > > And if you do get stranded, what do you do then? Who can you call > (if you have a cell phone signal)? Are there services that can

find

> you if you have a GPS? Can you call a forest ranger? Etc? > > Thanks.

Yeah, 30 minutes if that. 5 minutes to haul those huge-ass cinder blocks (which are still parked on the side of Jo-Lee's for next year), 10 minutes waiting for your pump to try to get the bead seated when the Koolaid wasn't slick enough, and another 5 minutes at the end while you made long zipties out of my short ones (for all the sh#t that Millerized carries in that Pelican, he's missing zipties . . .) So really, it only took you about 5 minutes to lever the tire off and replace the tube. As one who has not yet done the tire-change himself, I highly recommend watching someone else do it first. I watched Devon do a full change (with no less than 4 Aerostitch titanium levers), and Millerized replace a tube. (I also watched Zack spend an hour in utter frustration trying to get his rear brake to behave when he was putting his rear wheel back on--that did *not* inspire me to try it alone at home.) On some lousy weekend when I can't ride, I'll swap the current tubes for HD's and tackle the job. Getting to see it done right (i.e., NOT Zack's way ) will definitely be a help. --Frank --- In DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, "James L. Miller Jr." wrote:

> Hmmm. Lessee here. Hey, Frank, what did it take to change the

FRONT

> tire, 30 minutes? With Frank supervising/learning Of course, > I've been changing tubes much longer than the KLR has been alive

(and

> probably the GT550 at that) I think it took longer to carry the > cinder blocks over and get the thing up on it than it did the tire. > The "extra" air (didn't want to wait for the little compressor to > reach bead seating pressure) came from the "right next door" gas > station. Anyhoo. Practice, practice, practice! That and a

working

> knowledge of "yes, you can do it alone". That's usually the

biggest

> factor until you learn to do it, at least for me. "Mever be afraid

to

> make a mistake". > > I carry 2 9" cheapie irons, an extra front tube w/ valve core

remover

> as a cap, baby powder in a film can, a patch hit, a sans plastic > wally world compressor and the "combo" wrench. Front tire, lay it

on

> the ground or prop it on a log/block, friend. (Rear I use a

1x1x18"

> square aluminum tube from Home Deopt. The irons and extra SS

clamps

> fit inside as well as some tie wraps) A crescent will work fine for > the front if you don't carry a combo. Slime them to start with,

and

> probably never have to worry about it ever again. > > Just my opinion, yours might vary! > millerized > > > > --- In DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, "kknorpp001" > wrote: > > How do you avoid getting stranded by flat tire, especially when > > alone? On my bicycle, I carry extra tubes and air and can change

a

> > flat easily and really never go further than walking distance

from

> > civilization. > > > > I have heard of people patching a tire within an hour (with two

or

> > more people). Is this something anyone can do? Do you need a > center > > stand? What tools do you need and how much air must you carry? > > > > And if you do get stranded, what do you do then? Who can you

call

> > (if you have a cell phone signal)? Are there services that can > find > > you if you have a GPS? Can you call a forest ranger? Etc? > > > > Thanks.

This is why I rely on "Slime" to repair simple tire punctures & a bicycle pump to field repair simple tire punctures. This way simpler than digging out the inner tube. --- In DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, "frankconley" wrote:

> Yeah, 30 minutes if that. 5 minutes to haul those huge-ass cinder > blocks (which are still parked on the side of Jo-Lee's for next > year), 10 minutes waiting for your pump to try to get the bead

seated

> when the Koolaid wasn't slick enough, and another 5 minutes at the > end while you made long zipties out of my short ones (for all the > sh#t that Millerized carries in that Pelican, he's missing > zipties . . .) So really, it only took you about 5 minutes to

lever

> the tire off and replace the tube. > > As one who has not yet done the tire-change himself, I highly > recommend watching someone else do it first. I watched Devon do a > full change (with no less than 4 Aerostitch titanium levers), and > Millerized replace a tube. (I also watched Zack spend an hour in > utter frustration trying to get his rear brake to behave when he

was

> putting his rear wheel back on--that did *not* inspire me to try it > alone at home.) On some lousy weekend when I can't ride, I'll swap > the current tubes for HD's and tackle the job. Getting to see it > done right (i.e., NOT Zack's way ) will definitely be a help. > > --Frank > > --- In DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, "James L. Miller Jr." > wrote: > > Hmmm. Lessee here. Hey, Frank, what did it take to change the > FRONT > > tire, 30 minutes? With Frank supervising/learning Of course, > > I've been changing tubes much longer than the KLR has been alive > (and > > probably the GT550 at that) I think it took longer to carry the > > cinder blocks over and get the thing up on it than it did the

tire.

> > The "extra" air (didn't want to wait for the little compressor to > > reach bead seating pressure) came from the "right next door" gas > > station. Anyhoo. Practice, practice, practice! That and a > working > > knowledge of "yes, you can do it alone". That's usually the > biggest > > factor until you learn to do it, at least for me. "Mever be

afraid

> to > > make a mistake". > > > > I carry 2 9" cheapie irons, an extra front tube w/ valve core > remover > > as a cap, baby powder in a film can, a patch hit, a sans plastic > > wally world compressor and the "combo" wrench. Front tire, lay it > on > > the ground or prop it on a log/block, friend. (Rear I use a > 1x1x18" > > square aluminum tube from Home Deopt. The irons and extra SS > clamps > > fit inside as well as some tie wraps) A crescent will work fine

for

> > the front if you don't carry a combo. Slime them to start with, > and > > probably never have to worry about it ever again. > > > > Just my opinion, yours might vary! > > millerized > > > > > > > > --- In DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com, "kknorpp001" > > wrote: > > > How do you avoid getting stranded by flat tire, especially when > > > alone? On my bicycle, I carry extra tubes and air and can

change

> a > > > flat easily and really never go further than walking distance > from > > > civilization. > > > > > > I have heard of people patching a tire within an hour (with two > or > > > more people). Is this something anyone can do? Do you need a > > center > > > stand? What tools do you need and how much air must you carry? > > > > > > And if you do get stranded, what do you do then? Who can you > call > > > (if you have a cell phone signal)? Are there services that can > > find > > > you if you have a GPS? Can you call a forest ranger? Etc? > > > > > > Thanks.

frankconley@... wrote:

> >As one who has not yet done the tire-change himself, I highly >recommend watching someone else do it first. I watched Devon do a >full change (with no less than 4 Aerostitch titanium levers), >

2 to hold the bead, 1 to lever the bead over, and 1 in the back pocket so you don't have to stop and pick up the one you drop as often. And remember, there were two rimlocks in that rear tire.

> and >Millerized replace a tube. (I also watched Zack spend an hour in >utter frustration trying to get his rear brake to behave when he was >putting his rear wheel back on--that did *not* inspire me to try it >alone at home.) >

Put a big screwdriver between the brake pads and force the piston back into the caliper a few mm. Gives you MUCH more room to get the rotor back into the caliper. Or, give up, unbolt the caliper, and put it back on after fitting the rear wheel. Takes a few minutes more but it's easier since you're doing the various tasks sequentially instead of simultaneously. Devon