More’n one way to fix a flat….

A guy came in yesterday in a slight panic worried that he would have to take a taxi 40+ miles back to San Francisco. Seems he had a flat tire and didn’t have the special key that allowed him to remove his quick release. Guess they aren’t so “quick” of a release without the key. The receptacle that was on the part of the skewer still in the frame was an odd shape and one that wouldn’t come off without destroying the part. I guess I could have destroyed it to get the wheel off, sold him a new tube and quick release, charged him a whole bunch for labor, but I had another idea.

Luckily, we both knew exactly where the hole in the tube was because a piece of glass had likely caused a small chunk of tire to come out. He had also, in desperation, applied a patch on the outside of the tire over the hole. If we didn’t have that indication, hunting for the hole would have taken much longer.

So, I peeled off the tire in that section, pulled the tube out, patched the tube, booted the tire and sent him on his, grateful, way back to the city. He got to finish his ride without a huge taxi fare and he learned a valuable lesson – well, hopefully, several lessons.

1. Never leave the house without your “special” quick release key.
2. How to fix a flat if you ignore lesson #1.
3. Wait 5 minutes before applying the patch after laying down the vulcanizing fluid.

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