Riding a bike wouldn’t be fully rewarding if it always took you from A to B no matter the time, the weather or road conditions. So once in a while – often when you’re least excepting it or you’re really in a hurry – your bike will remind you it needs love and make you stop for a minute or two of mechanics intimacy.
And when your bike faces you with a flat tire they’re no escaping its needs for bonding: you have to fix it or you’ll be late to work.
As most of the cyclists I carry a bag when I’m riding so I thought I could open it up and show you what’s in it that helps me handle those situations. The first thing you should do when you have to fix a flat tire is remove the problematic wheel. There are probably guys out there who can patch a tube without dismounting the wheel but I’m not one of them and I’d put on a new tube rather than patch the old one anyway. Tubes are quite cheap and I can’t be bothered to find the hole, apply the glue and patch, … especially when it’s pouring rain or -10 degrees.
I own two sets of wheels which are not of the quick release kind and, even better, are of different standards: 15mm nuts on one set, skewers with Allen key heads on the other. But I found a nifty multi-tool that supports both standards (with different spanner end sizes), has a lockring hook and even a bottle opener (specifications): the Pedro’s Trixie.
It’s light & flat and therefore easy to fit in a bag. A must have in my opinion even though it’s not that cheap.