bikingshearer 

Exactly this. I have done this at least a dozen times over the years. I have done other random roadside repairs as well, including truing up a minimally-spoked wheel that had popped a spoke and the spoke tension was so high that the rim deformed so much that it was unrideable; it was good enough to get her home.. Most recently was at Cino 2023, where I gave a tube to another rider and installed with the usual admonition to pay it forward some day and with a gentle suggestion that it is a good idea to know how to fix a flat.

One time during an event ride, I helped a young lady change a tube. She and her friends knew the basics, but could not figure out how to get the tire back on the rim. They handed me some tire levers (like I said, they knew the basics), but I said I'd try putting it on bare-handed first to avoid causing another puncture. The young lady expressed surprise that I might be able to do so. Her male friend said: "Are you kidding? Look at the size of him." (I am not a small person.) Made my day. Well, that and actually succeeding in installing the tire with no levers.

I (almost) always ask someone who looks like they might be having a mechanical if they have everything they need. If they say no, I stop to see if I can help. Usually I can, sometimes I can't. On several occasions, I have come across a rider who had just crashed and did what I could; this generally consists of telling them to stay down until injuries/damage can be assessed, convincing them that continuing their ride is a bad idea, and then helping them call for a ride. On the flip side, twice when I had bad crashes, a motorist going the other way turned around, stopped, made sure I was alright, packed up my bike and me, and drove me 10 or 15 miles out of their way to a safe place (home one time, a motel the other time). More folks are good people than are jerks, although the jerks tend to have an impact on one's day far out of proportion to their numbers.

Black wallnut 

I have given tubes away before. I have received water from a car full of random strangers on the Trail of the Couer D'Alenes a couple years ago on a rather hot day. I always ask when i see a cyclist stopped. Since I live and ride in a rural area with a rather small town I don't see many.

plumberroy

Peppermint oil if you can seal the opening . someone puts it in and someone else does the smell check . If you can access it and if it is safe to do so you could run the vacuum and run a candle flame near the joints. It will pull the flame towards a leak. You can buy wind indicator at bow hunting supply store that puts out powder it would pull that towards leaks if running. PVC is rated for 5 pounds of air that is what we test sanitary systems at. At higher pressure it can come apart violently

LarrySellerz

thanks! Great ideas here.

Russ Roth

Last ride into the city I got back to the car and an old guy kitty corner to me was under the hood of his old truck, as I loaded the bike he came over to ask if I could give him a jump. Since I have a 10yo 175k mile minivan still on its original alternator and 6 year old battery with kids that leave the lights on I told him I could do one better and pulled out a jump pack.

Personally, I see someone walking or staring puzzled at their bike I always stop to offer a hand, 2021 was a banner year for giving away tubes on the bike path, went through 5 tubes and 6 co2 cartridges on other people's bikes. most don't seem to want or accept help. The one I had to intercede in last year a group of three friends were chatting outside a bathroom along the trail we were at, and one was demonstrating how easy it was to turn the handlebars on her bike by holding the wheel and twisting the bars around as the stem just slipped completely. The trail is a couple of miles of gentle climbing to that point from either direction so getting there on her 3sp internal old school styled schwinn probably wasn't an issue but it was also meant the return was a couple of miles of descent with turns along the way at a higher speed. I didn't bother asking if they needed help, just straight forward stated she needed me to fix that, explained the issue and what could go wrong, and tightened it really well. The other lady who was riding with her had the same exact bike so it was also checked but was a safe tightness. Really don't think her return trip would have been enjoyable the way that stem could turn.

wheelreason

I'm not a plumber and I stayed at a La Quinta last night, but I'm sure that even schedule 40 PVC in 2" will handle at least 60 PSI of pressure (It's rated for twice that much), and won't collapse even in a deep vaccum. I can pull some down to 250 microns just for S&Gs if you'd like.

plumberroy

Schedule 40 PVC is rated for 100 psi for WATER. IF YOU READ THE SPECS IT SPECIFICALLY SAYS NOT FOR AIR. I have seen it come apart with air and drive a shard the size and shape of a hunting knife through a 2x4 . They do make PVC that is air rated, but it is special order.
PRESSURIZING PVC WITH AIR HAS THE POTENTIAL TO CAUSE SERIOUS INJURIES OR DEATH IF IT COMES APART.
I've been doing this stuff since 1986 in industrial construction, auto industry maintenance and medical maintenance. I won't tell you anything that I am not sure of . I have specs sheets on most plumbing materials at work.

boomer58 

I was on the night shift and driving down a very rural road in the middle of nowhere, snowing and hovering around zero at 2 am. I come upon a car with a couple people standing there. I stop and ask if they need help. They have the car jacked up and the lugnuts off but the wheel is rusted on. I get down and try to pull the wheel and when I grab behind the tire with both hands (gloves) on, the steel belts that were sticking out of the tire sliced my 4 fingers on each hand open right through the gloves. Anyways I ended up getting a sledge hammer out of the truck and a couple hits with that and off comes the wheel. I was pissed at first but after realizing the young girl that owned the car probably didn't have 20 bucks to her name I got over it. I was a rough few days working with my hands cut up. The s#$t you see out there !!!

LarrySellerz

mine is schedule 80, I was thinking of using a prv that is just over atmospheric pressure so much less than the 5 lbs you said to snoop it. Sounds like it’s not worth the risk though. I think I forgot to glue one of the connections but it’s so tight I cannot get it loose

Mtracer

If I see another rider stopped and they aren't obviously just eating, removing a jacket, or talking on the phone, I ask if they need anything. Even then, 90% of the time or more they say they are fine and I move on. A few times, they have asked for help, or sometimes it is obvious with their bike upside down etc.

Most of the time it has been to just put some more air in their tire and they say they are good to go for the few miles they need to get home.

One time a car passed my and a rear tire was all but on fire with all the smoke. They pulled over and I saw it was a somewhat older woman. I changed the tire for her. Same with another trying to change a flat tire on a car. That was scary to see someone not just driving on bald tires, but ones showing cord.

Bottom line, if someone looks like they need help, I offer to help.

skidder

When I moved into my place 30 years ago I'd help the local kids with flats, chains that had jumped off the sprockets, other small things. Those kids have grown and moved on, the newer neighborhood kids are never outside unless the paranoid parents have eyeballs on them at every moment, so if they get something like a flat tire the parents (usually mechanically inept) take the bicycle to a shop for a new tube, Out on the road I usually see other riders with problems already in the middle of fixing things so usually never stop. I'm the odd guy who rides 700x35@75psi tires so don't know how much assistance I can be for the majority around here who ride 700x25 (or 23!) at 100psi. I carry a pump instead of CO2 cartridges if that's of any significance.

msalvetti

I usually ask when I see someone stopped by the side of the road as well. I carry a pump, patches, spare tube, and some basic Allen wrenches. This past summer I fixed a flat for a girl that was out for her first ride on a new bike. Then a week or two later I ran into a guy at night that was broken down. He had no idea why he couldn't shift. The cable had come loose from the clamp, but he had no tools and no real understanding of how the front derailleur worked anyway. Got him back on his way in about 10 minutes.

Mark

plumberroy

Schedule 80 is still not rated for air pressure. If it were me and I thought I missed a joint. I would top coat the joints with PVC glue . If you know what joint is the problem epoxy glue

wheelreason

Yeah, that happens when you don't clean out the cut or the pipe is a tad ovalized, heat the female a touch, it will come right out.

pdlamb

FWIW, I don't always need help when I stop. It gets kind of irritating when I've just bitten off some energy bar, and someone stops to ask if I'm all right. So particularly if I'm on a supported ride, I keep a camera handy. Pull the camera out, wave it around, and everybody who passes figures I'm just taking pictures.

curbtender

That's funny, I once was out for a ride and there was a local club race happening. I pulled over and sat on a gaurd rail to watch and had to keep telling them I was good. I headed up a long hill and was greeted by about 100 people cheering me on, lol.

Nachoman

Many times. As recently as last week.
I ride with a core group of about ten ex racers and I'm usually one of the slowest.
So bringing up the rear, I encounter every flat and every mechanical in the group.
I always stop and help or at the very least keep them company.
Then I expect them to pull me back to the group.

LarrySellerz

my partner told me to pressurize with like 1 psi and snoop it to leak check it, he’s a jack of all trades master hobbyist. do you think this is safe? What were you saying about using 5 lbs to leak check, is that for something like standard schedule 80 pvc or the special order gas rated stuff.

LarrySellerz

I’m the opposite, I ask everyone if they are good, even if I’m pretty sure they are fine, and I usually dont even have tools on me lol. It’s the thought that counts, I want them to know that someone cares.

plumberroy

We test schedule 40 PVC sanitary systems at 5 psi of air you just don't want 40-50psi it will stand 5 psi easily

rsbob 

How dare those arrogant b@$t@rds! What is wrong with them being concerned about their fellow man?! What screwed-up priorities.

Next time, while you are eating your energy bar, have a handful of tacks in the other hand and when they ask, throw the tacks and say, “Who needs help now?!” And laugh maniacally. That will teach them, and you won’t have to wave your phone around. Problem solved.

The nerve of some people.

pdlamb

Happy to provide you with an opportunity for outrage!

kcjc

Asked, but no takers other than club mates. I received help once when I broke my chain and didn't have a chain breaker in my kit (now it is). Other than that, I'm mostly self-sufficient.

spclark 

Not a plumber but in this case I'll offer up a suggestion: If you suspect the leak's in a location you can access, try sticking one end of a short length of 1/4" ID vinyl hose lightly into your ear then with the vacuum system pulling a negative pressure use the other end as a 'stethoscope' listening for the sound of sucking as it passes over/nearby the leak.

And a big 'YES IT CAN" to the admonition not to pressurize PVC DWV pipe over 5 PSI.

LarrySellerz

that’s out of the box thinking… does it actually work?