wolfchild

16 years old and living in moms basement.

frogman

Yes but we are talking about bicycles ! Do you have a roadside assistance plan for bicycles too ?

hipslo

Where I live, my AAA plan does cover bicycles as well. I believe its a recent change.

I have been riding off and on, casually, for decades, and have never had a flat. Started to get more serious about riding a few months ago and have done about 500 miles the past two months, Still no flat. Maybe just lucky. I'm sure my luck will eventually run out.

I don't carry a repair kit. I do carry a spare cell phone battery, cash, and snacks.

My rides tend to be long-ish loops (35 to 50 miles or so), though I am never all that far from home. Where i live the riding "feels" quite remote, while never being all that far from civilization.

If I were to get a flat, my first call would be to my wife. While she might be somewhat annoyed, that works both ways for us and is part of the deal. Unless it became routine/ frequent, it would not be an issue.

At some point I will certainly get a flat. When I get my second flat, at that point I'll likely start thinking about learning how to repair/ change a tire. Or sooner, if I start riding farther from home in more remote areas.

I agree that routinely relying on friends to bail you out is inconsiderate and not the way to go.

Bottom line, I think everyone's situation is different, and one size does not fit all.

livedarklions

No, which is why I carry the tubes, levers and pump. So I don't have to call someone who isn't doing roadside assistance for a living.

I didn't bring up roadside assistance, someone else tried to say it's the same thing as phoning a friend. It very obviously isn't. Seriously, was that really that hard for you to follow or do you need to scratch your head because you have dandruff?

wilson_smyth

My kit for cycling:

- Multitool (includes chain tool)
- Spare tube
- Levers
- self adhesive patches (its a tiny pack)
- single chain link
- tiny pump

All fits easily in a small topeak saddlebag, including the pump, with room to spare for keys, glasses and a small snack.
I hope i dont have to use it but glad of it when i do.

My mum showed me how to fix punctures @ about 9 years old with a couple of spoons as levers.
I would need to be in serious trouble before calling for help.

Milton Keynes

My underseat bag contains:

• Spare tube
• Patch kit, containing patches, glue, rough emery paper for buffing the tube, small car tire patches to use as boots, and extra presta nuts. Gravel bike kit contains extra Schrader valve cores. Don't want to lose one way out in the boonies.
• Chain breaker & quick links
• Multitool
• Zip ties for emergency repairs
• Small bottle of hand sanitizer and folded up paper towels (actually carried this pre-Covid)

Then each bike has its own air pump mounted on the frame. Any breakdown worse than a flat tire or broken chain I'll probably have to call for help, but I'm covered for the most common problems.

wilson_smyth

Great idea, very useful item for virtually no additional weight.
Just added some to the pack.

GlennR

What breaks?

I have a rather expensive bike and never had a mechanical issue other than a flats. Sounds more like a lack of maintenance issue.

indyfabz

I’m trying to figure out what truly broken parts one can fix with allen keys. Tighten some that come loose, sure. But something broken unless you’re carrying spare parts?

GlennR

You can tighten things like seatpost, bars, stem, cables. You can also do a temp fix on a rear derailleur. But if a part breaks in 2 then make sure you have the Uber app on your smartphone.

John Valuk

If I get a flat while out riding, the first thing I do is find a moth, then ask it to go fetch a giant eagle.

Then I get out my kit and either patch or replace the tube. In case, like, the eagle's too busy to come right then.

frogman

My mistake, my humblest apology That isn't dandruff in my hair, I am turning gray

Retro Grouch 

Exectutive Summary:

1. If you ride your bicycle enough, you will almost surely at some time experience a puncture.
2. The "A" solution is to have the skill and carry the appropriate supplies to repair it yourself.
3. The "B" solution is to at least carry the supplies necessary for somebody else to be able to fix it for you.
4. The "C" solution is to call for help from some source. Several posters, however, equated the C option to be a sign of weak character.

Maelochs

Not accurate.
A and B are pretty clear.

C is actually, "Pay someone to come rescue you."

D is "Call your mommy because you refuse to take personal responsibility."

Whatever you choose is you .....

Retro Grouch 

Nope. My summary was perfectly accurate. Your D comment was objectively covered in the second sentence of "C".

rsbob 

Regarding C, There are those here which are unnecessarily judgmental. Don’t know why they feel compelled to act that way since shaming has never helped anyone. My advice is to ignore them.

If you are are not comfortable changing a tire, watch a few YouTube videos and practice it a few times at home. On the road is not the place to find out you are missing something or need more practice. “GCN” has a ton of videos on all things cycling from elementary to advanced, plus they don’t take themselves too seriously. Search on GCN tire changing

Good luck!

taylorgeo

Picked up the "Pro" multi-tool. Thanks for the rec.

Maelochs

Totally inaccurate, because the second sentence of "C" only applies to half the cases .... Several posters did Not equate calling for help as a sign of moral failure .... only the subset of "C" wherein people were not willing to compensate their rescuers.

downhillmaster

Yeah?
Multiple people specifically stated that they were not willing to compensate their rescuers?
I missed that. But it is an 8 page thread so maybe I didn’t follow it closely enough and you could point out those multiple people?

Phil_gretz

My (then) 25 year old daughter changed a flat on a friend's car while on a girls road trip. I had never taught her this, but she had watched me do many mechanical things over the years. She told me later (proudly) that she felt that she had to be the one to step up, so they got the manual from the glove box, and followed the instructions.

My advice to you is to gain the skills and personal fortitude to change your own flat. Do it for practice when you're not under pressure, not in the dark and not dangerously close to passing traffic. Learn what you must about properly jacking up your car. Don't live your life passively...

shelbyfv

Retro Grouch has a good summary but I agree with Maelochs that it needs to be four categories. Paying AAA, uber or a cab is entirely different from calling Mom, Sis or some random "friend" to rescue you from your own slacker-ness. I say this having made the call of shame to my wife twice. Once because of heat exhaustion and leg cramps, the other when my freehub froze. Another ride ended in a crash and ambulance trip but I didn't make that call. Apparently there is a continuum of personal responsibility and no agreement as to when we evolve from dependent child to adult. If even a semester of ethics was taught in our high schools we would all benefit, IMO.

downhillmaster

My mailman has a cousin with a 14 year old daughter who juggles running chainsaws while taking the lane on a unicycle on the Santa Monica Freeway at rush hour.
Makes you and your daughter look extremely passive by comparison

rustystrings61 

If I was the OP's friend, with or without having been called to come deal with a roadside puncture, I would probably slip him a copy of Cuthbertson's Anybody's Bike Book or Ballantine's Richard's Bicycle Book, and maybe gift him with a basic multi-tool for Christmas. Those books, especially the early editions, are manifestoes of the joys and virtues of being self-sufficient on the bike, even to the point of militancy. But someone earlier noted the other nice thing about carrying tools and knowing how to use them - being able to help others.

My kit is smaller now, no matter what bag I happen to have on the bike. Typically I'll carry a multi-tool of some stripe, one tube and a full-size frame pump (either an ancient Zefal or a modern Zefal HPX), because I'm an old guy and that's how I learned to do it back before Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon. On my longer-range, ride-out-in-the-boonies bike I'll carry TWO tubes, a patch kit, multi-tool and pump. But for a while there when I used to go on organized rides, I would sometimes carry a few more items, like one spare (used) Look cleat (back when I rode with those) and a couple of spare bolts to mount it, one link of chain and/or one spare master link, sometimes a spare brake shoe or two, and even a looooong shift cable (useful on a 60 cm bike with bar end shifters).

I never needed that stuff - but other riders did. And you cannot imagine the looks chasing each other across the faces of a couple on the Lost Weekend Ride 20 years ago when the wife's STI shift cable failed and they were at the second rest stop pondering what to do, and I walked up and handed them the cable they needed, made sure they knew how to fix it, and wished them a nice day before riding off. Or the guy on a club ride when he realized he had lost a brake shoe on his back brake and I handed him a set of basic used ones and helped him install them. All very Boy Scout, but rewarding for everyone.

Learning to do roadside repairs is LIBERATING. It is a natural part of riding a bike, and the cooler and more road-warrior the impromptu repair, the better!

hipslo

My approach has worked just fine for me over almost 40 years of driving. I wasn't asking for advice or judgement, certainly not on that front, but I suppose some folks just can't resist.

livedarklions

I really think that putting this into "moral failing" or "ethical" terms is a bit of overkill. To me, this is more of an etiquette issue, and like all such questions, context matters. Someone could be right that they have the type of relationship where asking for help when you could have helped yourself is not going to cause resentment. All I think is legit here is to warn people who call for the gratuitous rescue that they might want to be aware that even if the person is saying yes to the request, they might be too polite to tell you that you're annoying them by making it when they know you could easily fix the problem yourself.

I would happily pick up a friend who was having heat exhaustion because no amount of preparation can forestall that, my only concern there would be whether it was more appropriate for the friend's safety to call an ambulance. Might be hard to tell the difference between heat exhaustion and heat stroke over the phone.