How to Change a Tire/Tube

Since I've been doing quite a lot of this lately--what with my front tube blowing out a few weeks ago and just recently discovering (after I got everything put back together again) that the rim was just a teeny bit out of true--I thought I would post a how-to on this very helpful skill. Problem is, that only occurred to me after I'd already done everything, so I didn't take any pictures of the tire/tube changing process. So, instead, I post an excerpt and link to a very helpful article at BikeWebsite:


Let all remaining air out of the bicycle's tire.

First, try removing the bicycle's tire without the use of tools. Set the bicycle wheel on the floor with the valve at the three o'clock or nine o'clock position. Grab the top of the tire in one hand, and try to pull it sideways, over the top of the rim. With fat tire bicycles this is generally quite easy. With thin tire bicycles, you may find it nearly impossible.

If you cannot remove the tire without tools, use a couple of tire levers if you have them, or the backs of some forks or spoons. Try to avoid using sharp screwdrivers. Start by inserting one tire lever anywhere between the tire and the edge of the rim. Insert the lever just far enough to pry the edge of the tire over the edge of the rim.

It is very easy to poke a hole into the bicycles inner tube.

After prying the edge of the tire over, insert one more tire lever about four inches (10 cm) from the first one and pry a little more tire over the edge of the rim. Take out this second lever and re-insert it another four inches away and pry over the edge of the tire again here. Soon the whole side of the tire will be loose enough to finish prying over by hand.

Pull the inner tube out of the way and finish by prying the other side of the tire off the rim.

Read the rest of the article here.

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