How To: Change a Bike TIre
So you have a flat tire? Crappy.
1. If you have a tiny hat, put it on (any hat will work, but the smaller the better).
2. Get everything out of the way of the wheel. If it's a back tire you need to change, release the brake and disconect the gear-selector cable if neccessary.
3. Take the wheel off the bike. To do this, deploy the quick-relase skewer, or loosen the nuts on either side of the axle. This bike has nuts. Hee hee, nuts.
Then
4. Put bike down.
5. Use a tire lever to pry the tire off the rim
And insert three tire levers between the tire and the rim, and then use one tire leveler to disengage the tire from the rim altogether, by runing the tire lever all the way around the rim, between the tire and the rim.
6. Pull the tube out from the tire.
7. Get out a new tube to replace your busted one. Attach it to a bike pump and inflate it just a little bit (maybe two pumps).
8. Insert the valve through the hole in the rim.
9. Starting at the valve, and working around, insert the tube between the tire and the rim.
10. Being careful not to pinch the tube, push the tire back onto the rim, using your thumbs, until it is secure. If it is difficult to get the last part back onto the rim, use a tire lever to force the tire over the rim.
11. Now that you have the tire back on, inflate the tube. Hook the valve up to the bike pump and pump it until it seems full: you can't press it down with your thumb, and it bounces cheerfully.
12. Reattach the wheel to your bike. Tighten the nuts or quick-release very tightly so your wheel doesn't fall off when you're riding. Reattach all cables you had to un-do at the start.
Beautiful! Go for a bike ride!
