Always try to help if I'm on the bike and been helped in return when it's gone t*ts up for me.
Never seen anyone in trouble when I'm in the car, well not yet.
Common courtesy to ask if you can help, but courtesy seems to be in short supply, I blame the recession/ the government/ parents/ nothing to do with insular miserable individuals obviously 
I always stop/ask, MTBr's & Roadies, we're all the same really i've given a couple of tubes away, helped a roadie put a snapped chain back together, although i am a beliver in Karma it doesn;t always work. A few years a go on the real Ale wobble, at the half way point i managed to snap my chain and had no chain remover D'Oh, luckily managed to snap the chain right by a marshall's spot lo-and behold he didn't have any tools and refused to give me a lift, then a group of bikers come up the track one of whom kindly stops with his chain tool, puts his bike down to help me, at which point this 'tool' of a marshall drives his landrover right over the top of the guys front wheel - none of us could belive it
to be fair, the fact you've got a flat tyre isn't going to be obvious to someone in a car. moving too fast and aren't going to be looking too closely.
I did once stop to help a guy whose chain had snapped and he refused the offer of a powerlink ("don't know how to use them mate"), instead proceeding to keep me waiting for 15 minutes while he painstakingly drove the pin back in.
(i now regret not asking "wanna learn?")
I've also been completely blanked by people I've stopped (well at least slowed) to ask if they need any help, as if they take it as an insult to their self-sufficiency abilities.
These incidents plus the fact that they could be any nutter or a bandit makes me slightly skeptical of stopping, still do at least slow down though and ask.
Ripped a tyre last year out on road ride. Couldn't sort it so limped home shredding the rear tyre. Stopped to help a van driver push his van out of a muddy field entrance (he's tried to do a three point turn and trapped the front wheels). Did a cheeky "are you going my way, as bike knackered?" afterwards to no avail. 5 mins later he passed me without a wave or an offer.
Wouldn't stop me helping again, or in a cyclists case just checking if they're okay (my car permanently has a pump and toolkit/patches in it for some reason).
The other thing that annoys me is the ones that when you slow down to ask, start a long monologue: "well, I think I should be ok, but I have got a bit of a problem with..."
I've gone by then!
A simple "Fine thanks!" or "No!" will suffice!
Well, this bimbo is always appreciative of anyone stopping to offer help. 
But I have also been known to stop and help blokes with lack of inner tube/pump.
Not sure if I would offer somebody a lift though!
I always check to see if they are ok and that they have everything they need, even if they look to be doing ok......people forget items, stuff breaks and sometimes lost whilst out and about.
However only last week I was in my local forest, 2 walkers stopped me and asked for directions, they both looked very anxious, so I offered to take them back to the main fire road back to the VC. They eventually admitted they had been lost for some time.
I would never ignore anyone, its not in my nature.
Always stop (or slow down), have given my spare tube away on occasion.
Last summer on holiday my 7 year old had his first big crash and didn't want to ride any more so we were walking home his bike on my bars and a farmer coming the other way stopped and insisted on giving us a lift.
Even came back to check my son was OK the next day!
Rich you should have got yer thumb out - hitching usually works.
Snapped the steerer tube on my cross bike up on the moors above Snake Pass once. Got back to the road - bike on shoulder thumb out - took about 5 mins to get a lift back down to Glossop. It was over 25 years ago though :-0 but I am sure someone would have still stopped even in these modern times!
Karma innit, always offer to help incase next time it is you. I think keen cyclists are pretty good for looking out for each other compared to other bits of the population.
Rich you should have got yer thumb out - hitching usually works.
Yeah Tim did cross my mind but never hitched before.....
Quite a lot of no pump etc fail in this thread but I always ask, and whenever I have a flat or whatever it always seems like loads of other riders regardless of tribe check you are ok.
Giving someone an inner tube on a 'pay it on' basis is one of lifes finer pleasures.
I carry a powerlink on my keyring. Used it on Saturday for a chap on an Orange 5 with a snapped chain. The bike belonged to his GF's father and neither he nor his GF had any clue about it at all. Just been to the LBS today to restock my keyring
i always try and stop wether be on road or trail.
A couple of winters age I was on my way in to an early shift, 6:15am, minus 20, 2 feet of snow on the verge and snow/ice on the road.
I got 20mins down the road and my diesel froze, rural location, no immediate help or means of calling.
Not one bugger gave me a lift, or even asked if I was OK, despite me making it clear I could use a lift and the fact that they must have just passed my abandoned van. Wasnt even like they were going too fast to see me.
Made me really sad that, I was well equipped and able to walk home with no problems, but they didn't know that. I'd never leave anyone in the shit without trying to help.
I'd probably stop to help anotehr cyclist.. I have a good pump/spare tube/etc in my backpack so feel like I should...
Always stop for motorbikes if safe to do so etc. (And have once been 'saved' by someone kindly doing the same for me.)
Problem with push bikes is a lot of the time you see people on their feet because they're knackered walking up a hill, etc. Or stopping in random places by the side of the road for a rest - may even be stopped and just checking the chain, say.
Not had anyone stop when I had a circa 8 mile walk home, but wasn't really expecting it.
I always offer to help - have done a few punctures and sorted chains for people who couldn't. I don't give tubes away tho - I will mend a puncture for them instead
I was on the receiving end of some help last weekend in sherwood. I was mid race, punctured (rim tape had moved and slit the inner tube on the inside) and started to walk / run back to transition (no pump or tube - so yes my fault) when 2 blokes who weren't racing offered a tube and a pump. So thank you to them.
I usually stop to offer if I think they need help.
A few years ago we passed 2 girls on nice road bikes faffing with a puncture (3 of us also on road bikes) offered support, they declined, in quite an agressive "we're fine, sod off" manner, came back past a good 40 minutes later and they were still there!
I once stopped to help some chap who'd broken his chain. He had a cheap multi tool with a chain tool, but had no idea what to do. I was helping him, and broke his chain tool (I very rarely carry one on the road), felt really bad but there was nothing I could really do other than apologise and ride off!
Stopped to help some other fellow once too who had a puncture in his spare tube on his MTB, I was on the road bike, so there was nothing I could do, but I'd have felt mean riding past.
Helped someone reassemble their headset once on Pitch Hill, their headset was loose, and I'm not sure how, but they'd dismantled the whole thing and didn't have a clue what to do!
Stopped in my car a few times to lend a track pump to folk struggling with a minipump at the side of the road too.
I'm just too nice.
I'd only offer a tube to someone on a 29er.
(No, I don't ride a 29er.)
Always slow down and ask if okay if I'm on the bike. Wouldn't do it if I was driving thoigh
spare tube faulty, pump failed
How do you know the tube was faulty if the pump failed?
I offered someone 10p at the petrol station recently coz they were short - the look of surprise on the ladies face was priceless!
probably thought you were being heightist!!!
i always stop and ask if helps needed
roadie with a saddle hanging off as one of the rails had gone. He was standing up to pedal. I stopped and asked him if he needed a lift, told me that he was only going back as far as Putney and that he'd be fine.That's around 25 miles standing all the way - Hardcore
Not quite the same distance but a friend of mine went up quite some way in my estimation at Afan a few years ago. About 4 miles from the centre, he came off, smashing his derailleur through a few spokes.
We trued the wheel enough for it to roll through the unclipped brake blocks, ziptied the derailleur to the frame and put the chain in a bag. He ran up all the hills and freewheeled down, and we didn't really have to wait around for him.
Edit: I tend to ask "Got everything you need?" if they look like they have a clue, and "Do you need a hand?" if I think they might not. Probably got that wrong on a few occasions, though!
If i was driving, and passed a "walking rider", i probably wouldn't stop - too many freaks and weirdos in the world. But if i pass a rider with a mechanical out on the trails, I'll always stop, ask and help if needed.
I was walking home with a puncture a few weeks back, and was AMAZED when another cyclist stopped and offered me use of him pump. It wasn't going to help though - i had a four inch nail stuck in the tyre! 
I always stop. Even in a car. I got our and fixed a chain and sprocket for a woman in the pouring rain in a lane in Herts a few weeks ago. If I'd been in the CRV, I'd probably have offered a lift - bike rack always at the ready 
.
Oh and I carry two tubes and pumps are fixed to the bike. I'm always happy to offer one, but it might only be 700x25c
Yes always ask whether it be mtb or road. That is when I'm also cycling.
Seems to happen quite often. Stopped and given out 2 tubes and two power links and used 2 co2 cartridges in the last few months.
I'll ask if I can help, and might even give away my spare tube under the right circumstances (if I was close to home, say- I wouldn't be bothered about the money aspect, karma and all that).
On my commuter/town runabout I don't usually have any tools/pump/tubes with me though so if I can see it's a flat I probably wouldn't bother.
I'd offer any walking cyclist help however lacking the ability and equipment to sort a simple puncture is pretty poor IMO.
You only ever make that mistake once!
Nope, Never stop, you never know who's on the scam 
I'd offer any walking cyclist help however lacking the ability and equipment to sort a simple puncture is pretty poor IMO.
You only ever make that mistake once!
Sometimes you get caught out though. I had to borrow a pump from the bike hire place near Ladybower when mine turned out not to work, and the guy lectured me half to death about being ill-prepared. But the pump worked fine last time I used it (a few rides before) so I don't think I'd been particularly daft.
Edit: Off topic I offered someone 10p at the petrol station recently coz they were short - the look of surprise on the ladies face was priceless!
At a filling station in Walsall I went to, they had a bowl of coppers on the counter & a sign inviting you to take some if a few pence short.
If I see someone walking I'd ask if ok. been asked myself a few times when stopped.
always stop,always ask,always help,always seem to find myself fixing other people's bikes,giving directions,doesn't seem to work the other way though..ah well.hugur's right though.had to walk back home a few times,took a few hours(nobody offered me a lift-only lift I've ever got was either in my dad's van or in an ambulance).educating experience.
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