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Can someone please explain this in-joke?
It appears on threads on a regular basis (flytipping today) and I simply don't get it (probably because I a guilty as charged!).
Is there some real fact behind this, or is it merely a STW in-joke? 😉
Wasn't it a thread a few weeks ago?
STW in-joke 😉
TINAS IIRC, or might have been Cynic Al
It's a big-hitter thing.
No sure mogrim (hence the numpty in the title!), but seems to be an enduring topic
OK - so there is no harm (at least outside a joke) in turning a bike upside down to mend a puncture?
It's a well known fact that if you turn your bike upside down, all the air will run out of your tyres
THM - Thanks for asking this. It's been befuddling me too 🙂
OK - so there is no harm (at least outside a joke) in turning a bike upside down to mend a puncture?
Nope, there are just some sad people that worry about getting their saddle/grips dirty and possibly even scratched!!! 🙄
michaelbowden - Member
Nope, there are just some sad people that worry about getting their saddle/grips dirty and possibly even scratched!!!
...does that link in to another STW in-joke abut folk who ride at trail centres? 😉
Fairly sure it was a thread on the other forum that ran for quite a few pages. Quite a few months ago now if iirc. Cynic-al was definitely involved. So yeah, a big hitter thread.
Cynic-al and some others think its not cool to turn your bike upside down to fix a puncture. I thought they were joking, but apparently it's some weird point-scoring bike mechanic thing. 😕
I thought it was an obvious one. You always had it upside down as a kid. You keep it the right way up as an adult, generally after you've spunked £100's on expensive brakes etc
On a more serious point, if you have a Reverb, you don't really want to be creating any opportunity for snapping off the remote, 'cos they are chuffing expensive!
I have a reverb, the remote is mounted under the bars. 😉
I also have expensive brakes, but don't care one little bit if the levers get scratched. It's a mountain bike!
So a mixture of sensible advice and in-house joke then, it seems?
I have never had an expensive bike, so the sensible advice doesn't really apply to me, but I can understand it now though.
Thanks for helping to sort this out!!
It's the most stupidest thing I've ever heard, if you removed the rear wheel you would have to rest the bike on the mech.
jekkyl - Member
It's the most stupidest thing I've ever heard, if you removed the rear wheel you would have to rest the bike on the mech.
Or you could lie it on it's side.
I'm my recent experience this is usually best done in the middle of the trail at a busy trail centre. 😉
I think it was argued to death a few months ago.
Basically, if you turn your bike upside down, you are a hand-fisted mechanically inept heathen in the eyes of the self-proclaimed pros who don't.
upside down is where it's at........**** fashion and wrench monkey's.
British Cycling's official recommendation* is to turn a bike upside down to remove the wheel, then lay it on it's side (obviously the non drive side), whilst you fix the puncture, and then turn it back upside down to put the wheel back in.
*I think.
But really what you should do is just go tubeless, and not puncture ever.
I think it was this one:
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/turning-bike-upside-down-to-fix-punctures
triggered by a poll revealing that 2/3rds of people turn their bikes upside down to fix a puncture, a statistic so shocking that it prompted 8 pages of intense discussion.
so by not turning upside down you can avoid scratching/marking the brake levers and the saddle. To avoid this you lay it on it's side potentially scratching/marking your brake levers and/or parts of the frame and/or marking/bending your rotors whilst also massively increasing the size of the ground you're covering. This means there is larger potential that a cyclist/dog walker/numpty will ride/walk/stomp on your bike on their way past. Like I said the most stupidest thing I've ever heard 😀
upside down is where it's at........**** fashion and wrench monkey's.
🙂
Last time I had my bike upside down I almost lost 1 cm of my index finger 🙁
grum - Member
I have a reverb, the remote is mounted under the bars.I also have expensive brakes, but don't care one little bit if the levers get scratched. It's a mountain bike!
^^^^^ THIS!
OK firstly I am no mechanic so don't shoot me down as this is only what I have been told - but I have heard if you have Avid brakes (yes me too) that turning the bike upside down can cause a bubble in the air and therefore you have to bleed your brakes lots. (My mate had many problems with his avid's and was told this maybe a factor)
However I have exlixir r's on my Heckler and it has spent lots of time upside down, including every time I get a puncture 😯
I fall into the "don't really care, I'll do what makes life easiest" camp, but I have to say that I have sucked a bubble into my brakes (open system levers, lever pressed when bike upside down) and it also seems to affect my coil/oil damping in the very short term (first 30 seconds or so) so I don't bother. That said:
It's usually very easy to find and fix a puncture with the wheel still QR'd in place, since the invention of disc brakes.
It's perfectly possible to balance a bike right way up without damaging anything, using nature found all around you.
I don't care what others choose to do, whatever works for them.
I dislike scratching my bike bits, especially expensive ones, for no reason. A crash is fine, but to scratch them through ham-fisted stupidity seems criminal - if I have to flip it, I'll do it on grass/foliage.
OK firstly I am no mechanic so don't shoot me down as this is only what I have been told - but I have heard if you have Avid brakes (yes me too) that turning the bike upside down can cause a bubble in the air and therefore you have to bleed your brakes lots. (My mate had many problems with his avid's and was told this maybe a factor)
There's a simple answer to that problem - don't buy Avid brakes.
Fox forks (and maybe others) like being stored upside down btw.
I heard turning your bike upside down attracts Al Qaeda insurgents to your trails....
DrP
i dont care what al says. if i am out and need to sort something and it would be easier for the bike to go upside down. then guess what, its going upside down. i have heard that it can cause brake problems but as i bleed my brakes regularly and throughly i have never had a problem!
Turning it upside down kills kittens and makes the unicorns frightened. Don't do it, won't somebody think of the children?
I don't turn it upside down because I don't like scratching the hoods on my road bike and cross bike, or risk damaging the reverb remote on my MTB.
Why do you need to bleed your brakes regularly? Never needed to bleed a brake in over 10 years unless changing a hose or renewing fluid.
Surely this thing about an air bubble moving in the brake system only happens if your brakes haven't been bled properly in the first place. If they have there shouldn't be any air in there should there?
FWIW I an delighted for anyone to put their bike upside down to fix it.
I'm really not bothered what you do, but I'll do it the proper way 😛
Last time my bike was upside-down, so was I, a few yards in front of it. We both survived.
Crikey - how did I miss the original thread? Some serious pack hunting off poor njee on the original!! I am sure he survived though - (and whats wrong with washing mud off your tires (guilty again) and generally looking after you bike (even my basic one)?
I never realised that so much had been written about this!!
To summarise all previous threads on this:
When repairing a puncture ...........
Turn bike upside down = proper cyclist that looked and acted like a TDF winner
Turn bike upside down = half wit
it was something like that anyway 😀
Surely this thing about an air bubble moving in the brake system only happens if your brakes haven't been bled properly in the first place. If they have there shouldn't be any air in there should there?
No, open systems use a non-sealed (hence the origin of the name I guess) reservoire of fluid to add fluid when wear occurs under atmospheric pressure. In it's resting state the master cylinder (lever) is connected to the reservoire and in turn so is the hose. Upon pressing the lever the connection is closed and the line is pressurised. This means that you can have bled the system perfectly well but there will almost always be a small bubble in the reservoire that has the potential to float into the open line when the lever is inverted. Many designs try to stop this (hope use a small diaphragm to seperate the atmospheric pressure from the fluid itself) but often it's nigh-on impossible to place the diaphragm without ANY air getting into the top of the fluid chamber. 99.9% of the time that's fine and won't be an issue, but extended period upside down increase the risk that the little tiny bubble might find your hose.
I think you're assuming bike brakes are closed systems, which very few are these days.
I keep my puncture repair kit wrapped up in a picnic blanket. All the upside down, none of the scratches. Also handy when I stop for an energy gel.
pffft, upside down is so big-hitter 2012.
Sideways is the new 2013 fat-on-a-27.5"er.
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I generally carry a workstand in my backpack.
Someone turned my bike upside down once... I was livid!
Real men don't stop to repair punctures.
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To summarise:
Turn bike upside down = using logic, rational thought and common sense.
Bike with wheels up = Roadie.
Bike with wheels up = upside down bike?
Last time my bike was upside-down, so was I, a few yards in front of it
Wasn't I there when that happened? Two crashes in about 2 mins wasn't it?
porlus - Member
Last time I had my bike upside down I almost lost 1 cm of my index finger
At least I'm not the only one. Me too about 2 weeks ago, lamely demonstrating how to build the bike up and put the back wheel in...
Currently end of index finger stitched on, in splint as fractured bone, and I have to shower with a plastic bag over it. It's significantly affecting my ability to ride - so in short don't do it... 🙂
I carry a sofa round with me and should i need to stop just whip it out of my pack and lean the bike agains it.
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/stu-b/7813567834/ ]TBLTC[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/stu-b/ ]singlespeedstu[/url], on Flickr
It's a well known fact that if you turn your bike upside down, all the air will run out of your tyres
when I get a puncture the air falls out of the bottom of my tyres, it only makes sense to turn the bike upside down so I can pour it back in.