Repairing a Bike Tire

Today is the end of summer. Although the sun is still dazzling, it already feels like autumn. Last night, I went out for a ride on my electric bike for a while. I only wore a T-shirt and felt a chilly breeze.

A few days ago, my colleague told me that his bicycle tire was flat, so he hasn’t been riding to work for a long time. He left it at the subway station and had to push the bike to a repair shop himself, which seemed troublesome. So, he had been procrastinating.

Since I used to ride bicycles a lot during my undergraduate years, I am quite skilled at repairing tires. Therefore, I offered to help him out. Today, the tire repair kit I ordered arrived. It includes three tire levers, a file, a puncture repair glue, and several repair patches.

At around six o’clock today, I brought the tire repair kit, an air pump, and two bottles of tap water, and went to the subway station.

When I found the bicycle, the first thing I noticed was the rear tire, which already had deep cracks. Because it was a small bike, it instantly reminded me of the bike I received as a gift when applying for a credit card near Changqing Lake (which brought a very bad experience, but that’s another story).

Both the front and rear tires were flat, so the first step was to determine if it was indeed a puncture. I pumped air into both tires with the air pump. The front tire was fine, but the back tire was leaking air.

The second step was to flip the bicycle over and use the tire levers to pry open the rear tire.

The third step was to remove the inner tube, inflate it, and carefully identify the source of the air leak.

The fourth step was to use the file to roughen the area around the puncture, but something unexpected happened. I accidentally filed the repair patch (I don’t know what I was thinking at that time). Because the quality of the inner tube was not very good, I ended up using three repair patches. The last one didn’t fit very well.

The fifth step was to put the inner tube back in place, handle the outer tire with the tire levers, and inflate it. After waiting for a while, I realized that there was no more sound of air leaking. Job done.

Although I’m not sure if the tire will still have air after a night, it was in good condition at that time.

I’m someone who dislikes trouble, but I actually enjoy hands-on activities like this. Firstly, when solving this kind of problem, I completely forget about myself and dedicate all my mental energy to it. Secondly, hands-on activities don’t require as much mental effort. For me, who has already worked all day, it’s actually a relaxing activity.

At the beginning of the year, I set some goals for myself, all related to physical activities. My initial thought was to break free from being a natural homebody (not extremely so, but I indeed spend a lot of time indoors) through physical activities. Now, checking the progress, I realize that I’ve made very little progress. However, I have completed quite a few things that were not planned, such as traveling. That’s just how life is. Some things make sense to plan, while others should be left to happen naturally.