1. After discovering the first flat tire ever in the 2+ years of Townie ownership, I did what any blogger would do: Write a post asking for a fix-a-flat tutorial.

2. Adam, who lives just a few blocks away, is the first to respond. He even gives me a shopping list — 3 tubes (2 for spares), tire levers, a tool pouch, and a pump. I have a pump, but walk over to Helen’s Cycles to get needed supplies. Cost: $48.65.

3. Adam arrives cheerfully, then is flummoxed by my bicycle. He requests other metallic tools which I borrow from my neighbor, takes a few parts off, then sadly (see expression, below) aborts the mission and puts the parts back together. Mission Fix-a-Flat’s turning out to be harder than I thought it would be.

4. In the meantime, Gary‘s emailed lending a hand. Since his blog makes me think he’s gotta be one of the most knowlegable bicyclists on the Westside, I skip the other offers for help and write back — this time with pics of what my rear wheel setup looks like (below). He assesses the problem thusly:

Looks like you have an internal hub rear wheel, which is similar to what I have on my go get groceries bike. It’s a little different than a regular wheel because the hub shifter sort of envelopes the bolt to remove the wheel.

I’m not familiar with that particular hub system, but If it is similar to the SRAM brand hub shifter I have there is a little button on it that disengages the shifter to the hub and than you can pull it off to reveal the bolt and unscrew it like a normal wheel. Then when you put it back on you have to reengage hub or it won’t be able to shift.

For my bike with a similar system all I need is 15mm (or is it 16 i forget) wrench to remove the wheel, which I carry in a small saddle bag along with a spare tube and a patch kit.

5. To which I’m like, you lost me at hub shifter. To Gary I email back a more diplomatic “Wow — That all sounds v. complicated to me! I’ll save this for future reference though….”

6. I get one more offer for help (more accurately, a Twitter DM) from my friend Christine: “hey girl! still flat??? i’m in appointments till a little after 4 today…i can fix flats on road & mtn bikes, maybe i can help w ur townie?” That brings the total offers for help to a full half dozen, but by now I’ve thrown in the towel –

7. I pump up the rear wheel as much as I can and roll back over to Helen’s Cycles. The nice guy at the bike shop quickly removes the wheel — he’s fast, but the process looks super complicated — then shows me the culprit: A thin piece of wire, smaller than a staple (below).

8. While the nice guy is un-deflating my Townie, I go to the checkout counter, return everything I bought, and get my $48.65 back. After all, what’s the point in owning the stuff if I can’t fix it on my own anyways?

9. About 10 minutes after I walked in the store, the Townie’s back in its original inflated shape — and gotten oiled and had its brakes checked and adjusted to boot. I thank the nice guy profusely and go back to the counter. Cost, including the price of the new tube: just $14.99 — which again makes me wonder what the point is in learning to fix flats myself….

10. I bike home merrily, right before the sudden patch of rain hit Santa Monica today.

Lessons learned: Bicyclists are super sweet and helpful and always willing to lend a hand. However, changing the back tire of a Townie’s not simple. Still, thanks fellow bicyclists for your willingness to help :) Let’s just hope neither of my tires go flat again for another 2 years –

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