How to Change an Inner Tube on a Road Bike

Before you start off for your journey it is always a good habit to check your bike’s tires. A bad tire can simply give you a bad day. Take precautions and don’t let a tire waste half of your precious time. It gets very annoying and nerve cracking if you have to fix your tire in the middle of an important chore, during your trip or on your journey. Thus we say, you should aways check your tire before leaving your house. Our article contains an easy process on How to change an inner tube on a road bike.

Things You Will Need to Get

• Bicycle levers
• Gloves
• An extra replacement inner tube
• Wrench
• Air pump
• Screw driver

Steps on How Can You Change the Inner Tube on a Road Bike

​Step: 1 Safety Comes First

• Keep your hands safe by wearing gloves all the time. Your tires may contain dirt, mud, microorganisms and many more pollutants. It’s always safe not to touch tires with your bare hands. Gloves will also keep your fingers safe from getting a cut, or getting twisted among by the chains or any portion of the wheel rims.
• Your Bicycle may be large or small, when you are going to change your inner tube, you will have to place your road bike in a position it will not fall off. The best way you can work is by positioning it upside down.

Step: 2 Taking Your Wheel Off

• Place your bike upside down. Choose an outdoor location to perform the action, or a secured location. Your road bike should be lying on its seat and handlebars.
• For changing your front inner tire tube, try to loosen the bolts on each side of your front tire. If you are changing your rear tire tubes, you should necessarily remove the cycle chain from the gears.
• Take out your screw drivers and try to take off the nuts joining the wheel axle to the bike. If your bike is old or rusty and the nuts are not coming off, use a lubricant or oil to make it slippery and easy to come off.
• Disengage your brakes, your brakes my sometimes get in between the wheels. IF your road bike has hydraulic brake system then you must not squeeze your level to get the inner tires out. In case you have disc brakes you will not have to disengage your bike brakes.
• You MUST not forget to take off your cycle chain while rotating the pedals.
• Take off the wheel gently first front then the rear tires.
• Nextly use your bicycle levers, in case you don’t have those, you can use a good screwdriver to take the previous tire tubes off.
• Insert your lever or screw driver inside of the rim and deflate your tires, you must lever your tire above the rim. Then pull out the tube from the wheel rims.
• Check for any leaks or holes in your tire tubes. If you notice any spiky object or stone stuck to your tire, remove it, as keeping your tires free from unwanted objects which can cause a puncture is unwanted.
• You should also check your rims, to see if anything unwanted is stuck to it which may cause a puncture.

Step 3: Inserting a New Tire

• Grab a pair of new rear and front inner tire tubes
• Make sure both the tubes are of the same size and correct type which matches your wheel size. You can find the correct tire size by comparing the size with the old one.
• In case you are using an old replacement tube, you need to inflate it with enough air. Use air pumps to push sufficient air into the tires, until it inflates into its original circular shape.
• You also need to make sure your old replacement tire does not have any objects attached to it, or any puncture. If your old tires contain any hole larger than 0.64 cm then you will need to get a new pair of tires.
• Now, you will have to place your new inner tube in between the wheel rim of your bicycle and the outer tire, this can be done by placing the valve inside the rim first.
• Once half portion of the inner tube has gotten inside, you can inflate it to make the process of getting the rest of the inner tube inside easier.
• Do this carefully and make sure that the inner tube doesn’t get twisted or curved while inserting it inside.
• You have now placed the inner tube inside the wheel

Step 4: Put the Wheels Back and Attach Them to Your Bike

• Many of you may think, reattaching a wheel back is a tedious task, but trust us, it is simple and easy. If you were able to successfully take off the wheel from your road bike, you can easily reattach it back too.
• While you are putting back on yours bike wheels, pull back your cycle’s derailleur so that chain from the gear discs can be cleared. As you steadily continue to pull the derailleur, position the wheel carefully in its place.
• After you have put your wheels use your screw driver to tighten the nuts and screws. Take your wrench to make sure your nuts are securely attached.
• Assemble your chains properly, check your brakes
• Squeeze the brake calipers or if your bicycle has a quick release, close the brake calipers latches.
• IF your brakes are working (both front and rear wheel brakes) properly, then you are all set to go.

Final Verdict

This was a complete guideline about how to changing an inner tube on a road bike. Now that you learnt how to carry this process out, try it out often. Do not set off on your journey or work, with an unchecked bicycle, you may find yourself in many unnecessary dilemmas if your cycle tires get punctured at the wrong time. Make it a habit of checking both your inner tubes tires every morning.

Stay safe, happy cycling!

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