TTTool

For cyclists, winter is a time for reminiscing and recovery from the previous season.  It is also a time for setting new goals and preparation for the upcoming season.

For me, the past season is reminded by my “bucket of flat tubes”.   That 5-gallon bucket filled with all the bike tubes that went flat on rides during the previous year ( it would be preferable if reminded by a “flat stomach” – oh, well ).  It’s now the time of year when I dig out the bucket and begin the work of tube triage and surgery.  Usually during a Jazz basketball game I will set down with my bottle of rubber cement, huge supply of patches, bike pump, clamps and then go to work.  The 5-gallon bucket also provides a handy dunk tank for conducting “flat forensics”.  This procedure is well-known to most cyclists but I might provide a tutorial at a future date anyway.  Many people new to cycling seem most frustrated by the occurrence of a flat.  I respond by asking them to relate differently to a flat tire.  “Relate to a flat as you would about filling the gas tank of your car”.  A flat is actually less expensive, less frequent, and should take about the same amount of time to replace as filling up your SUV. On the down-side, flats are mostly random.  For me, flats have become a Zen-like activity and I could write an entire chapter on it — but not now.

Fig 1 "a bucket of tubes"... or rather "memories of the previous season".

Instead I am going to concentrate on one often overlooked aspect of fixing a flat.  The act of getting the now unraveled tube back into your tiny seat bag.  Because I fix several tubes in an assembly line manner I am keen on any device that helps me be more efficient.  To that end, I now introduce the Tube Tek Tool or TTTool.

Forgive the poor photography.  Images were taken with an old cell-phone, hand-held, with inadequate lighting. The hand-model was also the photographer.  That’s never a good thing!  This How-To should really be a video but that’s even more difficult when you are the hand-model.

Tube Tek Tool - top view

Tube Tek Tool – “locked and loaded”

detail of rubber band with pull tab – cut from a discarded innertube

…before folding tube onto tool, measure and mark tool for size of seat bag. Once the enchilada is made it cannot be further bent to fit in bag.

attach tube to TTTool using band with tab pull

accordion fold the tube. direction is important to assure proper air venting through valve

gripping tube just prior to doing wrap job- images go temporary blank here because I had to use both hands for this operation

tube is ready to remove from tool

tube and tool detached from one another

a fresh tube pulled from from the TTTool

a shrink wrapped bike tube with pig-tail exposed

a finished end with it’s tail tucked in

shrink wrapped tube with “tire boot” detached – tire boot explained in future post

The finished product — “the whole enchilada”

66cm road bike with shrink-wrapped tube inserted into tiny seat pack

OK, so basically the TTTool is just a flat stick — “Well of course, if you’re going to do it that way”.

At this point you might also be asking, “What’s that toy animal doing on this guy’s seat pack?”

Answer: I’ve discovered that people passing you from behind will judge your cycling ability less harshly when you have a stuffed moose coming out of your shorts.  Streamers attached to your handlebars would probably work the same but they present more of a hazard.

Coming in a future post — “a nifty patch purse”