How to Change a Bicycle Tube

This is an Instuctable to show you how to change a bike tube.

-A bicycle

-Tire lever

-A 6 mm Allen wrench (depends on the axle type)

-A 15 mm box wrench (depends on axle type)

-replacement tube

-air pump

-small awl or pick

The tire lever (shown in the above image) is the most important part for this project in the first step we will examine axle type and it can be determined if an Allen wrench or box wrench will be needed.

To change a bike tube it is necessary to remove the wheel from the bike. To do so the user must identify which axle type their bike has so that they can use the correct tools for the job. The left is the most common it is called a quick release skewer and requires no tools to remove the wheel. The top right is a thru-axle and will require a 6 mm Allen wrench which is shown in the image. The bottom right is a 15 mm axle nut that requires a box end wrench to remove. From this point on in the tutorial I will only show the most common but the principles to loosen and tighten the other fastener types is as simple as righty righty tighty lefty loosey.

It is important to have the bike in a position where you can access all the components that you need to. The most ideal solution is to use a bike stand that clamps on the seatpost to hold the bike off of the ground. This is not necessary and is impossible when you need to change a tube on the side of the road. If you don't have a bike stand you want to balance the bike on its seat and handle bars as shown in the image. Being careful not the let the bike tip and fall.

On all bikes the tire is wider than the wheel which makes it necessary to loosen the brake to get the tire out. The bottom right picture is a disc type brake that will not interfere with removing the wheel. I will discuss the two most common types of brakes there are many other types of rim brakes but the techniques used for these two are applicable to all others. The idea is to add additional slack to the brake cable so that the pads spread farther apart allowing the tire to pass through them. First make sure that the tire is completely deflated. The picture on the left shows a standard caliper style brake these will all have a small lever near where the cable clamps. This simply needs to be rotated from the open to the closed position as shown in the next image. The middle picture on the left is a linear pull style brake to add slack to the cable the part labeled noodle needs to be removed from the noodle holder. This is done by squeezing the separate arms together and pulling the noodle up.

This step is only relevant if your changing the rear wheel on a bike with gears. The bike needs to be shifted into one of the smallest cogs so that the chain will have enough slack in it to remove the chain from the cassette when we take the wheel off of the bike in step six. The picture on the left is wrong the one on the right is correct.

The quick release just needs to be moved from the closed position (left) to the open position (right).

The front wheel can simply be removed at this point. However if you are removing the rear wheel then the chain and derailleur will be in the way. To get the chain out of the why you simply grab the derailleur as shown on the left and pull it down and back as shown on the right. Pay attention to how this pulls the chain out of the wheels path. The wheel can now be removed.

Now insert the tire lever as shown in the top left image opposite the side of the valve stem. Pull down on the tire lever such that it pulls the bead of the tire over the edge of the rim as shown in the top picture on the right. Now slide the tire lever around the wheel until the bead comes off. Then, as shown in the next two pictures remove the tube and tire.

Now check that the rim liner (red part on left) is covering all the holes on the inside of the rim and that it is not bunched up. Also feel on the inside and look on the outside of the tire to check for thorns remove any that are found. This step is important or you will pop the new tube when you put it in. Also at this point you should check the pressure the tire needs to be filled to and if the tire is directional. This info is found on the side wall of the tire.

At this point in the process all the steps are essentially and inverse of one of the previous steps so assembly should go along smoothly. You will start putting the tire back on by working one of the beads on so that the tire is halfway on the rim. Then you will insert the valve stem into its hole and tuck the tube back into the tire and then roll it onto the wheel. It may help to add a little air to the tube at this point. It is important to make sure that the tube is not bunched up before putting the second bead back on. Now push the second bead on as far as you can before you need to use the tire lever to pry it back on the rest of the way. Be careful not to pinch the tube. You can now inflate the tire. It is smart to stop every 10 psi to check that there are no bulges in the tire and that the bead has not come off the rim or you could pop the tube.

You will pull the derailleur back and out of the way again like was done in step six. Then seat the wheel into the dropouts so that there is no gap in-between the bike frame and the wheel axle.

When tightening the quick release it is important to push the wheel into the dropouts so that the axle stays properly seated. You should adjust the nut on the opposite side of the quick release (bottom right) such that the lever begins to have resistance about halfway through its travel as shown in the image on the left. The closed position is shown on the top right. Be sure to position the lever near the frame so that it wont snag on anything.

Either move the small lever back to the original position or reinsert the brake noodle that was removed in step 3.

Now you need to pull both brake levers and make sure that the brakes are engaging properly. Spin the pedals without being on the bike to make sure the chain is meshed with the gears. Give both wheels a small side to side push to make sure that there is no play in either of them, do the same thing to the crank arms (part the pedals attach to). Look over the bike for any loose fasteners, stiff/loose bearings, or frayed cables. If you find no issues its time to ride. If you found an issue you can either try to find the technical information to fix it online or you can take it in to your local bike shop to be fixed.