Got my first puncture after 4 months cycling to work and back (1,100 miles in total) this morning. It's a rear wheel one. I manged to get to work. I have never had the rear wheel off my bike before. Does it come off easily? What do I need to do?

Edited September 24, 201015 yr by dkohara

I find it best to take the plate off the bottom of the controller box to enable me to disconnect the motor cable. Then loosen the wheel nuts, open the rear brake and pull the wheel up and forward (with the bike upside down). It does get stuck sometimes but a whiggle and it comes free.

 

Edit: I forgot that there are two cable ties holding the cable to the frame - I keep a few spares in the panniers just in case.

Presumably I need to put it in it's lowest gear to help? I was going to put it into my local bike shop, but I might just do it myself. Is it easy? I might invest in some puncture resistant tyres as well whilst I'm on.

I haven't ever worried about which gear the bike was in, but it might be helpful to have the derailuer away from the hub.

 

It is only marginally harder to remove the wheel than on a normal bike, it does however take a little longer due to the motor cable.

 

The Schawalbe Maraton Plus tyres seem to have a good rep. I have had one on the rear wheel for about 3000 miles with (touch wood) no problems.

I haven't ever worried about which gear the bike was in, but it might be helpful to have the derailuer away from the hub.

 

It is only marginally harder to remove the wheel than on a normal bike, it does however take a little longer due to the motor cable.

 

The Schawalbe Maraton Plus tyres seem to have a good rep. I have had one on the rear wheel for about 3000 miles with (touch wood) no problems.

 

I'm going to take the bike to my local bike shop tomorrow and ask him to replace the tube and fit some Schwalbes. At the moment I just don't have the time to do it myself, and i'll be supporting a local business. Doing the rear wheel thing out on the road is just not practical, so need tyres I can rely on.

As a dutch bike mechanic i've mounted a few hundred marathon plus tyres. I have never seen one with a flat through puncture only worn innertyres due to poor inflation. Keep them weekly to 5 bars pressure and they'll give you a problem free 10000 km.

You don't need to take the wheel out to fix most punctures, with a little practice it takes 5 mins to fix on the side of the road. You don't need to disconnect any electrics to change a tyre on a 905, there should be just enough slack to get the tyre out if you have it just out of the dropouts.

Edit: highest gear makes it easier.

Edited September 24, 201015 yr by Mussels