A question that popped up while conversing with Baba, ace bicycle mechanic and racer. You can read that conversation here.
He mentioned that very few cyclists in his experience know much about cycling. A tiny bunch of cyclists know how to repair a puncture. He carries spare tubes on every ride of his, because he knows that he will end up helping out a hapless cyclist stranded on the road.
So we asked the CyclingMonks community. Do you know how to repair a puncture on your bicycle? Here’s the response we got!
70% of cyclists said yes, they know how to repair a puncture on their bicycles. 15% stated they did not know how to repair a puncture. And 15% said they know how to change a tube, which allows them to ride home or to the next destination where they can get the puncture repaired.
This 70% is in stark contrast to the experience shared by Baba and many other experienced cyclists we spoke to from all the metro cities of India. These regular cyclists often find riders stranded on the road with a puncture and unable to do anything about it.
What could explain this difference? Here’s what we think:
As cyclists, we tend to notice that 1 rider standing by the roadside, and miss seeing the other 100, who rode past without any issues. The empirical evidence is skewed by our own bias.
People following CyclingMonks on Instagram and voting in this poll are more likely to be regular cyclists and those who have upgraded their skills over time.
People are less likely to vote in a poll that they ‘don’t know’ something, as compared to stating that they do know.