Aside from practice at home:
1. Tubes are like 5x harder to change on the road than at home. Seriously. I can change a inner tube at home in well under 5mins, but on the road, I think I'm close to 20 minutes per change. And that's with no major mistakes! The CO2 canister is something that you will likely not practice but then pay for it as you stumble with it. It is worths sacrificiing 1-2 of the canisters to practice at home.
2. New tires (not tubes) can suck for changing because they are stiff. They get easier to change as they stretch.
3. Cool/cold conditions also make tires suck to change. They stiffen a lot.
4. Very old tires are super hard to change as well. The rubber hardens and they can become near impossible to change even with tools.
5. A good hand pump is super helpful - even if you use CO2, as the hand pump can really help prefill the tires to identify any catching spots and bulges. The pumps with the small hose that screw on to the valve work the best and are remarkably efficient.
6. The best tool for getting a tough tire back onto a tough rim is the Kool Stop Tire bead jack. It works great, but you def have to get the hang of it and it's not 'magic' in that it will make your life effortless (it's still hard.) But if you have new tires and it's thorn season, it's small enough to stuff in your back jersey pocket in case you do flat out, until at least your tires stretch out over a few weeks.
7. Key trick with CO2 canisters (no pump available): you can prefill the tube with small amount of air using your mouth by pushing down on the valve core with your tongue and blowing. This will make the CO2 go in a lot more smoothly and help mount the tube much more easily compared to when it's all floppy.
But honestly, I've changed probably at least 12 tubes on the road from flats in the past decade, and I don't think a single one of them I was like "dang - I'm good now!" It's always "How the F did that take 20 minutes....?!??"
1. Tubes are like 5x harder to change on the road than at home. Seriously. I can change a inner tube at home in well under 5mins, but on the road, I think I'm close to 20 minutes per change. And that's with no major mistakes! The CO2 canister is something that you will likely not practice but then pay for it as you stumble with it. It is worths sacrificiing 1-2 of the canisters to practice at home.
2. New tires (not tubes) can suck for changing because they are stiff. They get easier to change as they stretch.
3. Cool/cold conditions also make tires suck to change. They stiffen a lot.
4. Very old tires are super hard to change as well. The rubber hardens and they can become near impossible to change even with tools.
5. A good hand pump is super helpful - even if you use CO2, as the hand pump can really help prefill the tires to identify any catching spots and bulges. The pumps with the small hose that screw on to the valve work the best and are remarkably efficient.
6. The best tool for getting a tough tire back onto a tough rim is the Kool Stop Tire bead jack. It works great, but you def have to get the hang of it and it's not 'magic' in that it will make your life effortless (it's still hard.) But if you have new tires and it's thorn season, it's small enough to stuff in your back jersey pocket in case you do flat out, until at least your tires stretch out over a few weeks.
7. Key trick with CO2 canisters (no pump available): you can prefill the tube with small amount of air using your mouth by pushing down on the valve core with your tongue and blowing. This will make the CO2 go in a lot more smoothly and help mount the tube much more easily compared to when it's all floppy.
But honestly, I've changed probably at least 12 tubes on the road from flats in the past decade, and I don't think a single one of them I was like "dang - I'm good now!" It's always "How the F did that take 20 minutes....?!??"