Yesterday I went to get on the bike and noticed the rear was a little soft. I put the gauge on it and it did not register. So in the spirit of this thread I decided to to a trail fix, using only what I had on the bike. 8" irons, bike hand pump and all!
Well, I did use my antique jack stand, but that part of the fix is always cobbled together in the field anyway. I would have found a log, pushed the bike to the sidestand side against a tree, or just laid it on the ground.
I pulled the tire and removed to tube with only a little trouble. The bead was 'locked' to the rim, and no amount of kneeling or stomping would break it, so I used the irons. Two down, one up, and there she went. The bubble juice I use as lube almost doubles as bead locks! I seriously doubt riding flat on this tire would have pulled it off the rim.
I found the hole in the tube, transfered the the location to the tire, and removed a finish nail. I patched the tube, cleaned the tire, powdered the tube, and put it back in. Using those shorty irons means technique is supreme. Let's just say I needed the practice, because I pinched the beejesus out of that tube, about 7/8s of the way around.
Remove, patch, replace.
I found I only needed lube on the last 2/3 of the bead during install, just to let the bead slide down the iron. I brought the iron to 90 degrees, pushed the bead past the rim, and had no pinched tube.
I aired it back up with my $15 double action bike hand pump. I have used the slime compressor and like the hand pump better. It's faster, lighter, and more compact the the slime pump, and doesn't drag the battery down.
I wasn't paying enough attention to the bike's balance and dropped it when I was re-installing the back tire. Doh!
Anyway, I'll chalk it up to experience, and now know I can make it happen on the side of the trail.