Flat tire fun

[johnridley]

After Wednesday's fun:

I flatted both new tubes on the way home Wednesday, patched one, rode home on it, and THAT went flat after getting home.

I stopped at the bike shop after the first flat on the way home; he thinks maybe I have a bad (or mis-fitting) rim strip; it's a cheap rubber one and he says they squirm around, and he never uses them. Seems odd that I'd suddenly start having trouble with this, but after thinking about it, maybe; the new rim is much narrower, and the double wall means the tire is a lot harder to get on; I have to use tire levers, which could be pushing the strip around.

I bought his recommended cloth rim strip (basically $3.50 for 2 meters of hockey tape). I put that on Wednesday night after the last flat, patched up all my tubes, and am ready to go again. I hope this does it, because I was really getting irritated at my apparent inability to change a tire without poking holes in the tube.

I've only ridden a little over a mile since then, just around the corner and back to run an errand. We'll see how it holds up.

Oh, and the new pump is awesome. Topeak Road Morph with integral pressure gauge; it's sweet and it's fast and it can get up to high pressure without killing you doing it. It IS a little bigger than a standard mini pump, I had to mount it all the way back of the top tube to get decent access to my water bottle, but it fits OK there.

Also in response to Wednesday's fun, I went and got a cell phone again. When I flatted the second time on the way home, the first thing through my mind was that I was now going to be QUITE late and I was really bugged that I was past town and had no way to call home.

I just bought a blister packed phone from Virgin Mobile, pay-as-you-go on Sprint's network. It seems pretty good, signal is pretty good, and for as little as I talk I think this will cost me $10 or less a month, far less than what the Verizon cost me.

Comments

phone costs

[lindaatzarquon.livejournal.com]

I'm counting down the days when my Verizon contract ends and I can cancel my phone. What a waste of money. If you ask me, anything more than $10/month for a phone (wired or wireless) is a waste of money. Unfortunately, it's also hard to find.

Re: phone costs

[bloggingchick.livejournal.com]

I agree. Hence I no longer have any cell phone, pager, etc. Anytime I have to drive beyond normal range (work, school), which is very rare, I can borrow a cell phone from work.