one monkey typing

Another flat tire today on the road bike, this time in front. Another bad patch, but this one was because I put a patch on top of a patch while trying to fix the last bad patch. I knew at the time that it was probably going to fail.

I've thrown out that tube.

Yes, I'm getting a LOT of flat tires. Turns out that high pressure tires are really susceptible to problems.

Odometer: 1884

Had a flat tire (rear), was a bad patch - one of the old square ones done with bad technique. Replaced patch. Rear tire center is clearly worn flat but still lots of miles (it has 1000 miles on it now).

Reconfigured - moved handlebar bag to seat post on a ToPeak T bar to free up bar space for headlight in a normal position.

Chain cleaned and re-lubed with Chain-L lube (new lube). VERY quiet running, supposed to be an excellent lube. Really thick. Chain still does not register as even 0.75 wear on the chain gauge.

Odometer: 1622

As an aside, I had a flat on, um, Thursday I think, slow leak. Patched it Friday morning, found that the Schwalbe Marathon that was on there was paper thin down the middle, so I tossed on the remaining Top Touring 2000 that E.O. gave me a couple of years ago (one of them self-destructed). It's doing well but it feels like it's filled with concrete in comparison to the Marathon. I think it's actually skinnier even though they're both theoretically 32s.

I didn't find what caused the flat, since I rode on it for at least 6 miles after noticing that it was going flat, it probably just came out. But since I'm not using that tire anyway, I guess it doesn't matter.

Odometer: 24006 duh

Had a soft tire last night, started to change it but it was only soft, figured I could pump it up and see how far I could get; at least I could get to a road that wasn't busy with 60 MPH traffic. Made it home, but it was dead flat this morning.

Found a small puncture. Did not find the cause. Installed the spare, the punctured tube is at home awaiting patching, the alternate spare I put in the bag I'm not too sure of, it might be dry rotted. I didn't test it, as I don't have any more spares anyway. I'll test it tonight after I get the other tube patched.

This is my first flat with the Marathon tires. Rear tire, FWIW. It MAY have been a pinch flat, I didn't look at the tube closely. I'll check it better tonight.

I just cut up another tube that was dry rotted along the folds, to use as straps to tie up a tree that needs straightening, heavy duty rubber bands and other utilitarian uses.

Odometer: pretty close to 21000 miles.

Halfway home today my rear blew out. It sounded like a gunshot. I didn't have a spare tube (hadn't gotten around to buying one yet) and I assumed I'd just missed a sharp bit on the valve hole, which wouldn't be patchable (and I hate field patching anyway) and it was an hour walk, so I called the SAG van (J).

When I got home the blowout was on the backside, and it looked to me like I probably nicked it with a tire tool or something, but in hindsight, I don't think this tube ever saw a tire tool; I put the tire ON without tools.

I patched it and put it back on, and about 2 minutes later, got another BANG! right in my ear. The tube had blown out even more violently, the same distance the OTHER side of the valve stem.

Turns out the tire failed around the bead. These tires are quite thin on the sidewall and either they've just seen too many miles or I abused them. Could be the latter; the old rims were actually pretty tough to get tires on and off of, and I did have to work to get them off. But OTOH, the tire looks pretty bad along several parts of the bead.

Anyway, I still have the Race Lite that was on the front last year, so that's going on the back. That's easily got a couple thousand more miles in it I think so I'm probably OK until sometime next year (I'll be buying some new studded tires for winter).



Odometer: 15134
These tires went on at 12907 so the rear lasted 2227 miles. The Race Lites went on new at 5250 in April '06, off at 8459 to mount studs, back on at 9800 and off at 12343 miles in November '07, so it already has 5752 miles on it (it was on the front before).

I also found the new amber xenon strobe in one of the storage boxes from the basement, and got the power cord soldered on to it, dug the mounting plate from the bike parts box, mounted it all up and hooked it up.

Oh, dammit, do I need to put the studs on the bike already? I've made it to late November the last few years. It says snow at 6AM tomorrow morning. I should already be at work by then, but we'll see what it looks like when I get up. I may be changing tires. The afternoon doesn't look bad, but it looks like studs before too long.

I had a flat when I went to ride home this evening. I didn't get the rim tape down properly; the fancy Velox tape is barely adhesive at all, so I had to almost hold it in place while putting the tube in, and I didn't hold it quite well enough, it slipped sideways, and I got a puncture in the tube from one of the spokes protruding in. I used 290mm spokes, turns out I could have used 287s or so; most of them stick in a couple of mm but still below the tape.

I was going to buy Pedro's rim tape but they were out.

Anyway, I had put a presta tube in there and had planned on buying a 21/64 drill bit on the way home to drill for schraeder valve (the car tire standard). Didn't make it that far though, and I didn't have a spare tube with a presta valve. So I borrowed a car to run to the bike shop and buy another presta valved tube. They were closed. So I called for a bail-out from jennlk, bought the drill bit and headed back to work to wait for the ride.

The wheel now has a schraeder tube in it and all is well again. The disc brake is niiice.

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.
( John's continued learning experiences )

Today I found out how much good self-sealing tires do. Squat, that's how much.

I picked up a staple in my tire on the way back from Subway. Just a standard staple from an Arrow staple gun. Two holes. I heard it when I picked it up, was just a couple hundred feet from work, rode in, saw the staple and the green gunk coming out. Pulled the staple, rotated the tire so the holes were on the bottom, went inside for 5 minutes. Came back out, the tire is flat, the holes still leaking even with just a little pressure.

So I pulled a few inches of tube out to patch it. I then found what the stuff is really good for. It goos up the tube so you can't put a real patch on without cleaning. Luckily I was at work, so paper towels, water, and alcohol patches were within 50 feet.

From the manufacturer:
The Slime® sealant seals most holes up to 1/8-in instantly while you ride.

Yeah, right. I'm pulling these tubes out when it's time to switch to winter tires. At least standard tubes I can patch without cleaning off a bunch of green crap.

I also discovered that you get a lot more sweaty pumping to 50 PSI with a mini frame pump than riding the mile to the sandwich shop. But it's not really worth upgrading the frame pump to avoid a little sweat 2 or 3 times a year. I have a floor pump at home.