I love my bike. I really do. I may not show it much, but when the rubber hits the road (heh) I think I come through for her.
Like last week, her front tire went kablooie. I don’t know why or how it popped but I bought her a new tube, just because I think she deserves it. It worked great on my test trip around the block. It was fantastic when I went shopping. It was brilliant halfway to work this morning.
And then, it went kablooie again. Again ! What the heck is up with that? I had to lock her up near a place with a pump and walk the rest of the way to work, with my goofy bike clothes and helmet-hair blowing in the wind. And tonight my plans of rushing home and getting some Chinese food before my evening appointment may be messed up because instead of getting home in 20 minutes (yes, she rides like the wind) it will take me closer to an hour, assuming I can get enough air to get me home at all.
Look, bike. You and I go way back. You take care of me and I take care of you. I got you that nice tune-up last fall when you were making that funny noise, remember? I keep you indoors at night, I lube your chain all the time, and I’m all set to sign up for a bike repair course - in fact, I was going to take you to do it tomorrow, but if the tire situation is unresolved … well, I may just have to walk to the bike repair place and I don’t think either of us will be happy with that.
I’m sorry I abandoned you halfway across town this morning. I pray that Toronto’s notorious bike thieves will ignore you. And I trust you will reconsider your shoddy treatment of your brand-new tube.
Sorry about your troubles, gad-dummint, but you should never leave home without a spare tube and/or patch kit and at least a small frame pump or C02 carts. Especially if you commute. After the first puncture, did you examine the inside of the tire for stray glass, whatever, that caused the first puncture? I’m betting that’s what caused the second puncture. Have faith, these usually happen in bunches. I’ve gone 1000 miles without a flat, then had four within the next 200. Hope your bikes still there when you get back.
If it’ll make you feel any better, my record is seven punctures in one day. At least I had seven patches. And a mere puncture is nothing to blowing out a tirewall 10 miles from the nearest bike shop. Or breaking a rear axle.
heh, once I borrowed my roommate’s bike to ride to work 5 miles away, the chain snapped 2.5 miles along and I was miles from the nearest bike shop / public transit. Snapped. In the middle of nowhere. (Actually, it was in the middle of an enormous roundabout, to make matters worse it was in England so all the cars were going in the wrong direction!) I had to ask the only passer-by I saw, in my 2.5 mile walk to work, for directions to the nearest bike shop. This passer-by was about 6 years old, he told me there was one ‘down this road, and past my school, and then turn right at my friend Brian’s house …’
Where I live now there are shops dotted along my route to work, so it’s not too big a problem.
Puncture repair kits: I have one but don’t really use it, I can never find the puncture and I end up spending waaaay more time fiddling with the blasted tube (and buckets of water, etc) than it would take to just replace the damn thing.
Do you reckon the fact that the tire itself is kind of worn and cracked have to do with the repeated tube kablooies?
I also have had mine for a few years, and am quite attached to her, she’s a beauty.
When we bought our house 3 yrs back, we constructed a lovely shed to house gardening things, lawnmower, my bike, stuff like that. And it was a perfect fit.
But then, the evil mister acquired a motorcycle, and it HAD to go in the shed for the winter. Much grumbling but okay, I guess. My bike gets relagated to under the overhang by the side door. It would seem to offer some protection and I draped an old bbq cover over it.
But then the winter of unending ice and snow arrived. And snow dams built up on the roof ( situation on the summer repair list, not to worry ) and then over the over hang. At one point I dug through 5+ft of snow just to see how she was doing.
And it was very, very sad. She was entirely entombed in ice almost up to the pedals, a solid block, not to mention the 2 inch coat that covered everything.
And as far as I’m concerned it’s all because of that damned motorcycle. Worse yet now he wants another one!
Sweet. Thanks for the website, Tapioca, and the advice. I suspected as much …
She’s really in pretty good shape overall, considering I’ve spent less than $100, total, on her since I bought her two years ago. I will splurge on a new front tire, she deserves it !
See if you can find a tire liner. It’s a long strip of tough plastic or Mylar that you put between the tire and inner tube. It won’t protect against sidewall punctures, but it will stop thorns and even small nails. Also look for some automatic puncture sealant compound. It’s a liquid you put inside the inner tube that coats the inner surface. When you get a puncture it oozes out then hardens to form a seal. It’s not as good as a regular patch, but it will hold well enough to get you to your destination if you can’t patch it on the spot.
I had a bunch of flat tires last summer (about one a week or so it seemed). As a consequence, I became something of an expert in fixing flat bike tires. I think my record from initial stop to removed tire to patch to reinstall and reinflate was somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 minutes (most of it spent pumping with that @#$@! hand pump).
Carrying a hand pump and rudimentary patch kit is absolutely essential if you’re be riding more then about 3 blocks from home. It’s also not a bad idea to carry one of those multi-tool things.
I would recommend purchasing 1 or 2 extra tires at a time. Fronts wear much slower than the back. When the rear tire wears throw it away & put the front on the rear. You want your best tire on the front bc if the front fails at speed you will crash.
The advise about using tire liners is good if you are commuting. However occasionally tire liners cause flats BC they wear on the tube. Also they make changing flats some what harder bc they tend to get in the way.
If you can carry it on your frame buy a Zefal or Blackburn frame pump. With these you can re inflate most tires easily/quickly.
Another poster said flats come in bunches, and that is so damn true.
Sorry to hear about your flat. Here’s a couple of hints on fixing it:
Take the tire off with the tube still inside of it. At the very least, keep the position of the valve stem and the tire the same. Now inflate the tube and locate the puncture. If you’ve kept the tube and tire positions constant, you can easily search the small portion of the tire near the tube puncture to find the cause.
If the puncture on the tube is 2 small holes (instead of one), you’ve suffered what is known as a ‘snakebite’. This occurs when the tube is not properly seated inside the tire and is pinched between the rim of the wheel and the bead of the tire. You can usually avoid this by very slightly inflating the tube before putting it inside the tire and mounting it on the rim.
Since you mentioned that your tires are worn, look closely at your sidewalls. If there are threadbare patches, or actual holes, its time to get a new tire. The flat may have been caused by the tube squeezing out through one of the sidewall holes.