Flats and Tires

Monday night I had a random blow out flat. The tube was toast: There was a centimeter diameter hole in it that had ripped into an even larger tear.

I swapped that tube out and went to the bike shop to refill my supply of spares. The shop informed me that I was using too large of tube by using the tube which says it fits my tire size: Life is so straight forward. So, now I have about a billion tubes for 32-35c tires.

On Tuesday night I discovered the same tire had jumped up over the rim in one spot. I found this out on my way home as the tire rubbed on the brakes: Shockingly I was able to go quite a way like this before I realized that vibration wasn't from the road.

So I got to use my frame pump twice this week. I hate frame pumps!

I can't wait for those new wheels so that, at least on dry days, I can ride with decent tires!

Flat Tire. Crap!

The odometer reads 804 (it's been a long winter), and poof. The tire begins deflating after a winter formed crack in the bike path.

So I bought a patch kit and bike mountable pump today; and a couple of spare tubes. The tube was patchable though, so I figured a $0.30 patch would be fine over a $6 tube.

Oh well, I was ready for the ride to be over anyway. It was cold today. The temperature was fine, but there was a lack of sun exposure and it was very windy.

I also saw warming patches at the shop. For $2 I'll skip them and buy shoe covers. But I'm wondering if I can order a box online for something more reasonable, like four times cheaper.