Yesterday, I got a flat tire on the way home. With some ongoing pumping action, I got Buddy home. Today was a different experience. THIS time I rode my wife's bike (
being too lazy to fix Buddy's flat immediately). Today, I got a flat about five miles from home. Today, I fixed the flat, apparently caused by terminal incompatibility between Specialized Armadillo tires and old-style rims. Bang - and there goes a tire/tube combination that has been on the bike for five months with no prior indication of any problem at all! Walking home five miles or walking to work seemed like much more of a PIA than simply fixing the durn thing. So I fixed it.
It really DOES pay to know how to fix flats. All told, including the
very slow pumping action with the mini pump, I lost about 10 minutes and still got to work in plenty of time.
It seems that I shall have to patch some tubes, as I'm quickly running out of them!
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| Two Bikes, Two Days, Two Flats |
5 comments:
The last flat I got was a pinch flat that no repair kit was going to fix. The flat before that was from somehow unscrewing a presta valve head and having it go soaring away never to be found again. Never did figure out how I managed that one. I was just trying to put a little air in the tire. I cary a spare tube along with my patch kit nowadays.
My flats seem to come in 3's. I wish you luck.
Bummer. What makes you suspect a tire/rim incompatibility?
For reasons I can't imagine, I've started going through tubes that have leaked for repair purposes. I discovered that my December flat was probably a pinch flat, no doubt caused by an unusually giant pothole.
I think I didn't have flats in threes. I didn't get a flat today. Instead, I got a thunderstorm.
I suspect the tire/rim incompatibility because I have had Armadillos blow off of "non hook bead" rims on several occasions in the past. After about the third failure, I noticed a warning on the Armadillos about using them on hook bead rims. Apparently, 27" Armadillos are not ideal for most 27" rims. I have NEVER had an Armadillo failure on a hook bead rim.
I am considering purchasing one of those little inflaters that take a co2 cartridge. I like the compactness. And imagine they must be much faster than a frame or mini pump. I`m wondering if there is a down-side to using one of these, other than having to purchase cartridges.
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