Fifty Plus (50+) - Sorting wheels.

Have a club ride possibly tomorrow (Dependant on Weather) and after the way I suffered last week I have sorted the bikes. Boreas is coming out of mothballs as it is the faster of the bikes and the lightest. I had laid it up for the winter as I have the Pinnie for winter use. BUT as I say- after last week I need all the help I can get. Checked the wheels and they are true and the bearings were re-greased before I laid it up. Flat front tyre so put air in it and looked at the handbuilts. Last time out I had a rear puncture and although I replaced the tube and got home- I am surprised that I did as a slight bulge in the carcase on the tread area led me to investigate further. A small piece of flint was embedded in the tyre so off with the tyre and push out from inside. Bit of pressure required and I think I can say that I have had my moneys worth out of that tyre. On the tread area it is paper thin and holding up to the light I can see through it in places.

Spare tyre for later so back to Boreas. Front tyre is flat again. Off with the tyre and find the puncture, There was none even after the dip in water to find the bubbles so dry off the tube- refit the tyre and blow back up. 30 minutes later and the tyre is flat again. New tube so another off and on with the tyre and inflate the tube that had gone down. Took the pump off the tube---Complete with the valve. Not the stem--Just the valve. Never had it before but the valve had unscrewed itself out of the stem.

Looks as though I have saved a problem on the ride tomorrow as if I had used either set of wheels- I would have had an aborted ride.

I am down to two road bikes. The Klein and the Tarmac. But I have five rear wheels and four front wheels. I have the hand builts on both bikes now. The klein has standard road gearing and the Tarmac has compact. With the SRAM WIFI system I can mount any cassette from 11x23 to 11x36 so I tend to have the spare wheels set up with different cassettes. All of my rims have tires mounted with 3 rims sporting 700x23s and two with 700x25s.

But I tend to replace tires well before they need to be replaced. I also try and have a new set, which as of december I need to replace just in case I get a flat or cut on a ride. I use Gatorskins or Vittora Pro Slicks for everyday or training tires and Untimos or R-3s for any racing I might try, not that I have done that all that often.

But I have had mystery flats and some like you describe. Sometimes it has been the valve or valve stem. But one it was what we call a Michelin thorn. A small piece of steel belted radial tire that is shed by a car that runs too long on a tire and the steel belts start to show through. The small pieces will be sharper than a needle and hard to see. when the tire is deflated they seem to shrink back into the tire put once under full pressure and rolling they will stick out just enough to puncture a tube. You often had to remove the tire and turn it inside out to find them and then dig them out with a sharp knife point.

Hope you get your ride in tomorrow and that it's a good one. Mother Nature owes you a good one. She's had her way long enough...

Sunday morning and I am wimping out of the club ride. Temp just on freezing and rain yesterday has left a lot of standing water that will/could be ice. But Boreas is ready so a gentle trip to the coast to give me a recovery ride from yesterdays Gym is on the cards---When it warms up.

Before I moved to San Diego County and discovered goathead thorns, I kept two sets of wheels for my Nishiki: stock 27" clinchers and tubulars, the latter on low flange Campagnolo hubs. Drop the QRs, raise or lower the brake pads by 4mm, and I was ready to go w/ the other set of wheels. As clincher performance and weight continued to improve and I got tired of patching tubulars, I winnowed it down to one set of wheels per bike, although I now have both smooth road and knobby offroad tyres for the mountain bike, on separate wheelsets for ease of switching.