Anothercanuck

So I was making my way home yesterday, just finishing off some errands in the village, when I heard a loud, sharp bang from my rear tire. Oh, great, a flat. Only a few blocks from my last stop, the post office, so I walked the bike there, parked and purchased my stamps before it closed. I then set about finding some nice comfy steps to fix the flat. Was just pumping my tire up after changing out my tube, and noticed I could see a wee bit of tube bulging out, just above the rim. I checked and sure enough, the sidewall had come free from the bead in one area. So that was the cause of the flat! Like many of you I had heard that a dollar bill could be used as an emergency tire boot. Luckily, I had a $10 and $20 bill in my backpack (I wasn't too likely to be carrying a $1 bill - Canadian inside joke). I wrapped the bill partially around the tear, leaving a bit of the bill outside, and pumped it up about 3/4 way. It held, so I rode home slowly, with the thwick-wap of the bill hitting the brake shoe on every turn of the wheel. Moral of the story? A dollar bill will work as a temporary tire boot. I was amazed!

Kojak

It's a trick I've used a couple of times. Once I didn't have any money along (and a debit card doesn't really work) I found an old candy bar wrapper on the ground and stuffed it in. Got me home without any problems.

Surrealdeal

That may be the morale of the story, but the tragedy of the story is that we cannot hear the accent of you two canucks saying the word "boot."

Kojak

Well, technically I'm not a Canuck (I just play one on BF). I'm a yankee; lived most of my life in Seattle. My wife (she is a Canuck) took a job at the University of Victoria so here I am. The accent isn't quite as noticeable out here on the west coast but "eh" is still used quite frequently, although it seems to be morphing into "hey". I also notice little differences in the way Canadians say "sorry" and "been".

Our son has dual citizenship (he was born in Seattle too), our daughter was born here so she too is a Canuck, but at 17 months, I haven't noticed any speech patterns that would identify her as such.

Anothercanuck

But no one has speculated about the Canadian inside joke

Kojak

Anyone who visits Canada on a semi-regular basis should be able to figure it out.

sauerwald

Don't worry about the joke, it's kind of loony anyways.

xiaosen

LOONIE

I'm not sure where the alternate spelling with a "y" comes from, but it's just so wrong.

Kojak

Bugs Bunny... sorta. Their looney has an "e" in it.

chas58

Didn't work for me. I guess should have folded the bill over more times. How much pressure did you put in the tire?

No doubt the loonie would be more tear resistant than the $1US greenback...

Kojak

Depends on the size of the hole. If it's a huge gaping hole, a buck-boot probably isn't going to work. If it's just a slice where the tube is squeezing out the hole, I've inflated my tire in this situation to over 80psi and it worked great.

The loonie is exceptionally more tear resistant than a $1 US bill, but not very pliable.

Anothercanuck

It was just a small tear, and I did fold the bill over once or twice. I did not put much pressure on it, maybe 50-60 psi. It was a 1.25" tire for my old 17" wheel road bike, the tire was rated for 75 psi.

Anothercanuck

Good job everyone getting the silly inside Canadian joke. We are an attention-seeking lot, aren't we? : )

El Duderino X

Funny thing about regional accents and people's perceptions. My fellow Canadians (at least those of us not residing in the Maritime provinces) properly pronounce "about" as "ah-bowt" not "ah-boot." My fellow Americans (I'm a dual citizen Canada/USA) add an extra "A" and pronounce "about" as "Ah-bAowt" but when confronted with the Canadian pronunciation and it's lack of an extra "A" perceive what they're hearing as "aboot" rather than "ah-bowt." Americans also tend to go a lot harder on their "Rs" than we in Canadaland do.

Thus endeth today's linguistics lesson.

bigbenaugust 

My last boss at Sun (RIP) lived in metro TO somewhere. Can't remember the name of the town... maybe Ajax? He always said "about" more like "a-boat".

Anothercanuck

Wow, thanks, I've always wondered why we got the gears for the "aboot" thing. The "eh" I could understand, of course, eh?

Medic Zero

Yeah, a Loonie ain't gonna work for that!

Medic Zero

My understanding is y'all have the folks in the Maritime Provinces (as mentioned) to blame for that. Canada's Minnesota?