Originally Posted by
mams99
I do have a good floor pump and I do know how to change tires. But you all who take things on and off bikes are way more energetic than I am. I DETEST taking things on and off the bike - like racks and such. I now have a nice selection of bikes - one for grocery shopping and tooling about town, one to throw in the trunk of the car or on a train, one for the trainer, and one for doing rail trail and eventually touring for trips (3-10 days).
Thank goodness my partner who barely rides (and didn't learn to ride a bike until he was 18) understands that not one bike can do it all very well!
ETA - but I did just realize it will be the first time I will ever use a Presta valve tire!
I’m 20 yrs behind the times even though I toured, raced and owned a bike shop 40 yrs ago. Re. prestas, make sure the little valve tip is screwed down after inflating and if you use the knurled nut on the valve stem check that its snug after inflating the tire.
The reason for removing the racks/fenders is that it’s not uncommon for those bolts to loosen if you’ve never installed and snugged them down to begin with. When I had my shop a lot of the repairs I did was from bolts and spokes never being torqued correctly from day one or checked over time so the person got accustomed to rattles and squeaks as being normal and then when something failed they were surprised. “it’s never done that before!” and I’m thinking “it’s been doing it all along and you ignored it until it broke”.
Anyway your front rack is wonderfully heavy and appropriate for heavy loads at 3 lbs. If you aren’t regularly loading up the front with big loads you coukd experiment with other combos. I’m envious.