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Snap decision....

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Snap decision....

Old 05-14-10, 06:40 AM
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Snap decision....

...turned out to be the right decision.

On my commute home this morning I felt a familiar swishy sensation from underneath me. I quickly stopped and reaffirmed my suspicions....the air was exiting my rear wheel. Ooops.

I had rained quite hard over night and with all the road debris from the storms earlier in the week my bike had quite a bit of loose, wet junk adheering to the wheels and tires. I also have a Hostel Shoppe Gizmo on the dropout to which I attach my kickstand.

Decision time....fix it out on the road or walk it home and fix it in a dry, secure area. I took the Volae on a 2.6 mile walk. I used the sidewalk and tracked the bike along side on the grass as much as possible to keep from dinging up the wheel. Once I reached my dry, well lit garage and was able to hang 'Little Blue Bike' from the rafters I realized that I had made a good choice.

There is no slot in the Gizmo for the axle to slide through so I had to pull the skewer and yes, one of the springs took a little journey. It was easily retrievable in the garage but might not have been out on the road. When I got the dirty wet tire off of the dirty wet rim I couldn't keep the debris from collecting inside the tire or the rim. So right now the wheel and tire are in the basement drying out and I'm going up to bed. I'll deal with the bike later at my leisure and most likely I'll ride the Trek in to work tonight, another good reason to have more than one bike for any given purpose. This would have been quite a cluster mess without an opportunity to dry things up properly.

The Kenda Quests on the bike now are two seasons old so I think I'll take this opportunity clean the bike up a bit and maybe order a new pair of tires and tubes. I'm thinking about trying a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires. I've got them on the Tour Easy and I like them a lot.

Though it was a touch embarrasing to be walking the bike home I think this time it was the right move. If I absolutely had to, I know I could have repaired the bike on the road, but I may have lost a few little pieces and probably would have redone the entire job later at home anyway to ensure no debris got inside the tire with the tube.

Sigh...nighty night.
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Old 05-14-10, 08:21 AM
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Wow, I'm surprised you got that much out of the Quests. Mine didn't last long at all on the commuting bike, even with tire liners. I'm running Continental Ultra Gatorskins now. They're a tough tire, too.
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Old 05-14-10, 08:39 AM
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Boy we are on the same wave length or something. Have a flat last night. Found a left over staple from a new roof in my mother-in-law yard.
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Old 05-14-10, 10:01 AM
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Wisdom comes with age
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Old 05-14-10, 10:25 AM
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picture of the: "Hostel Shoppe Gizmo on the dropout to which I attach my kickstand?
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Old 05-14-10, 12:31 PM
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Originally Posted by Gyro
Boy we are on the same wave length or something. Have a flat last night. Found a left over staple from a new roof in my mother-in-law yard.
That sucks! It looks like I had a pinch flat as I found 'Snake Bite' punctures on the inside of the tube. I'll check closer when I get off the night shift.

I spent my little free time this afternoon lubing the chain on the Trek. Looks like it's time for a new chain though as this one runs rough over four of the six cogs and doesn't seat well on the big ring (I seldom use the other two rings on this bike). So I guess I need one chain and of course two freewheels (summer wheel and winter wheel) and hopefully the ring(s) are O.K.

Originally Posted by rumrunn6
picture of the: "Hostel Shoppe Gizmo on the dropout to which I attach my kickstand?
Oh goodie...an excuse to use my new Canon PowerShot SX20 IS.

https://www.hostelshoppe.com/cgi-bin/...ory=1005338632

...Gizmo on my Volae.....



Just 'Hangin' out' in the garage...



Originally Posted by Bud Bent
Wow, I'm surprised you got that much out of the Quests. Mine didn't last long at all on the commuting bike, even with tire liners. I'm running Continental Ultra Gatorskins now. They're a tough tire, too.
Thanks Bud, good to know. Having had past experience with the Schwalbes I just ordered a set for the Volae. I do have Gators on one of my Road Bikes though, my '86 Raleigh Marathon.

Last edited by cranky old dude; 05-14-10 at 05:52 PM.
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Old 05-15-10, 12:12 AM
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we all take the path of least resistance...but if I'd walked 2.6 miles home rather than fix a flat, I'd keep it to myself.
The Schwalbes are good, tough tires, but on my bike I could feel the weight, and i'm not at all a weight weenie. Another you might consider is the Panaracer Pasela TG. I've been using those for three or four years and like them a lot. Only Kendas with which I have experience are some that came on my kids' bikes, and they were really junk.
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Old 05-19-10, 08:34 AM
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O.K. The new tires have arrived and I've got them on the bike and we're ready to roll.

I've got to tell you though that with the Gizmo on the bike, R&R of the rear wheel is tedious at best. If I had to, I mean really had to, I could do this job out on the road. I would get quite messy and very frustrated but I could do it. It was dificult to put the wheel back on the bike in my garage with the bike suspended from the rafters and would be several times more difficult to do it out on the road with the bike laying down in the wet grass.

I am certain now that had I tried to do the repair in the subdued early morning light in the soaking wet conditions I was riding through that I would have been a very cranky Cranky Old Dude. The short walk home was a breeze in comparison. In dry daylight conditions or far from home regardless of the conditions......now that is an all together different story.

I also took this opportunity to get the old Trek back in good condition with a nice new chain and freewheel. She rode like a dream on the way in to work this morning. While in the shop I picked up a ProLink chaingauge to help me keep better track of the chains on all these bikes I've got floating aroud here. Wow, the chain on the EZ Sport is shot and the one on the Tour Easy is almost ready to change, so now there are two 14' chains on their way to my house. I hope the cassette is O.K. on the EZ Sport though it shouldn't be a big deal if I need to change it too.

Sigh. So many bikes, so much fun.
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