Tyre go bang - a testing morning

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Tynan

Veteran
Location
e4
Tearing through Finsbury Park in beautiful weather, stopped for a bus blocking the way, start to move off, funny knock/noise from back wheel, hop off, spin wheel looking for 'something' and there's a rather impressive 'pop' tending towards a 'crack'

about half an inch of the tyre, Schwalbe Lugano, all of ooo three weeks old, has separated from the wire right next to the valve, tyre off and there's a hole in the tube big enough to put my little finger through, right up against the shoulder of the valve and next to a surprisingly rough seam, nice

tried more in hope than anything else to patch it with a venerable huge patch, paper backed no less, from the kit, carrying a spare tube but don't fancy it up against the exposed wires

patch looks good, all back together and inflate, looks good, a couple more pumps, I'm only going another mile or so to Holloway Road for a new tyre after all, and the patch lets go, arse

wheel out again, tyre off again, tube out, the new one in, press the now expired big patch betwixt tube and tyre, inflate, cross fingers, hope for the best and take it easy, cruising along with girls on mtbs and blokes on folders

can't find cyclological on Holloway Road, last seen five odd years ago, this involves three U turns on a lively Holloway Road before I set off to the next nearest place I remember, something and Mower at Tufnell Park

Gone

Onward down Kentish Town Road heading for the place near Chalk Farm when like El Dorado, bikes in front of a shop with an oik locking them up appears, one last U turn and a smiling man with a beard that stocks only Conti tyres (the man, not the beard) is firmly recommending a folding GPS4000? with a very smart pinky red tread, he rides them himself etc etc

not cheap at £29.99 but it's a seller's market

new tube for the pannier, loose with only an elastic band, and outside to yet again wheel out, tyre off, etc, them folding tyres are a bit wild until you get the hang of them

but job done and inflated yet again with mini pump and brawn, I get 80psi before it all starts getting into silly diminishing returns territory

and away

an hour late but feeling at least partly affirmed as competent

tube and Lugano stuffed into a bin at the bottom of Kentish Town, gawd knows what happened there, runnng at 110psi, 23mm if it matters, the back tyre had been 'knocking', in a minor way, the last few days although I thought it was a puncture/cut from last week right on the centre line, perhaps it was

for future reference, cyclological is apparently sill there but no big yellow sign anymore, something and Mowers (very old fashioned shop) shut up eight plus years ago apparently

anyhow, trust all well, I've had more flats in the last two months than the last ten years I suspect, third tyre on the rear now in three months, Ultra Gator chopped for acutting and asliding in the wet, Lugano died in service, three weeks of service ...

here's to a long pleasant summer, might give the Lea Valley CC club run a go this Sun if I can escape from my myriad duties
 

tdr1nka

Taking the biscuit
Bad luck there Tynan,
I've had more p*nctures than usual this year, I've been putting it down to the greater amount of tipper trucks and the like on the roads taking away the remains of pulverised tower blocks etc. in the regeneration leading up to the Olympics.
 
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Tynan

Tynan

Veteran
Location
e4
tell you what, I'm match fit for removing the back tyre now

three times in an hour?

and back on without levers for the first time, I was a bit more animated than usual
 

John the Monkey

Frivolous Cyclist
Location
Crewe
I've had one of these (ude due to tyre carcass separating from the bead) on a Bontrager Racelite - and caught the same problem before it caused another on the Kenda Kontenders that came with the new bike.

I didn't know the history of the Racelites (they were on the bike when I bought it) and the Kendas were pants anyway, so I didn't really give either a great deal of thought. My Stelvios (wire on) have been ok so far though.
 

Night Train

Maker of Things
Did you not try the newspaper lining and stuff with straw (or grass) method of emergency repairs? ;)

I haven't had a proper puncture on my current bike yet though the back will start to go flat if left for 6 months.
 
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Tynan

Tynan

Veteran
Location
e4
Night Train said:
Did you not try the newspaper lining and stuff with straw (or grass) method of emergency repairs? ;)

I haven't had a proper puncture on my current bike yet though the back will start to go flat if left for 6 months.

no, as to straw and grass, it was London, and no-one in Finsbury Park can read

yikes, that's the emergency repair for a split tyre? suppose I did the same with the handy used big patch, it certainly did another five miles without a problem
 

Night Train

Maker of Things
I'm sure I read somewhere that if your tyre bursts open then you can line it with newspapers and then stuff it with grass as a get home measure. Maybe for a bad split you can cable tie the tyre to the rim to stop it catching on the frame.

I've just gone looking for my puncture repair kit just in case.
 
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Tynan

Tynan

Veteran
Location
e4
I did have a cable tie as it happens, the tears was up against the wires so inside the rim although it gave every impression of perhaps making an appearance

anyhow, it's in a bin now

yuk yuk, not nice opening the bag of bits to see what you've got, although I'm far too familiar with mine, and you're never too far from a bike shop in London, in theory anyway, not as many high street ones as there used to be, the old fashioned ones seem to have plain vanished
 
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Tynan

Tynan

Veteran
Location
e4
that sounds like them, funny name

£29 for a tyre that goes for £20 online? not tooooo bad, sods didn't offer to fit it though, in fairness I didn't say it was for immediate use and I've noticed that once you start wearing proper cycle kit, people leave you to get on with things

what do you mean by 'sweaty'? that means jocks to me, seemed like a nice enough shop, some rather natty trad style bikes out front

My Prendas retro crocheted world champion mitts arrived today and fine they are too, they'll presumably finish my lasy hopes of any help ever even if I catch fire
 

John the Monkey

Frivolous Cyclist
Location
Crewe
Tynan said:
My Prendas retro crocheted world champion mitts arrived today and fine they are too, they'll presumably finish my lasy hopes of any help ever even if I catch fire

;)

As mentioned in threads passim, I tend to ask regardless of kit (it's a bugger if you've forgot the tyre levers, f'rinstance). Although saying that, I stopped for a bloke today who was refitting his front wheel,

Me: Have you got the tools you need mate?
Him: Er, yeah, I'm only taking the bike out of the car...
Me: ;)
 
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