I noticed that the pressure in the front tyre of my 6-speed bike seemed to have dropped significantly. I thought that it must have a slow puncture so I took a look at it. I had ridden over a patch of glass on my last ride and I thought that might have caused the problem. Sure enough, I
did find some tiny pieces of glass embedded in the tyre. They had not penetrated through to the tube but obviously I removed them before they could. I did find one hole through to the tube, but (curiously!) no hole in the tube itself there. In fact, the tube did not appear to have
any holes in it! I put some air in it and held it under water - no bubbles. I have left it all day and it hasn't gone down. Maybe it has an absolutely tiny hole which only opens up at high pressures? Anyway, to be on the safe side I have put a new tube and tyre on. I will patch the inside of the other tyre and keep it as a spare and wait and see what happens with the original tube.
While I was doing that, a friend called round. He volunteered to do some other fettling jobs that I had lined up. He fitted some used 105 STI controls to my CAADX, to replace its grotty old Tiagras which...
- Had the wrong pull ratio for the cable disk brakes and therefore barely worked
- Looked awful, especially with cables sprouting from the sides
- Had hoods which felt uncomfortable
The 105s are much nicer. I just need to buy a new rear brake cable now. The old one was fraying and wouldn't go back through the outer.
He also did a good job refitting the bar tape. I don't usually make a very good job of it, but watched how he did it and will see if I am any better doing it that way myself next time.
I cleaned both bikes.
I replaced the worn Sammy Slick CX tyres on the CAADX with some slightly less worn and more puncture resistant Vittoria Randonneur tyres that I had in my spares box. They probably won't roll particularly well but that bike is going to be my foul weather machine so I am more interested in trying to avoid punctures than break any speed records on it.
I checked the chain on the 6-speed bike and it was at 0.75% wear so I replaced it with a new one.
I rewarded my helpful pal with the Tiagra shifters (which he aims to use on a DIY shopping bike) and a pair of Look cleat covers. He still uses Look pedals but I am SPD only now.
