In a recent thread we talked about the things that might wipe the grin off your face, and one suggestion was a puncture. I probably do twice the miles on my pedal bike as I do on my ebike, but had not had a puncture for months on either. That all changed last week when I was out on my pedal bike one morning . I bought a pair of cheap puncture proof tyres off ebay, made in Vietnam. No problems for 3 months, then I had a rear wheel puncture. I fixed it, but then had punctures in it virtually daily. I could find no fault with the tyre, so I changed back to one of the bikes original tyres. No problems for a couple of months.
Then last week I rode out to a local village , and spent a few minutes looking around the church. When I got back on the bike, I realised I had a rear puncture. And it was just starting to rain. Keeping a positive attitude, I wheeled the bike up to the bus shelter, and inverted it. I soon found the problem, a drawing pin probably picked up on the path in the churchyard. If I was fixing it at home, I would have taken the wheel out, but as I knew where the puncture was, I just lifted that part of the tyre.
There were four old ladies waiting for a bus into town. They were amazed that I had biked the five miles from town, and even more amazed that I could fix a puncture, and had the tools with me. One was taken by my small telescopic pump. It was passed around for inspection, and one old lady offered to knit me a cover for it! Meanwhile, a gang of lycras passed by. No offers of help, and no acknowlegment of my existance .
When I got home , I noticed that the tyre had partly deflated . I decided to replace the tyre and tube. Normally I buy tyres etc from ebay, but I was in a hurry to get it fixed .The only place in town that had the tyre I wanted was Halfords. Schwalbe Marathon at £24.99. So hopfully no more social events at the village of Sibsey for a while.
Then last week I rode out to a local village , and spent a few minutes looking around the church. When I got back on the bike, I realised I had a rear puncture. And it was just starting to rain. Keeping a positive attitude, I wheeled the bike up to the bus shelter, and inverted it. I soon found the problem, a drawing pin probably picked up on the path in the churchyard. If I was fixing it at home, I would have taken the wheel out, but as I knew where the puncture was, I just lifted that part of the tyre.
There were four old ladies waiting for a bus into town. They were amazed that I had biked the five miles from town, and even more amazed that I could fix a puncture, and had the tools with me. One was taken by my small telescopic pump. It was passed around for inspection, and one old lady offered to knit me a cover for it! Meanwhile, a gang of lycras passed by. No offers of help, and no acknowlegment of my existance .
When I got home , I noticed that the tyre had partly deflated . I decided to replace the tyre and tube. Normally I buy tyres etc from ebay, but I was in a hurry to get it fixed .The only place in town that had the tyre I wanted was Halfords. Schwalbe Marathon at £24.99. So hopfully no more social events at the village of Sibsey for a while.
.
