Road Cycling · Public discussion

sharps & flats

Tom Keats · 2007-02-02T21:22:48+00:00

Wouldn't ya know it? I'm out & about yesterday, and on the return leg I got a rear wheel flat, 5 blocks from home. Too close to home for field repairs. So I hoofed it for the remaining distance, suffering the ignonamy of walking my crippled bike. Anyway, when installing a tube, I always line the valve stem up with the "inflate to" markings on the tires. This morning I dismantled tire & tube, pumped up the loose tube, and noted where the air was hissing in relation to where the valve is. I then inspected the corresponding location in the tire in relation to where the "inflate to" markings are, and immediately homed-in on the offending li'l [censored] -- a tiny, pointy glass shard. I gingerly flicked it out of its nest with the tip of my toad-sticker pocketknife blade, and reassembled the works with a fresh tube. The whole process only took about five minutes. Subsequent handwashing is still ongoing, though. I guess a lot of that gunk is brake pad rubber. Maybe a fringe benefit of Kool Stop salmons is cleaner wheels when dealing with flats. I'm going to have to resort to a palmful of laundry detergent powder to get my hands comfortably clean. Or, as Claire once jokingly suggested: bake some bread. Fortunately for me it wasn't a slow leak -- sometimes it takes quite a while to find the causes of those. Now I get to ride down to Mountain Equipment Co-op and buy a new spare tube. I'll patch the old one later; it'll doofer a spare spare tube. Knowing where the valve stem is in the tire really does help to find the causes of flats. Having a point of reference beats having do do random searches. And having "icky" hands just drives me up the wall. And having to walk one's bike tastes bitterly of defeat. cheers, Tom -- Nothing is safe from me. Above address is just a spam midden. I'm really at: tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

Started by Tom Keats · 2 February 2007 · Last activity 5 February 2007 · 11 posts · 334 views

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Original section: Road Cycling
Published: 2 February 2007
Last activity: 5 February 2007
Original author: Tom Keats
Posts: 11
Discussion status: Public discussion
Total views: 334
Views / 30 days: 0
Topics: Rim tape and valves Brake pads

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Original post
Tom Keats
Archived post

2 February 2007, 21:22 UTC #1

Wouldn't ya know it? I'm out & about yesterday,
and on the return leg I got a rear wheel flat,
5 blocks from home. Too close to home for field
repairs. So I hoofed it for the remaining distance,
suffering the ignonamy of walking my crippled bike.
Anyway, when installing a tube, I always line the
valve stem up with the "inflate to" markings on
the tires.
This morning I dismantled tire & tube, pumped up
the loose tube, and noted where the air was hissing
in relation to where the valve is. I then inspected
the corresponding location in the tire in relation to
where the "inflate to" markings are, and immediately
homed-in on the offending li'l [censored] -- a tiny, pointy
glass shard. I gingerly flicked it out of its nest with
the tip of my toad-sticker pocketknife blade, and
reassembled the works with a fresh tube.
The whole process only took about five minutes.
Subsequent handwashing is still ongoing, though.
I guess a lot of that gunk is brake pad rubber.
Maybe a fringe benefit of Kool Stop salmons is
cleaner wheels when dealing with flats. I'm
going to have to resort to a palmful of laundry
detergent powder to get my hands comfortably clean.
Or, as Claire once jokingly suggested: bake some bread.
Fortunately for me it wasn't a slow leak -- sometimes
it takes quite a while to find the causes of those.
Now I get to ride down to Mountain Equipment Co-op
and buy a new spare tube. I'll patch the old one
later; it'll doofer a spare spare tube.
Knowing where the valve stem is in the tire
really does help to find the causes of flats.
Having a point of reference beats having do
do random searches.
And having "icky" hands just drives me up the wall.
And having to walk one's bike tastes bitterly
of defeat.
cheers,
Tom
--
Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

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Curtis L. Russell
Archived post

2 February 2007, 23:14 UTC #2

On Fri, 2 Feb 2007 13:22:48 -0800, [email hidden] (Tom Keats)
Quoted message said:

Anyway, when installing a tube, I always line the
valve stem up with the "inflate to" markings on
the tires.
And then line them both up with a sticker or marker on the rim. A fair
number of flats are caused by the rim side of things - especially if
you have rims like the old Rigidas (make you a believer in the best
rim tapes).
Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

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Patrick Lamb
Archived post

3 February 2007, 01:09 UTC #3

Curtis L. Russell said:
On Fri, 2 Feb 2007 13:22:48 -0800, [email hidden] (Tom Keats)
Quoted message said:
Anyway, when installing a tube, I always line the
valve stem up with the "inflate to" markings on
the tires.
And then line them both up with a sticker or marker on the rim. A fair
number of flats are caused by the rim side of things - especially if
you have rims like the old Rigidas (make you a believer in the best
rim tapes).
To state the obvious, most people line the valve stem up with the
valve hole on the rim...
Pat
Email address works as is.

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Brian Huntley
Archived post

3 February 2007, 03:13 UTC #4

Patrick Lamb said:
To state the obvious, most people line the valve stem up with the
valve hole on the rim...
Sure, but if you're getting glass shards going through your rim,
you've got bigger problems.

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peter
Archived post

3 February 2007, 10:23 UTC #5

Curtis L. Russell said:
On Fri, 2 Feb 2007 13:22:48 -0800, [email hidden] (Tom Keats)
Quoted message said:

Anyway, when installing a tube, I always line the
valve stem up with the "inflate to" markings on
the tires.
And then line them both up with a sticker or marker on the rim.
That's kind of automatic since the valve needs to be lined up with the
hole in the rim.
Quoted message said:
A fair
number of flats are caused by the rim side of things - especially if
you have rims like the old Rigidas (make you a believer in the best
rim tapes).
What do you see as special about the old Rigida rims in this regard.
I'm still using the Rigida 13-19 rim on the rear wheel that I
installed 30 years ago using electrical tape as the rim strip. Don't
recall getting any rim-side flats on that wheel.

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Email address hidden
Archived post

3 February 2007, 16:48 UTC #6

(Tom Keats) said:

Knowing where the valve stem is in the tire
really does help to find the causes of flats.
Having a point of reference beats having do
do random searches.
Does anyone besides me mark which side of the tube is right vs. left?
You know - to prevent having to search both clockwise and
counterclockwise from the stem's position?
- Frank Krygowski

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Bill Sornson
Archived post

3 February 2007, 17:23 UTC #7

Quoted message said:
(Tom Keats) said:

Knowing where the valve stem is in the tire
really does help to find the causes of flats.
Having a point of reference beats having do
do random searches.
Does anyone besides me mark which side of the tube is right vs. left?
You know - to prevent having to search both clockwise and
counterclockwise from the stem's position?
Couldn't you just always orient the print on the tube (assuming there is
any) to, say, the drive side?

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Curtis L. Russell
Archived post

4 February 2007, 14:35 UTC #8

peter said:

What do you see as special about the old Rigida rims in this regard.
I'm still using the Rigida 13-19 rim on the rear wheel that I
installed 30 years ago using electrical tape as the rim strip. Don't
recall getting any rim-side flats on that wheel.
The red Rigidas were the deepest cut rims that I ever used over 40
years or so (admittedly, like most people I have had maybe a total of
30 wheelsets with most of them using common rim brands). While as long
as you put the rim tape on properly, you wouldn't have a problem, it
is not a rim to try thin or narrow tapes.
The general feeling at the bike shop I worked at in Pacific Grove was
that the red Rigidas were far and above the most common good brand rim
to have hole flats. There was a real problem with the early 'stretch
on' rim tapes. Weinmann, as an example, didn't seem to have anywhere
near the problems.
Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

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Patrick Lamb
Archived post

5 February 2007, 01:23 UTC #9

Quoted message said:
(Tom Keats) said:

Knowing where the valve stem is in the tire
really does help to find the causes of flats.
Having a point of reference beats having do
do random searches.
Does anyone besides me mark which side of the tube is right vs. left?
You know - to prevent having to search both clockwise and
counterclockwise from the stem's position?
I've thought about that, looking for an elusive wire or shard. But
for some reason I never remember when I'm putting the wheel back
together. How do you mark the side?
Pat
Email address works as is.

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bookieb
Archived post

5 February 2007, 15:34 UTC #10

On Feb 2, 9:22 pm, [email hidden] (Tom Keats) wrote:
<snip>
Quoted message said:
The whole process only took about five minutes.
Subsequent handwashing is still ongoing, though.
I guess a lot of that gunk is brake pad rubber.
Maybe a fringe benefit of Kool Stop salmons is
cleaner wheels when dealing with flats. I'm
going to have to resort to a palmful of laundry
detergent powder to get my hands comfortably clean.
Or, as Claire once jokingly suggested: bake some bread.

<snip>
Quoted message said:
And having "icky" hands just drives me up the wall.

<snip>
I keep a pair of "surgical" gloves in my seatpack, just the cheap
ones.
It's a bit over the top, but they take up no space in the pack, and
really keep your hands clean when working on the bike at the side of
the road.
I'm not normally too worried about having grimy hands, but it's easier
to keep them from getting dirty in the first place than it is to clean
them afterwards, and I like to keep my bar tape reasonably clean.
regards,
bookieb

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nash
Archived post

5 February 2007, 18:02 UTC #11

Also, at home before doing any grimy work I slather on hand lotion, greasy
works best. Then wash up goes real fast. Does not sink into pores and
never leaves marks.

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