Alas, after a heroic intervention from James Thompson and almost a month
of happy cycling, I am moritfied to report that Flyzipper has started
blowing his inner tubes again.
I had so hoped that James' solution of adding layers of rim protection
would have solved the problem for good.
Last night's blow out was inaudible or at least unheard by me. I was
wheeling Fly on a walked section of the homeward trip and noticed that
the front wheel was flat. The hole, this time, is so small that I had
trouble finding it, barely a pinprick right next to the valve. Previous
blow-outs have all been either directly opposite, or right next to the
valve like this one, and all have been on the rim side of the tube, but
they generally have been much larger, about a half-inch long and ragged.
As previously, the outer tyre is intact and the inside of it is smooth
and empty.
I am at my wits' end to find the origin of this problem, but I still
think it has something to do with the spokes. As James will remember,
when he fitted that third layer of rim tape we had some trouble getting
the valve through the hole, and had to widen it with a drill bit. That
left a ragged bit of tape around the valve, and last night's hole looks
like it could be in relation to that. It is surprising that, even with
three layers of insulation, the marks of the spoke-nipples are so very
visible and demarcated on the innermost layer of tape. Unfortunately,
since I had to cut away some of the ragged tape last night and didn't
have anything to replace it with, an even wider section of the inner
tube is now underprotected. Based on previous experience, I consider it
very likely that I will lose a seventh tube within the next 72 hours.
Could there be something fundamentally jinxed with that wheel? Might it
be worth it to order a whole new front wheel from Dahon?
EFR
Saddened and stymied in Ile de France