I have currently got an old Bennett steel frame that I am converting to a
fixie......it is too small for me but I thought that someone might be able
to get some use out of it as a pub bike. Anyway, the bike has 27 x 1.25
inch tyres and it only had one on the front. I was riding home through
Clifton Hill the last week and it must have been hard waste
night......outside one house was a stack of tyres and, sure enough, one of
them was a 27 x 1.25 that was dirty but looked to be OK. I half-hinched it
and fitted it on the bike this arvo with a new tube that I bought. Went for
a quick spin at it actually felt pretty good.....I inverted and chopped the
original roadie bars and have only the front brakes on (operable from the
flat part of the bar). It is a pretty low gear (17T on the back and not
sure on the front but I think around 40 or so) with old-style platform
pedals but it felt OK. Back to the shed, adjusted the cowhorns slightly up
then went out for another quick spin. Got about 10m then "bang", ther rear
tyre blew out - basically the sidewall had separated from the wire bead and
the inner tube had exploded through it (only put 60 psi in it).
Also forgot to mention, before fitting it I ran my finger around the inside
to check for any bits of glass, etc and managed to scoop out a big fat
white-tailed spider......scared the [censored] out of me as it landed on my
forearm briefly before dropping to the ground......luckily it didn't decide
to bite me!!
So now I am up for another tube and tyre - anyone got any laying around that
they might want to part with on the cheap??
Gags