Curse of the 13th.........
Bassjunkieuk
Posts: 4,232
I'm not usually one for believing all this mumbo jumbo about certain things being unlucky but after this mornings commute I'm coming round to the idea......
Set off feeling reasonably good, asides from the overcast sky and light drizzle it was fairly nice. Horrendous traffic at the schools as dozens of mums insist on taking little darlings in using massive 4x4's and think that zig-zag markings are actually parking bays.
I managed to clear this lot and had a nice clear road ahead so I made the best of it and shoot down the right hand side. As I approached the zebra crossing by Dulwich Park I had to slow down for a few people crossing and my front wheel didn't feel right, a little too squishy......
Ah Sh!t, a visit from our *favourite* fairy.........not to worry I think, got my spare tubes I'll just swap em round. Hop off the bike and flip it over only to notice a "psssstttt" noise from the REAR wheel :shock: Looks like I got a visit from the PF twins!!!
OK this is going to be a fun swap out, thankfully I have 2 tubes with me so I'll need to change em both! Start on the front first and get it all changed and back on bike. Back up to pressure and take the pump off and SNAP, off comes the valve head............FECK!
So for the second time I change the front tube, this time for the Conti long-stem one (last one was regular Speccy one and I didn't have much valve out) Very careful as I don't want to bork it and it's up.
One thing I'd like to add from the front wheel change I learnt the importance of checking the tyre carcass for what caused it, ran fingers around inside and found a tiny sharp point. Pulled out the pen knife (essential kit!) and removed a tiny shard of brown glass :-)
So onto the rear wheel which I was going to have to repair, another essential bit of kit no matter how many tubes you carry has to be a puncture repair kit! As I knew where the hole was I just popped the tube out at that point and did the repair. I also put and old, larger patch over the inside of the hole in the tyre to offer a little more protection.
Got to work 15 minutes later then my official start time, but about 30 minutes later then usual! Heading to Evans at lunch for 1 spare tube just in case I get another visit this evening, but I think twice in one day is plenty!
Set off feeling reasonably good, asides from the overcast sky and light drizzle it was fairly nice. Horrendous traffic at the schools as dozens of mums insist on taking little darlings in using massive 4x4's and think that zig-zag markings are actually parking bays.
I managed to clear this lot and had a nice clear road ahead so I made the best of it and shoot down the right hand side. As I approached the zebra crossing by Dulwich Park I had to slow down for a few people crossing and my front wheel didn't feel right, a little too squishy......
Ah Sh!t, a visit from our *favourite* fairy.........not to worry I think, got my spare tubes I'll just swap em round. Hop off the bike and flip it over only to notice a "psssstttt" noise from the REAR wheel :shock: Looks like I got a visit from the PF twins!!!
OK this is going to be a fun swap out, thankfully I have 2 tubes with me so I'll need to change em both! Start on the front first and get it all changed and back on bike. Back up to pressure and take the pump off and SNAP, off comes the valve head............FECK!
So for the second time I change the front tube, this time for the Conti long-stem one (last one was regular Speccy one and I didn't have much valve out) Very careful as I don't want to bork it and it's up.
One thing I'd like to add from the front wheel change I learnt the importance of checking the tyre carcass for what caused it, ran fingers around inside and found a tiny sharp point. Pulled out the pen knife (essential kit!) and removed a tiny shard of brown glass :-)
So onto the rear wheel which I was going to have to repair, another essential bit of kit no matter how many tubes you carry has to be a puncture repair kit! As I knew where the hole was I just popped the tube out at that point and did the repair. I also put and old, larger patch over the inside of the hole in the tyre to offer a little more protection.
Got to work 15 minutes later then my official start time, but about 30 minutes later then usual! Heading to Evans at lunch for 1 spare tube just in case I get another visit this evening, but I think twice in one day is plenty!
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Comments
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Sorry BJ - its only Friday 13th that counts - the rest is just bad luck - sympathy though!
I always check inside the tyre after I fixed a puncture for Mrs JW and the tyre went down twice - third time I checked and found a half inch thorn that had gone straight through the tyre without (apparently) leaving any outward sign - lesson learned :oops:0 -
Years of MTB'ing means I always check for thorns etc before re-fitting (still sometimes miss 'em though).Pictures are better than words because some words are big and hard to understand.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34335188@N07/3336802663/0 -
Blimey - 30 mins to change both tubes and a repair is good going. :shock: Bad luck btw. Having also cocked up a new tube in the past, I now carry two spares and a repair kit, but have never repaired a tube in my life. :oops:Bike1
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35118936@N07/3258551288/
Bike 2
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35118936@N ... otostream/
New Bike
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35118936@N07/3479300346/0 -
Cheers C3967, it seemed to take a little longer then I expected to get sorted but when I think I had to do the front twice and patch the rear it seems OK.
The patching went well as I had some different patches to cover it that looked like a bullseye, peel backing off and apply to glued tube. Once fairly dry can peel off front plastic and apply some chalk dust to cover any remaining glue :-)
Been Evan's now and parted with £4.99 for another tube, was hoping to get some gloves but they didn't have the ones I wanted in stock and I started looking at other ones and now don't know what I want.........might start another thread for that tho!0
