Crumbs, it's my thumbs....

gtvlusso
gtvlusso Posts: 5,112
edited December 2012 in Commuting chat
The gods rose up and pi$$ed on my day yesterday.

I get up early, get my bike out - front tyre flat. There is a big piece of glass sticking out of the tyre. So, I work from home in the morning and await my wife returning from her early morning swimming with junior. Drive up to the LBS, treat myself to 2 new gatorskins, then notice that the car has a flat tyre and a screw sticking out. As the tyre still has some pressure, I charge up to the nearest Kwikfit and get the puncture repaired before the tyre goes completely flat and I have to change it.

Head home after a the rest of the day at the office looking forward to changing my tyres on my roadbike in the comfort of my own home. After 3 hours, allot of swearing, 2 broken tyre levers and blistered and cut thumbs and hands....I gave up. I even managed to break a rim trying to get the tyre on.....

In ~20 years of changing tyres, I have never failed at this task.....but this one beat me.

Campagnolo Ypsilon Oxide Strada rims are notoriously hard to change tyres on, I am binning the rims and rebuilding with Mavic Open Sport.

Quote from another source:

solveg
02-09-08, 09:59 PM
Campagnola Ypsilon Oxide Strada rims just sucked 3 weeks of my life away. They were made oversized because apparently they were uncertain they could keep tires on them. I broke 6 tire levers, got blisters on both my thumbs and hurt my neck trying to put tires on them.

I despise those rims.


So, All in all; £50 Gatorskins, £24.50 Car tyre repair and now I will need my wheels rebuilding.....f*ck.

Comments

  • MTBUK
    MTBUK Posts: 146
    Angle grinder comes to mind :p
    Orange 5 Pro 650b 2014
    Orange Crush 650b 2014
  • rubertoe
    rubertoe Posts: 3,994
    Gatorskins are quite difficult to put on when fresh, so this will also have been a contributing factor.
    "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."

    PX Kaffenback 2 = Work Horse
    B-Twin Alur 700 = Sundays and Hills
  • redvee
    redvee Posts: 11,922
    rubertoe wrote:
    Gatorskins are quite difficult to put on when fresh, so this will also have been a contributing factor.

    Put a 25c on my Halo Aerorage recently easily, just a tyre lever for the last bit.
    I've added a signature to prove it is still possible.
  • jomoj
    jomoj Posts: 777
    never had a problem with gators, not compared to fitting marathons which usually ends up in bleeding thumbs. A bit of washing up liquid on the bead sometimes help get the buggers over
  • gtvlusso
    gtvlusso Posts: 5,112
    jomoj wrote:
    never had a problem with gators, not compared to fitting marathons which usually ends up in bleeding thumbs. A bit of washing up liquid on the bead sometimes help get the buggers over

    It was the rims, deep bead and high flange.....gatorskins usually take a bit of effort....but not 3 hours!
  • You have my sympathies. I too have had to struggle with rubber not big enough for the intended task :wink:
    Nobody told me we had a communication problem
  • gtvlusso
    gtvlusso Posts: 5,112
    You have my sympathies. I too have had to struggle with rubber not big enough for the intended task :wink:

    Boom Tsh! :lol: