Air

Today was all about air.  The air was warm, depending on exactly what time and where one was today, it reached 70.  That's the first time that's happened since something like 6 months ago.

I bought a single speed bike at a charity auction last week.  It was brand new in a box.  It evidently was special made for a wine company to use in a promotional display. Of all things, the bottle cages won't hold a bike bottle, but will hold bottles of wine!  But you can't pedal if they are attached, as they are on the sides of the seat tube and feet hit them as one pedals.

I am having a heck of a time with the wheels.  They are deep profile, probably about 40mm, but made of steel. Given the number of miles, and the types of rides I'm likely to ride it, that is not too much of an issue.  What is an issue is that they didn't have rim tape.  When I aired the tires the tubes intruded into the spoke wells and flatted.  The wheels don't use standard Presta valve stems,  they drilled out the wheels to be able to use Schrader valves (just like your car has) .  They left the holes very sharp, so after making a trip to the bike shop to get replacement tubes and install them, they too flatted.  I dressed the drilled holes a bit and today got more tubes, and found that they don't have long enough stems to reach out of the deep dish wheels.

I located Schrader Valve Stem Extenders, at an auto parts store in Canby.  This morning I pedaled off (on my carbon bike!) to get them.

It was a nice day, sunny, warm.  Nice.

I got home and after some installation, aired the tires again.  Flat again.   The tires are VERY hard to get on the rims, and I am getting damage to the tubes as the tire is put on the rim.  I have gone through 6 tubes now, and still have the front tire leaking.  I talked to a tire shop about putting foam in the wheels, but they can't do it through the valve cores, and can't access the stem with the extender off because it's down in the wheel. They had airless bicycle tires, but not in 700x sizes.  I'm now thinking about filling them with Slime.  I hate starting out on tires that leak, depending only on Slime, but it might be better than not starting out on the bike at all.

All this for a silly bike that doesn't even have gears!

Today.............31...............0.............0..........0.............31 Jan..................93..............0..............0.........0..............93 Feb................411..............0..............0.........0............411 March.............546..............0.............0.........0............546 Total.............1053.............0...............0.........0..........1053