After some 5 months, we (Amy and I) took the intercom for a final test ride Friday after work…..More on the intercom in another post / on its web page…..on the way back I had a little trouble keeping it on the line in a corner….Amy wanted to know what I was doing…..when I straightened up after the corner, and found that I still couldent keep it on a line, I knew I had a flat rear tire.
Its my first ever on a bike, so I guess I should not be too upset?
On the side of the road I start looking for the nail, did not take long to see that it was actually the valve stem. Hmm, thats not somthing I can fix on the side of the road. I have a tubeless repair kit, but not a spare valve stem and a bead breaker!
We called the wife and relaxed on the grass to wait. It was a beautiful day, Amy was her usual bubbly self, so it was a nice wait while Freddy got the trailer hooked up and drove out to us. Interestingly out of all the cars that drove past, only one stopped, and only one waved at us. Bit sad, but I guess I should get used to being a social reject, riding a bike and all.
One of the conversations we had was what I would do if this was half way along the Nullarbor? So, I vowed that I would fix it with what I had on the bike, and anything I needed and did not have, I would take a note and take it with me…..Getting the bike on the trailer on the bike was pretty easy, used a nearby mound of dirt. Will have to get a ramp at some stage.
Google taught me that there are valve stems and there are valve stems….seems I had the 50cent kind. Its understandable that the bike shop would fit the cheep kind, but the thing I cut up rough about is that I was not given a choice when I took the wheel in to get the new tire fitted. The 4 buck stem is a no brainer, it bolts to the rim, its wwwwaaaayyyy stronger!
I will be fitting one to the front wheel asap. Probably as soon as I get my tireplyers. I ended up taking the wheel off the bike (not needed in this case, but you learn as you go around here), used 2 g-clamps to break the bead near the valve stem, pulled out the old one, bolted in the new one.
As it happens, I think the failure was my fault. I had 90° valve extensions on the existing valves, this puts a lot of pressure on them and this is what caused the failure. (I suspect).
The major downer was that Sunday was such a beautiful day and a bunch of guys from work were going for a social ride to Hanging Rock, Terry was going to come with me…..ah well, rather learn this lesson 15k’s from home than 1200k’s.
