Comments on: Counting your Blessings Before they Hatch

By: The Joy of Bike Maintenance « Town Mouse

The Joy of Bike Maintenance « Town Mouse — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 18:16:29 +0000

[...] OK, so when you buy Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres (because the whole internet tells you to) you know that their only downside is getting them on and off the bike – but that’s OK because they’re Schwalbe Marathon Pluses and (as the whole internet knows) you don’t need to ever take them off the bike because they don’t puncture. Until suddenly they do… [...]

By: disgruntled

disgruntled — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 10:47:36 +0000

it’s too cute, isn’t it?

By: John Gibson

John Gibson — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 22:38:08 +0000

When I was young, I noticed that I had picked up a drawing pin in the front tyre. I rode around for many months without any deflation.
Then one day I came out of school and there were some other boys around the bike sheds, and I saw that the tyre had finely gone down, and the drawing pin was gone. I told the other boys how long I had cycled with the pin in the tyre and that I would now have to mend it, when one of the boys told me he had taken the pin out, thinking that it would some how help me.
John
Ps Very nice video by the way.

By: disgruntled

disgruntled — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 18:04:04 +0000

Cheers – good to know, although our roads are so potholed that avoiding bumps would be a challenge. Also ‘dry’ grass? does not compute after the weather we’ve had!

By: Richard Masoner

Richard Masoner — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 17:33:23 +0000

If you don’t mind trashing the tires, your rims can probably survive 5 miles of riding on a flat tire as long as you take it easy and completely avoid any kind of bump.

Supposedly, you can also stuff dry grass into your tires. The one time I attempted that, though, I couldn’t mount the tire on the rim.

By: welshcyclist

welshcyclist — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 17:11:09 +0000

5 miles on a bike is nothing, but 5 miles pushing a bike with a flat tyre is no joke. Get the pump attached to the bike! That’s the best advice I can give, and good luck fixing the puncture.

By: disgruntled

disgruntled — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 16:32:47 +0000

@Misspiggy – I’ll take two please…
@Bob – now you’re tempting fate.
@john – I know. I carried a pump around for ages after the last batch of flats and then got a bit complacent

By: commuterjohn

commuterjohn — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 16:15:27 +0000

Not that difficult to get off but some are hard to get back on, first timers are well advised to have two cable ties handy so when you nearly get your tyre on put a tie either side of it to prevent it running around the rim.
Thorns through the side wall of a tyre at this time of year are the usual culprit for a flat.
There is not a lot to say about not taking a pump or phone is there………..

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 16:02:57 +0000

Been a long time since I’ve had a flat. *knocks on wood*.
Once upon a time, as a naive youth, I miscalculated just precisely how much air a bicycle tire (OK, “tyre” is if makes you happy) could really hold.
I was feeling rather smug after having sorted out that whole pumping up from the service station procedure when, not very far into my journey home, my rear wheel let off an ungawdly BANG. Seems old bike tires don’t take kindly to being overinflated.
A pump wouldn’t have helped, even if I had had one. Mobile phones hadn’t been invented.
It was only a mile or so back home, trudging next to a lame bike.

By: misspiggy

misspiggy — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 16:01:27 +0000

…’from certain angles, it’s very hard to tell the difference between counting your blessings, and tempting fate.’ This is what I wish to have embroidered on a cushion.