Monday, July 24, 2006

Source of Flats

My mountain bike is three months old-- give or take. Anyway, when I removed the tire, I noticed that the rim strip- plastic, by the way- had shifted, and that there was a metal shaving from a ham-fisted wheel builder. The power spoke driver had apparently missed the spoke head, and went skittering away across the rim, gouging it to the point where I could slice vegetables with it. There is no point fussing about it, so I took a dremel to file off the rough edges. I replaced the rim strip and gave it a coating of electrical tape for good measure. It will add a few grams to this boat anchor of a wheel. I don't think I need to worry about the rim cracking where I filed.

It is 11:15 and it is dark "already." There have been few nights where we have enjoyed our city lights view-- we rarely retire before the twilight ends. It looks like we live in a big city from this vantage point.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Goathead thorns have been getting the best of me. I ended up having to put strips in, and not a flat since! Of course the trouble was finding the right size for my 29er. Turns out the blue Tuffys are almost exactly the right size for a 29er wheel.

filtersweep said...

I keep hearing of these infamous goatheads... but have never seen them. Around here, we have real goats.... with real heads... but no goathead thorns.

Anonymous said...

Imagine a thorn shaped like a 3-D pentagram ----- or a very Ozzy like goatskull, that is what they looklike!!!! Bad JuJu