My bike hates me...

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SpooN
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Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 8:22 pm
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My bike hates me...

Post by SpooN »

Well... I normally don't tend to write stories from my life but this was just too crazy (too bad my lousy english will probably spoil the story a bit):
For a long time my bike had a flat tyre, although I had to walk every day 30 minutes to school I was too lazy to repair it. I planned to do this in my holidays and finally after three weeks of the purest lazinest I got myself to patch the tube (while searching for the correct words I found "fleapit" wonder if anyone ever heard of that...).
It had two big fissures but after I blowed it up I found another one. Some minutes later it became clear that there were several other tears in the tube and I gave up repairing (how I could get such a desolate tube is another funny part of "The World Against Me").
It was saturday and the shops had already closed but there was a new tube vending machine at a bike shop and I was in a good mood so I decided to buy a tube there. This ended with my money in the machine, the machine completely out of order and me without tube.
There was no other choice but wait till monday, fortunately the shop owner gave me a tube without discussing.
I changed the tube which really was a pain because I had to take of the back wheel again and later that day I wanted to take the bike for a ride to a friend. Guess what happened after 200 meters?
It was now obvious that something with the back wheel was not ok. I could only bring the bike to the shop so they could exchange the whole wheel. Today I got it back. I had some shopping to do, therefor I rided back to my home to get my lock. As I came back my bike had (surprise, surprise) a flat tyre...
Well I don't get angry easily, I blowed it up again to find a glass sliver in the wheel. Hey no big deal I'm now used to patch a tube the only problem: Due to whatever reasons my bicycle pump did not survive pumping and it was my only one.
Now I have no bike again although I spent a lot of effort (and money) in it but I'm not in a hurry to organize another pump because I will only find out that it was not the only fissure in the tube...

It could be that my view on the absurdness of this story is not objective and you don't think it to be unusual at all but I can't help being impressed by this chain of events.
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Cthulhu
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Post by Cthulhu »

Ouch... sounds like it wasn't your day. :? Well, good luck with getting it fixed up and being able to ride it properly again. I'm rooting for you! :D
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iatneH
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Post by iatneH »

Ouch. I know how you feel. After you take out the tube, ALWAYS check the inside of the tyre to see if whatever caused the puncture is still there.

I remember when I was on a long-ish day trip with a buddy, and we ended up having to stuff his tyre full of grass :D
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Jon
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Post by Jon »

iatneH wrote: I remember when I was on a long-ish day trip with a buddy, and we ended up having to stuff his tyre full of grass :D
Now thats ingenuity! That must have taken quite a bit of grass though.
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Ramus
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Post by Ramus »

May I sugest that you get a skateboard? The polyurethane wheels have a good resistance to popping (since there is no air in them). If you can't afford a skateboard, then maybe a pogo-stick? JK Sorry to hear you had a shitty time with your bike. Good luck with the next tire.
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landshark
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Post by landshark »

Get yourself some thorn-proof tires. They aren't truley thorn proof, but they are close.

We ride straight through 4-5 foot tall fields of thorn bushes and the tires do just fine; they don't do too bad with glass either.

Check yer tire itself to make sure it does not have a puncture object stuck through it (thus popping any new tube you put into it). You'll have to check from the inside, and probably use your finger and drag it through the surface (SLOWLY and carefully).
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TWITCHDOCTOR
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Post by TWITCHDOCTOR »

landshark wrote:Get yourself some thorn-proof tires. They aren't truley thorn proof, but they are close.

We ride straight through 4-5 foot tall fields of thorn bushes and the tires do just fine; they don't do too bad with glass either.

Check yer tire itself to make sure it does not have a puncture object stuck through it (thus popping any new tube you put into it). You'll have to check from the inside, and probably use your finger and drag it through the surface (SLOWLY and carefully).
The only thing about those kind of tires is that the performance of the bike will suffer. The ride may even be stiffer and harder.

You could try using a product called "Slime". The handeling of the bike will suffer as well, but probably not as much as with the use of a "plastic" tire.
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TWITCHDOCTOR
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Post by TWITCHDOCTOR »

Jon wrote:
iatneH wrote: I remember when I was on a long-ish day trip with a buddy, and we ended up having to stuff his tyre full of grass :D
Now thats ingenuity! That must have taken quite a bit of grass though.
Yea, I would have never thought of that one. I'd be carrying my bike over the shoulder at that point...or more likely pushing/walking it.
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marcus12024
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Location: MB, Canada

Post by marcus12024 »

TWITCHDOCTOR wrote:
Jon wrote:
iatneH wrote: I remember when I was on a long-ish day trip with a buddy, and we ended up having to stuff his tyre full of grass :D
Now thats ingenuity! That must have taken quite a bit of grass though.
Yea, I would have never thought of that one. I'd be carrying my bike over the shoulder at that point...or more likely pushing/walking it.
To hell with that, just rip the tire off altogether and let the sparks fly :lol: I may have actually done this when I was younger, and I seem to remember the rim not lasting too long, but it sure was fun to make sparks fly late at night!

In any case, sorry to hear about your misfortune. You could also just visit Wal-Mart, or some other big chain store, and just buy a cheapo $60 bike. They're not great, but they will get you from point A to point B, quite cheaply.
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Monkey_Man
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Post by Monkey_Man »

landshark wrote:We ride straight through 4-5 foot tall fields of thorn bushes and the tires do just fine; they don't do too bad with glass either.
How exactly did you find this out?
SpooN
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Post by SpooN »

Thanks for all the sympathy.
It's working now :) .
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