With the race coming up next weekend. I've been riding the race wheels. Being all carbon, the braking has a different feel. Then there is the being pushed around a bit in the wind. Things I like to be familiar with on race day.
Well unfortunately, that new tire I installed 2 weeks ago got punctured during the ride. And if you click that link, you will see that it's not a cheap tire. Grrrr.
So I break out the spray in latex to seal the puncture. It went in very easily. You don't have to remove the valve stem or anything. Unfortunately, the latex just kept oozing out of the puncture. Fortunately, I've been carrying an extra tire with me on my rides. So I tear off the bad tire. Put a bit of air into the spare. Which turned out to be sort of tricky. I had to use the crack pipe adapter with the CO2 inflator. I pulled the trigger and not much happened. Hmmm. Turns out I had pushed the adapter too far into the inflator. We backed it out a bit and we were in business.
I was surprised that well over half of the glue pulled off the rim of the wheel and stayed on the old tire. Which meant the spare tire's glue which is tacky at best at this point, was going to be the majority of the adhesive. Not a big deal. You know going into this that if you flat, you are going to have to brake and corner very cautiously once you mount the spare.
Because of the problems with the adapter and the inflator, I had to break out my 2nd CO2 cartridge. Only to find out it was the wrong size!! Again not a big deal because between the 4 of us we probably had 6 cartridges but talk about missing a detail in your emergency kit!
So even tho that was an expensive flat. (1 new tubular, 2 glues, 2 CO2s, 1 latex inflator). It was definitely a learning experience.
1) I actually removed the rear wheel to put the latex in. No need to do this. Just wasn't thinking straight. Should have simply hooked up the spray latex and if it worked. I'd be on my way.
2) Now I know what a failed latex fill looks like.
3) I now know the right depth to put the crack pipe adapter into the inflator.
4) I definitely want my spare tire to have somewhat fresh glue on it for race days.
5) I know that once it's determined that I've got to swap tires, that the tear off and new tire install can happen very quickly. Perhaps even quicker than a clincher if things go smoothly. (although with a clincher you are as good as new and don't have to worry about cornering).
6) If you are going to carry CO2 cartridges, you should buy the right size!
7) Not related to the flat but useful for all glue jobs: To check how well your tire is glued. Deflate the tire and try to lift it from the rim. You are just looking for the weak links in your gluing. It should be tight all the way around.
I suppose the expense of this partially offsets the great deal we got on Genine's wetsuit this week. $150 for a QR superfull! (550 new/440 closeouts) She wasn't thrilled about the blue graphics on the suit, but when I told her $150, she didn't mind them anymore.
Since I was in money spending mode. We got a code for 25% off trisports.com. So I hit their winter clearance section and picked out some stuff that we've been meaning to buy. Maybe this will be the year we ride through the winter. (50%+25% off is my kind of shopping.) Heck some of the stuff would have been handy as Mooseman a couple weeks ago!
I wish that was the end of the spending. The bite valve on Genine's speedfil is partially torn. It's working properly but for how long? I also found that I am at the end of the line with the carbon brake pads.
I think I'll try to repair that punctured tubular. I'm not sure that I'll be successful. If I am, I'll be one step closer to being an "Old School" bike guy.
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