Bike maintenance

I grabbed my bike to get to work, but something felt wrong. The back tyre was soft. Oh dear! And I didn’t want to fix that at that moment. I grabbed my spare bike, of which I had fortunately recently fixed a puncture. This bike has a lower sit, a smaller lowest gear and wider handlebars than the other bike. 

It was the day storm Amy would hit us, but the forecast was that only later in the afternoon it would get really unpleasant. So if I would just leave fairly early I would be fine. 

During the day, the weather forecast got worse, and I ended up biking back through pretty rubbish weather. All the special characteristics of the spare bike actually came in handy quite nicely! Some serendipity here. But I still had a bike with a puncture at home. 

The next day I fixed the puncture. It had been caused by a minute shard of glass. My tyre had worn very thin! It was time to retire it. And I had a replacement ready: I had adopted a tyre from Neil that he had deemed a bit heavy. But on the total weight of my bike, it barely registers. This will get me through the next thousands of kilometres! I bought the bike, with the just retired tyre, in October 2021, and since then I think I have done some 17.000 km on it. In 2024, Strava logged 4.252 km, and if you do that x 4, that’s what you get. So that tyre has done its job! The front tyre, though, looks like it can do thousands of kilometres more. 

Work in progress

I had been getting quite many punctures recently. A sign I needed a new tyre. And I also had had to re-fix punctures more than once: sometimes because the patch was rubbish (my usual brand had sold out), and once because the puncture had been right next to the seam of the tube. You can’t really fit a patch over the seam in an airtight way. I don’t remember that problem from when I was young! I think tubes just didn’t have seams running lengthwise. Maybe nowadays people are not expected to fix tubes. Just buy new one if they have a puncture. And Sod’s Law says the hole is always next to the seam. I’m glad I have a solution to this. In the olden days, you could buy supplies in the university shop at my alma mater. It had stationery and lab stuff and all sorts, including scalpels. We also had a medical school! I don't think they would let the general public buy these nowadays, but then you could. I made sure to stock up. And I still have them.

With a scalpel, you can actually remove the seam. And then you can fit the patch. I have a dedicated still sharp scalpel in the kitchen now for that express purpose. I also use a scalpel for hair maintenance, but then I use one that has already become blunt through other use. 

Removing the seam 

I also took the opportunity to lubricate the chain, and add a snazzy new feature. A wing mirror! Neil has one on his bike, and he loves it, so he had given one to me as well as a present. That was very sweet of him. I think I've put it up under more or less the right angle, but I will have to try it out to be sure. It will be a lot easier to see if there’s someone behind me! I’ll soon find out if I like it as much as Neil does. My bike is ready for use again! 

Mirror!