bobco85’s broom karma

[Dewey]

I read a tip about tying a toe strap around one end of the tire/wheel, squeeze down and tighten the strap, then squeeze down out from that point until you reach the top when they just pop over the rim, works for me, and I love Schwalbe Marathon Greenguard in the past year I’ve bought three pairs and just put a pair of 20″ on my daughters bicycle trailer. Kenda Tires also compete for puncture-resistance.

[Brett L.]

@bobco85 173168 wrote:

Well, based on the suggestions on this thread, I went out and bought a Schwalbe Marathon Plus tire for my rear wheel (I had already bought a Continental Gatorskin which will go on my front wheel). And…

…a few hours later, much frustration, and 3 broken tire levers (even my BikeArlington one!), I will let everyone know how it is once I put it on Wednesday evening after I stop at the bike shop to get a bead jack tire lever so that it’s actually possible to put the tire on the wheel. I tried watching a few how-to videos (including some that don’t use tire levers at all, it’s witchcraft, I tell ya), but I was unable to work the last part of the bead over the edge of the rim.

Oh, the flat count is now at 15 (3 front, 12 rear), as this morning I discovered a slow leak in the rear wheel that flatted it overnight.

The most frustrating thing is that I’ve gotten flats on roads, bike lanes, and trails alike, and back home in the DC area, I did ever-so-slightly less biking and managed to only have a handful of flats per year. The saga continues, but I’ll try to be more assertive in calling for pothole repairs and street-sweeping (I’ve reported one instance of a particularly bad road section).

In the meantime, I used my new camera to take some macro shots of each of the tires on my chinook bike that will be replaced tomorrow. I put the interesting parts of the images together into a collage to show the aftermath of 4 months of biking in the Seattle area. Check out my tires’ battlescars!

Front tire (~2,000 miles on it)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]16454[/ATTACH]

Rear tire (~800 miles on it)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]16455[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]16456[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]16457[/ATTACH]

Those tyres look like they’ve been riding in PG County!

[n18]

Here is a short 1-minute video that shows the secret to installing hard to mount tire and rim combinations:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wulxug-9Jys

Here is another longer version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XUFVrl0UT4

[bobco85]

Well, this is worth a story, so here goes:

After stopping by the bike shop on my way home from work today, I picked up a tire bead jack which would help me finish putting the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tire on my rear wheel. I also bought some new tire levers to keep on my bike and at my apartment.

Excitedly, I went right to putting the tire on when I got home. I took the tire bead jack out of its packaging and immediately used it on the tire. On the first attempt, I was able to get more of the tire on the wheel than ever had been before. On the second attempt…

*SNAP*

The tire bead jack’s arm snapped off, flying about 10 feet across the room. The look on my face was that of shock as the possibility that I wouldn’t be getting the tire on by myself was becoming a reality. I decided, you know what, I’ll just try one of these new tire levers, break one or two, and take it to the bike shop tomorrow so they can fight with the darn thing.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]16483[/ATTACH]

So, I set to work with the tire lever, using as much of the techniques that I could from the how-to videos, and voila, the tire was on! It looked beautiful with its reflective wall, and I was somewhat surprised to get the tire on having fought with it the previous day. All right, let’s pump this baby up so I can put the other new tire on the front wheel and go for a ride! I attach the valve to my floor pump and send some air into the tire…

…but it’s not inflating. Why isn’t it inflating?!?! I… …must… …have… …*gulp*… …pinch flatted the tube.

As the world turned grey, I curled up into a ball on the floor. Time stopped. A baby somewhere cried. A person spilled wine on their brand new white blouse. Everything was horrible in the universe.

Eventually, I came to my senses, gritted my teeth, and decided I was going to put a new tube in tonight whether my already-raw thumbs fell off or not. I had little trouble getting the tire off, putting a new inner tube in, and went back to work trying to get the last part of the tire on. Eventually, I succeeded, and after some pumps of air, the tire stayed inflated. It was glorious, I tell you! I then put the Gatorskin tire on the front wheel, almost not even needing the tire lever save for the very last bit of tire, and then I went on a ride to test out the new set-up.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]16484[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]16485[/ATTACH]

I went on what is becoming my go-to route for a quick 12 mile loop that has some hill climbs to get my blood pumping, comfortable roads including a two-way PBL that operates more like a parallel bike path, passes by a grocery store I like to peruse, and a couple of wheeee inducing descents. And best of all, they had my favorite flavor of ice cream at the grocery store, and I hadn’t seen the flavor on the shelves for a few weeks!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]16486[/ATTACH]

The Schwalbe Marathon Plus tire definitely has a different, heavier feel to it, but I’ll take the added protection. So far, 12 miles without a flat. Starting small, but I’ll take it! Thank you all for the advice!

[huskerdont]

I’ve been using the Soma steel-core levers. So, far, I’ve only broken one.

[bobco85]

Here’s a quick follow-up to the long saga that is the love between broken glass and my tires: I. actually. got. a. flat. on. the. Schwalbe. Marathon. Plus. Tire.

So, I took some pics of it before and after removing the piece of glass, and in honor of Judd’s amazing ride (that I sadly was unable to attend; don’t worry, I’ll make him do a re-run when I return), I added some metal of a certain Illinoisian for a sense of scale.

Macro mode: engage!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]17088[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]17089[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]17090[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]17091[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]17092[/ATTACH]

Luckily, when I got my flat, the tire itself was thick enough that I was able to nurse the flat home for about 9 miles, stopping to reinflate the tube (which lost its air in a matter of minutes), without any squirreliness in the tire itself as its tube ran out of air.

I replaced the tube (standard) with a stronger one (puncture resistant), so we’ll see how far I can get with that!

[bobco85]

Good news on the getting-flats-constantly-in-Seattle front: since February, I have not gotten a flat on either tire! I have biked almost exactly 1,000 miles since my last flat.

Seriously, the key seems to have been the switch to Schwalbe Marathon Plus tire (rear), Gatorskin tire (front), and Forte puncture-resistant tubes.

I still have moments where I get paranoid about feeling like my rear tire is getting a little squirrelly or when riding on stupidly textured surfaces (like brick which causes your tire to want to go in parallel ruts) because the tire and tube are both thicker than average tires/tubes. However, I have been vigilant about maintaining tire pressure by refilling the tubes every few days out of pragmatism. I could seriously only need to do it once every week or so because the thicker tubes lose air less quickly, but I make sure to check.

I imagine it’s good karma because I have cleared trails of broken glass, thorny raspberry vines, and other debris more than a couple of times now using the pruning shears and hand broom that I keep in my pannier.

[Judd]

@anomad 172955 wrote:

Has anyone else noticed the absence of glass on the Mount Vernon Trail?

Before bobco85 left this Washington area for that Washington area he gave me a couple brooms. I didn’t realize they had the power to prevent broken glass from even appearing on the path. Maybe this good karma will extend to his new riding habitat if we all think about what an altruistic human being he is and put an end to his rash of flats.

Update from NPS from an MVT stakeholder meeting: The Park Police arrested the guy breaking glass on the trail a while ago. He was an indigent man with some mental health issues. The arrest seems to led to him stopping.

[lordofthemark]

@Judd 179348 wrote:

Update from NPS from an MVT stakeholder meeting: The Park Police arrested the guy breaking glass on the trail a while ago. He was an indigent man with some mental health issues. The arrest seems to led to him stopping.

1. I hope he gets the help he needs
2. I hope we see no more glass on the MVT
3. I mean if I want to see broken glass on my commute, there is usually a fair amount in the Eye Street bike lanes. But that appears to be the result of just selfish approaches to bottle disposal rather than a problem with mental illness.

[Author]

Posts