So is it really any wonder that this evening when I went to change my tube (yet again...i'll get to the cause later) tonight that I FREAKED out when I opened up my tube put it next to the other tubes and noticed that it was anorexic? All I could think was "can that skinny little tube do the job?" It was a 18/23 sized tube and my big ol' fatty tubes had been 20/28....whatever that meant. I just knew I had a tube that had been on a diet and I am supposed to go for a ride tomorrow morning and all I have are skinny tubes. I look at my watch...it's 6pm. Bike shop closes at 7pm...I jump in my car and away I go.
A very nice woman working at the shop helped me out. I told her I needed tubes and tires (I still hadn't bought new tires like I wanted a few weeks ago)...so we chat tires first because that is more fun than boring tubes. As we chat I pull the 'Uh...I think this is a stupid question, but can I put a 18/23 tube in for a 20/28? Does it matter?' She makes me feel better that it isn't a dumb question and that most people wouldn't have noticed the tube had been on a diet and would have put it in anyway. The numbers have to do with the width of the tires. So, now as we look at tires...sizes 23, 25 and 28...it is starting to make sense all this weird numberage. I buy a pair of Specialized Armadillos and then purchase a few more tubes for good measure, even though my skinny tubes should 'work'.
We then chat about shoes. I have this DUMB issue in that I bought some Specialized shoes a few years ago...nice carbon fiber bottoms...got a wicked good deal on them...150 dollar shoes for 80 bucks, but when I went to upgrade my peddles to Look peddles a few weeks ago (from my 'training wheel SPD's' as I liked to call them...to me they were my 'easy' to get used to clipless that I got 3 years ago when I first went to clipless) my shoes have the holes FOR the cleat for the Look peddle, but it doesn't have the threads to accept the screws for the cleat. Very weird. And no one could figure it out. So, I'm going to bring them in and see if they can do anything about it. I doubt it. But if they can, that would save having to purchase new shoes. (Although there were some pretty women's tri shoes that caught my eye).
I get home all kinds of excited for new tires...and well...hmmm...after having put on a tire bead some 4+ times by this point, my fingers are having none of it for the new tires. Sigh. Tomorrow I'll try again.
Oh, and the only reason my tire was flat again is that I blame it on the fact that I used to be a poor grad student and had merely patched my previous flat and put it back in my flat kit. The patch didn't hold. That was also why I had a flat on the other tire on Wed. While having a flat kit during a ride is handy to help get one home...just chuck the tire once home. It'll just give a headache in the end otherwise.
6 comments:
Wow, I feel like my head's going to explode from all the stuff that I didn't know in this post. What I DO know very well from experience is that A) flats suck, and B) having the wrong tubes sucks more.
This may be so stupid that you get mad at me for suggesting it, but did you try pulling out the insole of your shoes to see if the back part of the cleat (ie the part with the holes for the screws) is removable? I seem to remember having to buy that part when I first switched to clipless too... But I don't have a very good memory. Don't get too mad at me if that was a stupid thing to say.
Second Speedy's suggestion.
Peel back the insole and look for the "female" threaded bits. You should be able to move them from hole to hole.
Thanks for the suggestions, Bill and Speedy! Unfortunately I had a bikeshop guy already try to do that. My insole is glued down and short of ripping the whole shoe apart there was no easily apparent way to get to the cleat part from inside the shoe. I'll try again though since it could save me buying a new pair of shoes.
Oh, and the bike shop woman said that the skinny tubes would work in my tire fine and it didn't matter a whole lot on the width. Although I discovered that the anorexic tubes have valves that are more squirrelly to fill due to their geometry or something because they are difficult to get to over 100 psi as my pump won't stay on them (and I have a pretty decent pump) and I've *never* had this problem before...so for that, I'll probably become a tube snob and only buy specific brands when given the chance.
You are not a tube snob--its called luck!!! I only use one type of tube now because they have been lucky (and they make my life easier).
I patch all my tubes! I only get rid of em if they rot. :) Hopefully you get it all sorted out soon.
Wow...so much in one post! I do know what you mean though, about the confusing nature of this sport. Swimming is all about technique...cycling is all about the STUFF. No wonder people like running. ;)
Impressive that Paul patches his tubes. I throw 'em out. I'm too paranoid about patching.
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