Flat tire, losing mind

[DebW]

Reading this thread made me glad that I ride sewups. Common practice for mounting a sewup, which may possibly be useful here (not really sure but maybe worth a try) is to stretch the tire first. Either put your foot on it and pull up, or put it behind your back, grab it from both sides with your hands, and rotate your shoulders forward.

[Pedal Wench]

Most Campy wheels are notorious for being difficult. I snapped the Speed Levers within the first two seconds of trying to use them. So, save yourself the hassle. Go with steel or the Pedros, and put everything you've got into it. I doubt you'll be able to put the tire back on without the help of levers too. I get as much of the tire seated as possible, make sure the tube is tucked far out of the way, and then use the lever for, well, leverage to slip the tire back onto the rim.

[Steph_in_TX]

I've never seen dh so mad as the times he was trying to change tires on the Campy wheels. Both Michelin and Continental tires were almost impossible to get off. After the latest episode, during which many tires levers were broken and many cuss words thrown about, I told him he had to sell them or he was going to have some sort of coronary event and kill himself.

That said...we now have a pair of Campy wheels for sale.

[Lise]

Hey, guys, thanks for all the commiserating about the Campy wheels!

I went to LBS and my favorite guy was behind the counter (no, Nanci, not Dennis, he's the owner, it turns out, and almost never there). John. I like him because he's calm, but not comatose. He has a sense of humor. As it turns out, there were two problems:

1. Old tube--little bit of valve had snapped off. "It happens", he said. "OK," said I, "did it happen because of anything *I* did?" Maybe pulling the pump off the valve sideways. Always pull it straight back.

2. New tube--valve too short to use with my pump. I have a universal valve on the pump (this is the famous pink pump), and the valve must be at least 45mm long to inflate it with that pump. "We don't even sell this tube", he said. I replied, "I bought it here the day I bought my bike." Hmmmm. Sorry. He gave me a new tube, a new replacement tube, and three new levers, blue, a heavier, more flexible plastic.

He ordered a telescoping speed lever for me, a home version of what they use in the store. I also learned some good tricks for dealing with the Campy wheels.

A funny note: There was a new silver bike leaning up against the counter. I glanced at it and thought, "What a beautiful bike", then looked more closely. It was a Marin Larkspur, my original bike! When I say I love my old bike, I'm not kidding! I love both of my bikes. I feel a lot better about racing the Bianchi now. And glad that I have such tough tires. I would've had to change the tube anyways, since the broken valve wouldn't hold air pressure. But happily, nothing had punctured the tube. I ride over all the usual city crap--glass, metal, rocks, broken pavement. I avoid it when I can, but often can't do much.

I'm so happy that I'm going to ride the Bianchi to work tomorrow, and just double lock it in the clinic's basement. Plus I cover it with my sweaty riding clothes, to make it look less interesting to anybody who's looking. L.

[CorsairMac]

Lise if it helps any?..........Sat last I did a centuary and I kept passing this couple on the side of the road always working on their tires, always with a crowd around them. In the last 15 miles of the ride there they were again, on the bike path, just the 2 of them working on their tires again. My riding buddy and I stopped and he asked if we knew how to change a tire??

He also wanted to know if either of us might have a spare tube coz he didn't have any. I said I have a tube that will work up to a 700x28 and he said "oh that won't fit my tire is a 700x25". I assured him it would work Just fine! She had not a clue how to change a tire either. So my riding buddy and I taught them both right then and there how to change a tire.

Where is this story going you ask?......she was wearing the Hawaii Ironman Jersey and said she had just competed in the qualifier last week in Hawaii. (and she didn't know how to change a tire! hmmmmmmmmm)



(ps: my friends speed lever didn't work this time...these were the toughest tires I have Ever seen getting off and on. The guy said someone had already broken 2 levers the last time he stopped)

[Lise]

Where is this story going you ask?......she was wearing the Hawaii Ironman Jersey and said she had just competed in the qualifier last week in Hawaii. (and she didn't know how to change a tire! hmmmmmmmmm)

No freaking way! Thanks for telling me. I wonder, had she never flatted, or did she just always have someone around to fix it for her? Seems strange.

I'll never forget the sight of the previous year's IM Kona champion throwing his bike onto the lava fields in disgust. t-a-n-t-r-u-m. I am proud to say I did not throw anything last night. Then again, my Kona championship wasn't exactly on the line.... L.

[Pedal Wench]

Hey, guys, thanks for all the commiserating about the Campy wheels!
..... I also learned some good tricks for dealing with the Campy wheels.
L.

Lise, care to share any of those Campy tricks????

[Lise]

Lise, care to share any of those Campy tricks????

let's see...make sure all, all, all the air is out. "Break" the bead on both sides before starting to try to get the tire levers in. I think this means squeeze the side of the tire into the middle all the way around. Start with a tire lever on the opposite side from the valve (this is different from what I read in my Everything Bicycle Book). If you can't get the second tire lever in, move it another several inches away from the first one, and try again. Don't even try to hook them on the spokes (that's how I broke one lever). Get the first and second ones in, lift up the tire, and then slide the second lever all the way around to lift out the rest of the tire.

Getting 'em back in? John said, "Yeah, that's hard for everybody".

I don't know if those are Campy specific tricks, or things people here already knew, but they helped me.

Denise/RM--I'm impressed that you stopped to talk to that lady on the IMAZ course at all. You knew you would be cutting it close with time, yet you gave her some. And I'm really glad you didn't stop to fix her flat, cuz you wouldn't have finished in time.

Again, I'm so glad this happened in my dining room, with my computer close at hand, and the day off today, so I could go into the LBS for help. I learned a lot. The funniest moment was when he said he didn't carry those tubes, and I said, "well, you sold it to me." What, one of the techs had it lying around? In any event, I've got the right tubes now, and you'd best believe I will have that speed tool on hand. When I have to use it, I'll let you all know how it works.

[plantluvver]

Two weeks ago, someone was demonstrating how to change my tire to me, and he struggled with it. And I was reminded once again, that it isn't always MY FAULT when something doesn't workout easily . Sometimes it is just as hard for anyone, period.

I am so glad that happened, because if I had experienced the same thing on my own, I know that I would have blamed my stupidity, or my lack of arm strength, or any number of things for my difficulties.

I remember reading about a study somewhere and I don't remember the details, it may have been with math problems. When males were given an impossible problem to solve, they blamed their difficulties on the problem. Females tend to think something is wrong with themselves, and question their abilities. And the reverse is true for easy problems. Males feel proud of their abilities, females think that their sucess is the ease of the problem.

I have a BA in math, and when I have trouble understanding something in math, I STILL often think I am incompetent, despite all my experience in being sucessful at math. And I still don't beleive I will ever be able to make sense of it. And my one professor who has great faith in me (That I don't feel I deserve, I feel he was impressed by a LUCKY hunch of mine, anyone in the room could have seen it.) is amazed that I can still have this lack of confidence and comfort with my math abilities.

I think it is our training in being modest as girls that is to blame. I remember turning my math papers upside down, because I didn't want my neighbor to feel bad when I got an A and she was getting D's and F's. I felt guilty for being better than her.

So while the difficult tire wasn't a girl thing, feeling dumb about it most likely was a girl thing.

Mary