I got one today, well technically 2 and not sure if the second one is my fault or not.

I have been diligently carrying my spare tube, puncture kit and pump in my bag on my daily commute and in the past couple of years, I have had no flats at all. I guess it is a combination of smooth and well maintained roads and some effort from my end to avoid any debris I find. It has been well and my tires have protected me from flats till today. Well if you are interested, the tires are Panaracer Crosstown.  I do not know how to differentiate tires but I do know they run metal beads and are a bit heavy. They work well in the rain and are pretty flat resistant. Good overall tires.

This morning, as I was leaving home, I had a feeling that the rear tire was not fully inflated, I did the old squeeze the tire with your fingers and figured I am probably ok  with the pressure. And it was fine for the 12 km after which I felt that the rear was dragging.  I took a look and there it was a deeply deflated rear. Well, I found a decent shade and got down to fix the flat, I found a really tiny piece of wire sticking through the tire, It could have been a stapling pin since it was stiff enough to poke through the tire. Well, I had 2 choices, try to patch the flat or just replace the tube.  I decided to replace as it is a quicker option. Went through the motions of checking the tire, inflating the tube a little, fixing the tire back and fitting the wheel. Then I started to pump the tire up, it felt positive but then the pressure ever picked up. I guess I must have wither pinched the tube while fixing or may be the valve is malfunctioning. Well I had already spent enough time and decided I should just head to TBB and worry about fixing the flat in the evening.

I was thinking I might just ride on but with the very flay tire, I did not want to damage the rim or fall down in traffic because the tire slipping out. Oh well, reasonable taxi fares to the rescue and I cabbed it to the bike shop.

I might know in the evening if it was my fault fitting the tube or a defect in the tube. Either way, a learning experience, I should periodically check my tire changing skills and also check if my repair kit is in order.

Related posts:

1. New kicks, no wheels, actually, just tires.
2. stripping

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 at 2:06 pm and is filed under bicycle commuting in singapore, Singapore. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.