Somehow I forgot to mention one of the more significant events of my first day: the flat tyre. Little more than 10 minutes out of the Cape Reinga parking lot, going down a hill at speed, the trike started fishtailing alarmingly. I pulled to a stop, and a brief check showed the rear tyre was almost completely flat. I'd had trouble with the valve on that tyre since I assembled the bike, but I thought the leak was slow, and that maybe I'd even resolved it, but it appears not.
So 10 minutes into my first day of touring, I find myself changing a tyre already - and it's the rear one, to make matters worse. Argh.
I'd only changed the rear tyre once before, when I was putting on the Marathon Supreme tyres, but it was actually pretty painless. I had all the right tools and knew what to do, so all up it probably took me no more than about 15 minutes. Good practice.
I've had no further trouble with tyres or tubes since. I'm thinking about starting a 'flat counter' in the corner of the blog to keep track. 1 day since last flat tyre!
So 10 minutes into my first day of touring, I find myself changing a tyre already - and it's the rear one, to make matters worse. Argh.
I'd only changed the rear tyre once before, when I was putting on the Marathon Supreme tyres, but it was actually pretty painless. I had all the right tools and knew what to do, so all up it probably took me no more than about 15 minutes. Good practice.
I've had no further trouble with tyres or tubes since. I'm thinking about starting a 'flat counter' in the corner of the blog to keep track. 1 day since last flat tyre!
Don't you have Slime/Sealant inside your tires? You should install and then you wouldn't have to change tires on flats.
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried that, but I'll look into it. I don't think it would have helped here, though, since I'm pretty sure it was a valve issue.
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