Wheeling my bike from the garage I heard a swish, swish as a loose thread on my tire whirled past the brake pads. Taking a closer look, I discovered a tire failure. Not a flat, but an old fabric sidewall giving way to the pressure from the inside.
I knew this meant changing bikes or the tire, and since many folks today have never seen a tubular tire or how it is replaced, I decided to swap tires.
Study the pictures first so you can see the difference. There is no separate tube in a tubular tire. It's encased in the tire itself. I used to pick these tires apart, pull out the tube, patch it, and sew the tire carcass back together. That's how they got their nickname "sew-ups".
Here's the process of changing a tubular tire:
1. Remove the wheel and let most of the air out. Remove valve stem nut or cap and push the stem in towards the rim.
2. Using your thumbs, roll the tire off the rim and pull it loose from the glue holding it onto the rim.
3. Unfold the spare tire and add some air so it takes a tubular shape but is not tight or hard.
4. Make sure the rim cement is still tacky and sufficient to hold the tire. If not, add some and wait a bit.
5. Put the stem into its hole in the rim and stretch the rest of the tire up over the rim (avoid getting cement on yourself or the tire sidewalls or rim braking surface)
6. Put a bit of air in the tire and make sure it's straight all the way around the rim.
7. Inflate to the lowest recommended pressure - I use about 80-90 psi - plenty of time to go higher later
8. Put the wheel back in the bike and make sure the tire is centered on the rim, and the wheel is centered in the fork or rear stays. Adjust the brake if you released it to remove the wheel.
I headed back through the neighborhood to my favorite "check the weather" mirror. It indicated the skies are all clear and the ocean is visible and blue (as opposed to invisible or gray).
Using the panorama feature on the iPhone, I did a scan of the corner where the sewer replacement project is in full swing. [click to enlarge any photo]
Detours, dirt, dust, ditches - yep, the usual. I thought about going up the sidewalk but the crews are even cutting through sidewalks and trenching up into yards to the sewer clean outs. So I went around the long way and found this pile of long pipes. Or is it a long pile of pipes? About a hundred pipes, anyway.
For Car of the Day I was going to take some photos of yet another pair of black Rovers (one Land and one Range) but a nosy neighbor deterred me. I did stop a few blocks later to capture this fantastic bougainvillea hedge.
Now I am back home, tired, and ready for a nap. But I've only been up for 4 hours... I must be getting old.
