I rarely get flats. But I had one 3 months ago on my Paramount (sew-ups) and my wife got a flat on her bike (clinchers) last week. So today, on Sunday, our day of rest, we fixed it. Here's how it went.
Clean out rim and tire. Inspect tire for thorns, glass, etc. that might have caused the flat. We found a small thorn, but it was too short to cause a flat. I found the injury, which we used to call a Snake Bite due to its parallel set of two punctures. This means the tire got pinched against the rim crossing a railroad track or hitting a pothole. I threw this tube away.
I prefer to lubricate the inside of the tire with talcum powder so the tube can move freely when the tire is installed, and it doesn't get pinched or folded over.
I push the tire back on the rim. No need for tire irons if you do it properly.
I cleaned up the derailleur, removed one link from the chain so it would shift better, cleaned the chain and cluster, adjusted both derailleurs and the brakes, and accidentally damaged the Reynolds 531 sticker on the frame below the seat post. Ooops.
She took it for a ride, came back with comments, and I adjusted a few more things. Then I took her bike for a ride myself.
The roads haven't gotten any better in the past month since we've been distracted by vacations, birthdays, broken cars, anniversaries, starting of school and a heat/humidity wave.
I happy to say the road garden is still alive (featured in an earlier post of mine) but I fear for November when the paving crew is scheduled to redo the entire road surface. Maybe our city will be so poor they'll just do the usual half-hearted job, and not fill this hole...
As for the Raleigh Professional, it's ready for the school year and an occasional trip out on the road.
PS - The bike is a vintage Raleigh Professional, circa 1973 or so. It came with Reynolds tubing frame, Campy equipment, and one of the very first 6-speed clusters. Here's an ad that came from Sheldon Brown's site. This is exactly how the bike looked when we bought from Ken and Terese. Later we had it painted by JB, the finest bike painter around.
