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Overtraining was defective pump
Hi,
Some time ago I mentioned I feared I suffered from overtraining syndrome. Today I found out my specialized floor pump only inflated my tires to 2 bar, whilst 7 bar was shown on the meter. I never checked the tire manually, since I trusted the pump.... Boy, what a difference: I managed to get an average of 31.8 km/h in spite of 0 degree Celcius temperature. Greets, Derk |
On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 18:49:17 +0100, Derk
wrote: Hi, Some time ago I mentioned I feared I suffered from overtraining syndrome. Today I found out my specialized floor pump only inflated my tires to 2 bar, whilst 7 bar was shown on the meter. I never checked the tire manually, since I trusted the pump.... Boy, what a difference: I managed to get an average of 31.8 km/h in spite of 0 degree Celcius temperature. Greets, Derk Dear Derk, I'm surprised that you didn't notice dreadful cornering problems with 30 psi instead of 100 psi. The sidewalls would have sagged and wobbled under your weight, and the contact patches would have tripled in size, which make quite a difference in turning. I occasionally find this out the hard way with slow leaks from thorns. If the faintly different feel of a softer and softer rear tire hitting road cracks doesn't penetrate my daydreams on the five miles of gentle curves into town, I'm liable to wet my pants when I reach the first right-angle turn in the park at 20 mph, lean over, and find that I'm riding a soggy blimp that wants to sail over into curb. When I approach the park now, I take a quick glance back down at my rear tire to see if it's bulging from a slow leak. Carl Fogel |
Derk wrote:
Hi, Some time ago I mentioned I feared I suffered from overtraining syndrome. Today I found out my specialized floor pump only inflated my tires to 2 bar, whilst 7 bar was shown on the meter. I never checked the tire manually, since I trusted the pump.... Boy, what a difference: I managed to get an average of 31.8 km/h in spite of 0 degree Celcius temperature. Greets, Derk Now I can't take you serious any more 2 bar... yeah right. Lou -- Posted by news://news.nb.nu |
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"Lou Holtman" wrote in message ... Derk wrote: Hi, Some time ago I mentioned I feared I suffered from overtraining syndrome. Today I found out my specialized floor pump only inflated my tires to 2 bar, whilst 7 bar was shown on the meter. I never checked the tire manually, since I trusted the pump.... Boy, what a difference: I managed to get an average of 31.8 km/h in spite of 0 degree Celcius temperature. Greets, Derk Now I can't take you serious any more 2 bar... yeah right. How is that at all unbelievable? My road bike has a slow leak in the front that takes about a week to drop 60psi down from 130. During that time, I ride it to class each day, and the gradual softening effect is completely transparent to me. When it gets down to about 30 or 20psi, I notice it and stop being lazy and pump it back up to 130. The first ride after pumping it back up is like a new experience for me. This has been going on for about 2 months now, and it's still a little surprising each time. I'm 135lbs, and 700x23. BTW, Derk, I wouldn't have that problem with my Specialized floor pump, because the area of the piston is probably about 1in^2. Why? Because I am literally leaning on the piston superman-style at the very end of pumping up my road tires to 130 ;) 31.8kmh at 0C is something I definitely wouldn't be able to do! Phil, Squid-in-Training |
"Phil, Squid-in-Training" wrote in message m... "Lou Holtman" wrote in message ... Derk wrote: Hi, Some time ago I mentioned I feared I suffered from overtraining syndrome. Today I found out my specialized floor pump only inflated my tires to 2 bar, whilst 7 bar was shown on the meter. I never checked the tire manually, since I trusted the pump.... Boy, what a difference: I managed to get an average of 31.8 km/h in spite of 0 degree Celcius temperature. Greets, Derk Now I can't take you serious any more 2 bar... yeah right. How is that at all unbelievable? Because cornering with 2 bar in a 23 mm road tire is awful and any experience rider, like Derk, should notice that, specially when you are doing 31 km/hr average. The difference with 7 bar is huge. When you hit a (minor) hole with 2 bar you almost certain you get a snakebite flat. My road bike has a slow leak in the front that takes about a week to drop 60psi down from 130. During that time, I ride it to class each day, and the gradual softening effect is completely transparent to me. When it gets down to about 30 or 20psi, I notice it and stop being lazy and pump it back up to 130. The first ride after pumping it back up is like a new experience for me. This has been going on for about 2 months now, and it's still a little surprising each time. I'm 135lbs, and 700x23. That's another thing I don't understand. Why don't you pop on a new inner tube or patch the thing? I ride with latex inner tubes and have to pump my tire before EVERY ride. When I forget to do that, after the first corner I notice (they drop to 4 bar overnight) and return home to pump the tire up. Lou |
Lou Holtman wrote:
Now I can't take you serious any more 2 bar... yeah right. I couldn't believe it myslef either. I have been riding my old winterbike for some time now and I always ride through a polder during this period: very long straight roads, no bumps or potholes, cycling tracks. I noticed a few times when jumping over a branch that I hit the ground very hard, but I never had flats. It was just plain stupid to trust a pump and never check the pressure myself. Personally, I'm surprised that resistance on the road is that much greater. I use 25 mm tires in the winter btw. Something else: my dealer isn't able to get me a new meter for my 6 years old Specialized pump. I bought a SKS Rennkompressor in the mean time, but I would also repair the Specialized if I could find the meter somewhere not too expensive. Greets, Derk |
On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 09:40:39 +0100, Derk
wrote: Something else: my dealer isn't able to get me a new meter for my 6 years old Specialized pump. I bought a SKS Rennkompressor in the mean time, but I would also repair the Specialized if I could find the meter somewhere not too expensive. Greets, Derk Hi, if the gauge has a standard sized fitting, you should be able to replace it with any gauge of the same size and specs. Even if isn't, you may be able to get a reducer bushing of some sort. Take the pump to a hardware store. For everyone, it is a good idea to compare your pumps gauge to a quality, seperate one. There are often differences and it is nice to be able to compensate for them. I use a Topeak Joe Blow Sport and I have a Topeak Smarthead Digital Gauge. I like the Gauge so much that when I found them on sale at Campmor, I bought 3 of them for Christmas gifts. http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/st...tId=3037307 2 Life is Good! Jeff |
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Alex Rodriguez wrote:
That is a huge difference in tire pressure. I don't see how you did not get pinch flats all the time. I agree. I'm amazed also. Maybe it was 2.5 bar or so, but I was amazed when I inflated the tire at the LBS with their pump. I never had a flat tire during the last 6 months or so. Greets, Derk |
RE/
For everyone, it is a good idea to compare your pumps gauge to a quality, seperate one. There are often differences and it is nice to be able to compensate for them. I have a (reliable?) dial pressure gauge that I use on my car. Cost a few bucks, has a 6 or 8" pigtail on it... That plus one of those little Schraeder/Presta adapters lets me check up on my pump easily. -- PeteCresswell |
Some time ago I mentioned I feared I suffered from overtraining syndrome.
Today I found out my specialized floor pump only inflated my tires to 2 bar, whilst 7 bar was shown on the meter. I never checked the tire manually, since I trusted the pump.... How an experienced cyclist could think a tire inflated to only 30psi was pressurized to 100psi I cannot imagine. |
Mike Krueger wrote:
How an experienced cyclist could think a tire inflated to only 30psi was pressurized to 100psi I cannot imagine. Neither can I, but it must have gone slowly. The pump must have indicated the right value, but gave a little less pressure every day. I blamed this 13 years old bike, that is rather heavy partly for the fact that my average went down, the cold weather didn't help either and I never cleaned the chain, since it is my bad weather bike. I don't know of course for how long the pump has been defective. Fact is that after properly inflating the tire, my average went up quite a bit. After inflating it, I felt the difference immediately. Derk |
On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 08:51:19 +0100, Derk
wrote: Neither can I, but it must have gone slowly. The pump must have indicated the right value, but gave a little less pressure every day. I blamed this 13 years old bike, that is rather heavy partly for the fact that my average went down, the cold weather didn't help either and I never cleaned the chain, since it is my bad weather bike. I don't know of course for how long the pump has been defective. Fact is that after properly inflating the tire, my average went up quite a bit. After inflating it, I felt the difference immediately. Derk Derk, wasn't it noticable when you squeezed the tire by hand? Maybe, I am in the minority, but I generally will give my tires a quick squeeze once or twice during a ride, while stopped. I remember someone posting that they thought something was wrong, with the rider, when climbing was more difficult. Only to discover later, that they were in their largeer chainring. It sounds silly, but I think sometimes, people become so used to doing something, that they don't pay attention to it. Or??? Life is Good! Jeff |
Hello Jeff,
Jeff Starr wrote: wasn't it noticable when you squeezed the tire by hand? I must admit I never checked the tire by hand, since I completely trusted the pump.... It sounds silly, but I think sometimes, people become so used to doing something, that they don't pay attention to it. Or??? You can also call it laziness ;-) Greetings, Derk |
On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 09:01:08 -0600, Jeff Starr wrote:
On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 08:51:19 +0100, Derk wrote: Neither can I, but it must have gone slowly. The pump must have indicated the right value, but gave a little less pressure every day. I blamed this 13 years old bike, that is rather heavy partly for the fact that my average went down, the cold weather didn't help either and I never cleaned the chain, since it is my bad weather bike. I don't know of course for how long the pump has been defective. Fact is that after properly inflating the tire, my average went up quite a bit. After inflating it, I felt the difference immediately. Derk Derk, wasn't it noticable when you squeezed the tire by hand? Maybe, I am in the minority, but I generally will give my tires a quick squeeze once or twice during a ride, while stopped. I remember someone posting that they thought something was wrong, with the rider, when climbing was more difficult. Only to discover later, that they were in their largeer chainring. It sounds silly, but I think sometimes, people become so used to doing something, that they don't pay attention to it. Or??? I started a ride last week thinking I was feeble and my legs were really flat - sick and work had kept me off the bike for just over a week so no surprise... About a mile in the chain untangled from it's half-jammed in the rear der status with a "thwack" that rang through the frame and suddenly I was about two cogs faster than I'd been. Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm going to just come up with a preflight checklist and go through it every time until the habit's there and includes everything. Yeah, I squeeze the tires, shake the fork and snug the skewers (especially the rear - got a scare once when the wheel cocked jumping across a busy street) but I should do the rest and be sure. It's easy to make fun of the guys missing something dumb until it's me. Ron |
On Thu, 23 Dec 2004 04:42:01 GMT, RonSonic
wrote: I started a ride last week thinking I was feeble and my legs were really flat - sick and work had kept me off the bike for just over a week so no surprise... About a mile in the chain untangled from it's half-jammed in the rear der status with a "thwack" that rang through the frame and suddenly I was about two cogs faster than I'd been. Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm going to just come up with a preflight checklist and go through it every time until the habit's there and includes everything. Yeah, I squeeze the tires, shake the fork and snug the skewers (especially the rear - got a scare once when the wheel cocked jumping across a busy street) but I should do the rest and be sure. It's easy to make fun of the guys missing something dumb until it's me. Ron Speaking of skewers, I think it is one of those things that people should always check, when the bike has been left unattended. Unfortunately, after it happened, I found out an acquaintance had removed the bike from a friends front wheel. She had somehow run the lock through, in such a way, that only the front tire was secured. He thought it was funny to leave the wheel there and hide the rest of the bike. Ha ha?! Anyway, after the joke was over, he put the wheel back on. The bike had lawyer tabs, so he had to loosen the skewers. If I hadn't checked it and tightened it properly, she would of had problems. He didn't even have in straight. Trouble is, it was getting dark out and she may not have noticed. Assholes and vandals have been known to loosen skewers. So I think they should always be checked. Life is Good! Jeff |
That's another thing I don't understand. Why don't you pop on a new inner
tube or patch the thing? Good point. I ride with latex inner tubes and have to pump my tire before EVERY ride. When I forget to do that, after the first corner I notice (they drop to 4 bar overnight) and return home to pump the tire up. Since my slow leak is so slow, the effect is gradual. I lose about 2 or 3psi every ride (to/from class) so I wouldn't notice it over the long run. Phil |
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