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Old July 18th 03, 02:15 PM
archer
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Default Couple questions about bike tires

In article ,
says...
Every bike I remember owning had 27 x 1.25 inch tires. When my old
Shwinn Continental frame broke almost 5 years ago I bought another used
road bike -- a Miyata, not a high end bike, but a pretty good quality
mass-production bike. It has a triple-butted frame of Chrome-Moly, fair
components but nothing special. The best thing is that it isn't
particularly thief bait and I don't have to be too nervous locking it up
outside in my town (Berkeley, CA).

Lately I've taken up daily 12 mile rides with about a 1000 foot mostly
gradual climb. The descent, however, is pretty steep. I've seen guys
blow by me at probably 35 miles/hour on the steepest part ( !! ) but it
makes me shudder to think what would happen to them if they had a flat
or a blowout. I read a story of a guy who's a quadrapalegic now who had
just such an accident in my vicinity.

Well, that story stuck with me and I don't want it happening to me. Of
course, there's just no being really safe on a bike, but I figure I can
start here by paying attention to my tires and not screaming down that
hill.

I had a blowout a couple days ago. I was at elevation and noticed some
bumping and saw a z-jag in my back tire and took it REAL slow down the
descent. I got to pretty flat elevation before the tire unexpectedly
blew out with what sounded like a gun shot. I just hopped off the bike,
locked it, and walked the rest of the way and came back and got it with
my car later.

That tire was not on that bike more than about a month. It was one of
several cheap tires I bought a few years ago and they seem to have all
gotten stiff, somewhat brittle and even crumbly just sitting around.
Does this always happen with bike tires? You can't buy them and store
them without them going bad? Is there something you can do to protect
them, like an application of Armor All? I also have many individual
packets of Turtle Wax Clear Guard protectant that I could try. I wonder
if anyone uses this stuff with either stored tires or tires that they
are riding in an effort to prolong their life.


Where do you store the tires? Are they near electrical equipment which
might produce ozone? That will eat rubber in a hurry. Many peopel swear
by putting the tires in a plastic bag and pressing out most of the air
when they are going to be stored for an extended time.

.....

--
David Kerber
An optimist says "Good morning, Lord." While a pessimist says "Good
Lord, it's morning".

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