FJRocket
Doctor Throckenstein !!!
Anyone know where I can get a rear tire in the vacinity of Colorado Springs tomorrow?
I thought my bike was riding a little funny when I was out in the boonies on the back side of Telluride. Thankfully I made it to Durango last night and got the last motel room within 60 miles.
This AM I go out to check the tire pressure. Only 17 pounds on the rear. Not good. Up on the center stand, out with my bottled water. Yep, one big hole and one tiny leak about 3 inches away from the big one. Wonder what I hit? Probably a nail or two at that mom and pop gas station in Cimarron, but heck it could have happened out near Placerville. Who knows.
Ah, my first chance to use GOOEY STRING! Get out the kit, go to work. After about 18 miles t went flat again and I I had to make the big D. O... Dangit. Luckily, that gas station I pulled into (Conoco) had kits on the shelf. 2nd time around, I glued it liberally and trimmed it as close to the rubber (what's left of it) as I could with my pen knife. They show a razor blade on the instructions, but don't provide one. I bought a second spare gooey string kit, too!
You know, I would have just stayed in Durango, but the big dealer there isn't open on Mondays. The little Yammy dealer looked like he wouldn't have any inventory. So I decided to brave the desolation and head back out into the wilderness. Since I was beyond the wear bars (didn't expect THAT to happen so fast! and the Storm was above the wear bars when I started out, thank you very much!) and had already failed the first gooey string test, I was pretty much on pins and needles the entire way heading back to "the Big City".
I passed a couple cycle shops (mostly ATV oriented) in the sticks (160) but none looked enticing enough and the areas weren't attractive enough to warrant staying until morning (or Tuesday). So I limped along doing the speed limit trying to take it as easy on that spent/damaged rubber as possible. After about 45 minutes, I started to build confidence. But every bump, every seam, every curve caused my sphincter to get very tense.
So here I sit at Holiday Inn Express in Colrado Springs. I haven't spent the night, so I don't feel any smarter. The gooey strings are leaking air, and the pressure is wilting away. I plan on exchanging the strings when it (and I) cools down a little. I figure I can go a little more distance to get a tire, but there's no way I want to risk that tire 1K home back to Indiana. Not that the strings might not hold (and they aren't holding completely), but the tread is toast and I'm afraid that if I go too far or too fast I could end up with some 23 pin holes way before the Aramid fibers are showing.
Anyone have any helpful suggestions about getting a tire in this vacinity?
Thanks!
I thought my bike was riding a little funny when I was out in the boonies on the back side of Telluride. Thankfully I made it to Durango last night and got the last motel room within 60 miles.
This AM I go out to check the tire pressure. Only 17 pounds on the rear. Not good. Up on the center stand, out with my bottled water. Yep, one big hole and one tiny leak about 3 inches away from the big one. Wonder what I hit? Probably a nail or two at that mom and pop gas station in Cimarron, but heck it could have happened out near Placerville. Who knows.
Ah, my first chance to use GOOEY STRING! Get out the kit, go to work. After about 18 miles t went flat again and I I had to make the big D. O... Dangit. Luckily, that gas station I pulled into (Conoco) had kits on the shelf. 2nd time around, I glued it liberally and trimmed it as close to the rubber (what's left of it) as I could with my pen knife. They show a razor blade on the instructions, but don't provide one. I bought a second spare gooey string kit, too!
You know, I would have just stayed in Durango, but the big dealer there isn't open on Mondays. The little Yammy dealer looked like he wouldn't have any inventory. So I decided to brave the desolation and head back out into the wilderness. Since I was beyond the wear bars (didn't expect THAT to happen so fast! and the Storm was above the wear bars when I started out, thank you very much!) and had already failed the first gooey string test, I was pretty much on pins and needles the entire way heading back to "the Big City".
I passed a couple cycle shops (mostly ATV oriented) in the sticks (160) but none looked enticing enough and the areas weren't attractive enough to warrant staying until morning (or Tuesday). So I limped along doing the speed limit trying to take it as easy on that spent/damaged rubber as possible. After about 45 minutes, I started to build confidence. But every bump, every seam, every curve caused my sphincter to get very tense.
So here I sit at Holiday Inn Express in Colrado Springs. I haven't spent the night, so I don't feel any smarter. The gooey strings are leaking air, and the pressure is wilting away. I plan on exchanging the strings when it (and I) cools down a little. I figure I can go a little more distance to get a tire, but there's no way I want to risk that tire 1K home back to Indiana. Not that the strings might not hold (and they aren't holding completely), but the tread is toast and I'm afraid that if I go too far or too fast I could end up with some 23 pin holes way before the Aramid fibers are showing.
Anyone have any helpful suggestions about getting a tire in this vacinity?
Thanks!
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