Today was the day that it was finally tested. I thought that my bike felt strange on the ride into work this morning. The steering felt really strange and it felt like the brakes were on. I too it very easy on the ride into work because of that. Little did I know that it was the back end that was causing the problem.
When I walked back to the bike after work I could see that the back tyre was a bit flat. A swift kick with my boot confirmed it.
With the bike up on the centrestand I was able to spin the tyre and found the culprit. There was the head of what looked like a nail sticking out of the tyre just off centre. Seat off the bike to retrieve the repair kit and I set to work.
With the pliers the nail came out easily then the remaining air started coming out. Rather than having to re-inflate the whole tyre I stuck the nail back in just enough to stop the air coming out until I could get one of the plugs ready. Plug in hand I pulled the nail back out and screwed the plug into the hole.
After carefully screwing the plug into the hole to the widest part the "handle" part just snaps off and that is it. It is designed so that when you ride on it, if there is any part still proud of the surface of the tyre it presses in slightly more and then just wears flat. This is a get you home kit remember rather than a permemnat repair.
The next job was to inflate the tyre. Having conserved some of the air in the tyre I managed to get away with only using three of the CO2 cartridges. If you are doing this yourself then remember to use the strange little plastic mesh sleeves that come with the kit over the cartridge and preferably wear gloves when you do this. The Joule-Thomson effect when the cartridge is pierced means that there is a significant drop in temperature on the body of the cartridge and you don't want cold temperature burns!
Job done and I was able to ride home no problem. Thank goodness for tubless tyres!
Big Kneed Al (master of the emergency stop & "stand up" comedian).
