Bike Necessities

I just bought some things I really needed for my bike.  I’ve been wanting a new pump forever that is small enough that I can carry with me when riding but with a gauge.  I found a pump at www.nashbar.com.  The pump was $20 which is $10 less than Snider’s.

I also bought a frame bag ($10) while I was there to store the pump as well as the tools needed to change or repair a flat tire.  It’s also big enough to hold a tire tube just in case.  The bag is in the shape of a triangle so that it fits right inside the frame.

Tire Repair

I had a hole in my back tire and I repaired it a few days ago and the patch has held pretty much ever since but today I rode the bike to the store and it was fine then I rode it to the store again and when I came out my back tire was flat again. Of course I didn’t have my pump with me so I had to walk home.

When I got home I took the tire apart and put it in water and the bubbles were coming out of the side of the patch which means I didn’t put the patch on right. So I took the patch off, sanded the glue down as much as I could then repatched it and held the new patch on really tight and I’ve let it sit on the table in the back yard without pumping it up to see if it will stick better. I’m gonna go put it back together soon so I can see if it worked or not.

Bike Repairs

I rode my bike to the store the other day and I noticed that my back tire has been going flat and it wont stay inflated and so today I decided to go through my boxes in the closet to find the inner tubes that I got when I got the bike originally. When I bought the bike I bought those tire tubes that have the green goo inside of them which is supposed to fix your puncture if you run over a tack or a nail but I didn’t know that it doesn’t protect the sides, just the outer part. So, I took the back tire off and pumped the tube up by itself and held it under water which is what you do to find the leak. Found it, fixed it. All new again hehe.

Then I realized that the seat was really too high up so I lowered it and boy does that make a hell of a difference. So, I feel accomplished today hehe. I rode it over to our neighbors and back and I noticed it wasn’t stopping fast enough so I got off the bike and looked and my front and back brakes are shot lol. Which means I better not even think about getting on it until I go to Snyder’s Cyclery to buy some brakes and while I’m there I want to see their lights and a helmet. Not too many people wear helmets so I’d probably look dorky but I’d rather look dorky than dead.

When I was 16 my parents bought me a bike and they bought me this light set that had front and back lights that ran on a generator (the back wheel and my peddling was the generator) so I’d like to see if they have something similar to that, those are a bit more difficult to steal because it’s a lot of work to get it on so it must be a bitch to get off. I do recall how horrible the lighting was for the headlight. Every time you start to slow down the light started to fade away lol. I’d like to see if they’ve made improvements on that system.