The Mistress Fixed

[Emett]

The Mistress Fixed and other adventures. So she needed attention again, and I started the conversation with J, my wife, poorly. By the time I had acquired the parts I needed to fix my bike, my children were missing me and my wife was jealous. Well, then I spend hours just cleaning and taking apart my bike, making a huge mess of the entire back room, finding dust and grit in more places than there are places... until work interrupts! But, ahh, no bike... how do I get there? Turns out I got rides (from
J and member
Geo, whom I work with) and that was sooo nice. There was a terrible 70mph gusty wind storm all 3 nights of work, it would not really have been bike-able! At least the risk of being blown into traffic was avoided. After all that work, I finally got a bad chain ring replaced, installed the new chain, reinstalled some old break pads with half their life left in them back on, and bent the derailleur hanger back into shape-- with a monkey wrench! Then more life stuff takes me away from my mistress... So, about a week later, I'm done. Well, not really: I'd still like to fine-tune the shifting, change the seat, add even more reflectors, get new pedals, and someday over-haul the front hub, and my rear tire is in scary shape, but I'm going to trust it for at least another 500 miles)... but she's back, cleaned, greased (even the derailleur hubs)-- and de-duct taped! I've found a new bonding agent. Shoe Goo for everything... I'll do a bike commuting post soon and link it up. Oh the joy is back. In a few short rides, I'm all smiles. Speedy and now, and again, dependable! Lets go on a ride! Mistress Equipment log: Chain: 3 miles. Front tire: 4000 miles. (still great, Specialized Armadillo 25s 700c, reflector strip commuter tire) Rear tire: 2000 miles (Armadillo, x23, 700c) post Kevlar armor graft, probably 3000+ before that nail...) (the rear Specialized Armadillo 25s 700c reflector strip commuter tire split down the middle, and was reborn by shoe goo for a while, now it waits for another chance. I don't know if I'll ever trust it much... I hope the front one never splits like that! Must have been a factory misprocess, no bond between layers! Front tube: 4000 miles. Rear tube: I've lost track. But they're both Gunk filled, both self-repaired a few times, and the front one has a "patch" made of shoe goo! I'm feeling like I'm finally happy about the flats and tubes (money) issue. Rear cogs: 4000 miles. Frame, etc: 16,000 miles. by me (unknown previous owner wore out at least one chain and the large chain ring and a few rear cogs, and those tires it came with! ha, those tires got flats every ride until I threw em out!!!)

[Emett]

The the rear tires I was babying... one "booted" the other one gluing down the rubber... are now scrapped, I gave up and got a new one. And new pedals with Miniclips too. Very nice. My new tire is a Soma Evertread, $40, hope it's good! It does have soft sidewalls and must be pumped up to very very high pressure to support my almost 200lbs. At it's listed minimum pressure (90psi! rediculously low for a 700-26) it was saddly soft even to my thumb and hand. I pumped at least 40 more times with my hand pump... sides are still soft, and that makes me worry.

The tire is a 26c. I think? Looks the same size or bigger by a hair than my 25c front tire, but it definately has less space in it, so I do think the armor is pretty thick, just not on the thin sidewalls. If they go a year, it'll surprise me, especially since I'll have to be so careful about maintaining that high of air pressure.

And yes, maybe the new tire should have gone to the front, but I just trust my front set-up too much now to mess with it. I've only had one front flat in over a year and half!!!!!! Knock on wood (my head does in a pinch). Ride on.