Another aggravating one.
The plan for today was to do the Dad’s Army route, but to take a road down toward a village called Filongley after Kingsbury. I was determined to do 100km.
I fitted a new inner tube to the Boardman on Thursday in Halfords’ car park, as attentive readers may remember. Since I’d relubed it and fitted a new cage bolt yesterday, I thought I’d use it for today’s ride. Just to give myself that warm, fuzzy feeling that it’s in roadworthy condition again.
As I wheeled it out of the garage, I noticed a very slight wobble in the front wheel – about 3mm of lateral movement. I checked it was secured properly in the forks. It was. Must be the hub. But it seemed rock steady with weight on it, so I decided to take it anyway. It seemed to handle properly so I put it out of my mind after a few km.
I missed the left turn off the A5 meaning that I had to negotiate the roundabout that meets the M42, but I didn’t mind that so much on the outward leg, because I took the first exit off it. I made a mental note to avoid it at all costs on the return leg.
Well, everything went very well until about 2km south of Kingsbury, when I suffered another front flat tyre. I was (at a guess) about 33km from home by the shortest route, so that wasn’t good. I did at least have tyre levers with me this time, as well as a thoroughly serviceable pump and two spare inner tubes. But I thought I’d see how far I’d get by just pumping up the flat. Might be a slow puncture, I optimistically reasoned. Naturally I decided to head back homeward from this point.
I didn’t get very far, as it turned out. About 2km. So I upturned the bike on a grass verge, swapped in a new inner tube and pumped it up, or tried to. The new inner tube didn’t even manage a metre. It wouldn’t take any pressure at all. I examined it carefully when I removed it – couldn’t see any damage to the tube. I wonder if it was a faulty valve?
I had one more card up my sleeve, a super-lightweight ‘Tubolito’ inner tube made from bright orange thermoplastic polymer. It cost me £27 from Amazon, but clearly now was the time. It wasn’t hard to fit. It behaved a little oddly though in that the tyre was still a little loose on it even when it was inflated fairly firm. The polymer it’s made from is less elastic than butyl. But it took up the slack with a few more strokes of the pump.
The valve shaft on the Tubolito is made of plastic, which doesn’t really inspire confidence. The mini-pump nozzle slipped off it before it was inflated to quite the pressure I wanted, but I decided to quit while I was ahead rather than push it back on and risk losing all the pressure. I crossed my fingers and set off again.
Thankfully, the new inner tube seemed to be working nicely. It rolled along quite satisfactorily. By the time I got to Sheepy Magna, 18km later, I was much more relaxed. I was close enough to home now that if I had to call out the other half to rescue me, her retaliation would be moderate. I stopped to pump a bit more air into the tyre.
I was doing my best to take the shortest route home, but looking at the route I see that I didn’t. After Twycross I came down the main road, then turned left along Gibbet Lane and headed back through Congerstone and Shackerstone. However about 5km from home, I realised that the front tyre was flat again. I managed to make it home by stopping every km or so to pump it up, although I must admit that I was running the tyre very nearly flat for some of the way. But at least I avoided having to walk the bike home.
So: the Boardman has eaten three new front inner tubes since Thursday. I’m satisfied that one of them, the first one I fitted today, was faulty. It failed before I’d put the wheel back on the bike. As for the others, I will admit that the tyre is a bit worn down, but I couldn’t see any sign of a puncture or sharp foreign object. I checked the inner surface of the rim and the tyre interior surface carefully each time before applying a new tube, on Thursday and today. Nice and smooth, nothing sharp.
Is it something to do with the slight wobble in the front wheel? Doesn’t seem plausible. Might be the other way round, come to think of it. Maybe running the wheel on a flat tyre has buggered the hub.
I will definitely acquire a new tyre, anyway. I’m not sure whether it’s worth having the wheel repaired (new hub bearings probably). It’s done about 26,000km. Then again I don’t ride aggressively, it doesn’t rattle down hills that much and I’m not heavy. I definitely don’t brake aggressively, the braking surfaces are fine. Actually the bike is still on its first pair of front brake pads.
It’s a decent wheel, a Fulcrum 4. Not the El Cheapo Mavic that the bike came with. I could probably get another 15,000km out of it if I have it repaired. Maybe I could have a go myself. Maybe something just needs to be tightened up.
Or I could treat the Planet X to a carbon wheelset and hand down its old wheels, or one of them, to the Boardman.
I’m not going to buy another super-lightweight inner tube.
Listened to footy on 5 Live, and Boris Johnson’s wonderful memoir, Unleashed.
Back on 75.05 km and given the circumstances, I’m calling that a win. 428 done this month and that’s decent enough ten days in.