KODA

After neglecting my bike for a few seasons, I decided to take a look at it over the last few days. Bad idea. Apparently from my neglect, I’ve got some terrible bicycle voodoo on my back. It was an exciting weekend.

Late friday afternoon I was checking on the rear tire. I’d pumped it up a few weeks ago, only to find the next day that it was flat. So I pumped it up to 55 psi — the normal pressure I keep it at — and waited. I figured there was a leak somewhere, and thought I could feel a small amount of air coming out around the valve. So I leaned close to the valve and listened. Stupid idea. After a second of listening and with no warning, the tire blew. PAFF! Right in my face. Thankfully all it did was leave my ears ringing for about a half hour, and things were fine…

However, the tire wasn’t. The inner tube had a nice patch of tears where it exploded. My father and I checked the tread for anything sharp that could have punctured the tube… nothing. So we figured that after three years of owning the bike and storing it, the tube had a defect and had worn out.

The next day, we went to GI Joe’s and and bought a new tube. The only ones they had with the right valve were these “SLiME” leak resistant inner tubes with a liquid sealant agent inside. After the experience I had with the last tube, it didn’t seem like a bad idea. So we brought the new tube and put it on, fit it back into the frame, and pumped it up to 50 psi.

Everything looked good, so I took it up a hill to see how it felt. I stopped at the top and checked the wheel. The frame was a bit out of alignment, and rubbing against the brake pads, so I started riding back home to give it a quick adjust. I was watching the speedometer hit 17mph as I rolled down, letting go of the brakes and seeing what it felt like to be going fast again. PAMMFF. Yes, the tire blew again right there at 17 mph on the road. Luckily stopping the bike was really mild, and I had really good control. However, this time, I stopped to find the entire of back of my bike splattered with green goo, dripping green onto the road.

It was beautiful. I truly wonder what someone would have thought, observing this explosion. It kind of adds to the humor that I believe the first thing I said was “not again.” Detached from it all, it was really quite funny, carrying my bike, with it’s trashed back wheel, dripping this ridiculous green liquid all over the place.

I got to spend that afternoon wiping plastic goop out of the frame, the gears, the chain, and everything else. Before cleaning we compared the old tire with this new one, and found that they both popped in the same place. However, another check of the frame and tread found no obvious sharp spots — though the inner belt between the spokes and the tube looked a little compressed and thin. Needless to say if there was a pointy spot before, there now are many more, as the wheel frame was what dissipated most of the force of my 17 mph up down the hill.

I think this is one of those cases where it’s a better idea to wait until I can have someone look at the wheel in a shop. At this point, the frame pretty is damaged and might need replacement anyway. Long story short, it doesn’t look like I’ll be riding so much this summer…