Flat Out

After roughly more than two and a half years into my riding career, I've encountered my first flat tire. Not a very pleasant experience, as you'll discover.

I'd gone out to meet WeiZ at LAB, and from there we proceeded to Orchard to meet the Wesmeister. I must have run over something long and sharp on the way (or someone could've tampered with my rubbers) coz my tire started leaking, and I didn't realise it until I'd concluded my meeting with Ljunberg, started my bike and started off down the ramp at the carpark; you see, tubeless tires don't deflate nearly as fast when they are spinning as opposed to when they are stationary.

I thought my bearings were faulty at first, when my acceleration seemed a little sluggish and my rear end seemed wobbly. But when upon attempting to bank, my bike seemed like it had a flat piece of wood nailed into the rear rims, and I started to suspect my tire was flat. Upon further inspection, lo and behold...psssshttttt tire.

Without any other alternative, I rode with excruciating slowness and finally arrived at the 1st petrol kiosk, SPC. While attempting to pump air into my tire, I discovered that the tire was so hot from that short journey that every single friggin thing it went over stuck...no...fused to it. The heat was enough to make me snatch away my hand and was almost as hot as the underside of my titanium end can, leaving dirty black rubber stains on my jeans and my hands. Furthermore, the tires looked as if I'd done some crazy cornering with them, with rubber bits everywhere and the burn line almost reaching the end of my chicken strips, a region I touch only when I'm riding hard...and I didn't, or should i say, couldn't even bank. If I'd banked just a wee bit, I think my chicken strips would have been totally eliminated. The kindly attendant came over to help me, and when the pump started fulfilling its purpose, I saw that the initial pressure in my rear tire was a measly 49kPi, which was a far cry from the manufacturer's recommended pressure of 250kPi. I pumped it to 220kPi, whereupon I realised that the tire was leaking, bad. There was this deep gash the rough lenght of my little finger's fingernail, and air was hissing out at and alarming rate that brought an exclamation of 'wa...ur puncture so big ah?!' from a malay rider who'd stopped to ask me for directions. SPC didn't sell any tire repair kits, so I scraped together as much rubber as i could from the little rubbery bits hanging on my tire and tried to seal the hole, pumped the tire as full as I dared, and travelled further down to the next kiosk, Esso.

There, I bought a can of Pennzoil Fix-A-Flat. Pennzoil has really outdone itself. Although I've always thought their brand of 2T stinks, this Fix-A-Flat does it's job rather admirably. Just shake it, screw it on to your valve stem and depress the nozzle. Now, the only down side is the nozzle; it's just frickin' hard to depress it....up till now my thumb's still pretty sore. But all in all, it did the trick...when I arrived at the Shell near my place, the pressure had only dropped to 137kPi, and the hole had stopped dispensing air. There, an indian attendant, whose command of mandarin puts my smattering knowledge of the language to shame, told me that the tire could me mended. I thanked him for his help, filled up the tire and returned home to wash the frickin rubber stains off my hands.

The next touring trip I go to, this product is definately in my To-Bring list.

Riding hard, fast, safely AND taking a few corners.


** I'd also like to add a disclaimer on the previous post that no cats were harmed in the making of that entry. I disclaim responsibility for any individual who acts on the afore mentioned ideas..
:P
Happy now, Serene?