10 kms into the ride I look down to see my front wheel 'snaking' all over the place. I quickly pulled over and realised that a spoke had popped on my Fulcrum 7 front wheel. And as we all know, these pre-built wheelsets with low spoke counts are fine until you break a spoke - the high spoke tension wreaks havoc with things, making the wheel almost unrideable.
So I slowly rode home and realised that I did not have an inner tube mounted on my spare wheelset. I quickly transferred the inner tube from the wrecked Fulcrum, and proceeded to pump up the wheel... and, due to my haste, pulled out the valve from the tube. After muttering a bit under my breath, I understood that this was a sign of displeasure from the cycling gods, took the hint and abandoned the day's ride.
Must admit that this decision was easy, given that I did not have a replacement inner tube, and riding a front wheel without an inner tube is... challenging.
A quick trip to my local shop resulted in a fixed and perfectly true wheel.
Always a thing of beauty to behold.And, as I was short of tubes and my clinchers are on their last legs, I stocked up on things.
Five Vittoria inner tubes (should not run out for a while now, I hope).
Two Vredestein Fiammante Duo Comp clinchers (Hhhmmmm).
A cassette tool and chain thingie. Hate to have a clean chain and dirty cogs...
Helping the economy...The weather is turning bad. So I will have my espresso and then settle down to some maintenance, or rather tender loving care for my beloved ride.
So, in the end, the day was not a wash. Got to spend some quality time at the bike shop. Checked out all the new stuff. And will get to lavish much needed TLC on the wheels.
I will let you know what I think of these Vredesteins over the next few days. A bit curious really, as I have been a religiously orthodox Vittoria man for quite some time now. Any thoughts?
So, in the end, the day was not a wash. Got to spend some quality time at the bike shop. Checked out all the new stuff. And will get to lavish much needed TLC on the wheels.
I will let you know what I think of these Vredesteins over the next few days. A bit curious really, as I have been a religiously orthodox Vittoria man for quite some time now. Any thoughts?
What a bummer to miss out on your ride! But at least you did get to spend some time gently caressing your bike ;)
ReplyDeleteI've never tried Vittoria tyres - what's their puncture resistance like? I've just put a Conti Gatorskin on the back wheel of my bike and it's really changed the bike's handling :\
Ciao Maxxie. The lower end Vittorias (clinchers like Rubinho Pros and the like) are quite puncture resistant, in my experience, although I find that the ride quality is nothing exceptional.
ReplyDeleteThe ride of the higher end Vittorias is sublime (second only to Veloflex), but you trade the beautiful ride for lower puncture resistance and fewer kms before they wear out. But it is well worth it - the handling changes completely... for the better!