Monday, September 7, 2009

Bike Van Maintenance



For the trip to VT, since Robbie was going, we were able to use the van from the awesomest bike shop in town, Pathfinder. We noticed some vibration on the way down, figuring it was a low pressure tire. After putting air in it in Flatwoods, that didn’t solve the issue. We then thought it might be an unbalanced tire. Not much we could do there.
On the way back, after stopping at a mexican buffet, Robbie noted the vibration was very cyclical, and decided to drive around the parking lot while people looked for a cause. Chad at first thought it was a loose tie rod, but that didn’t make sense. A little further he noticed the front left tire was buldging. The tread had separated. We decided it would be better if we changed the tire in the safety of a parking lot than possibly on the side of the interstate.
Robbie located the tools, and someone manned the jack while the lugs were loosened. We had some trouble figuring out how to get to the spare tire, but with a quick look into the owners manual we found out we needed a torx driver to get a safty plate out. Lucky for us, the Cannondale headtool has one, normally used for brake rotor bolts that fit perfectly!
Within 15min, we had the tire changed and were loaded up and looking around for air. Ever try and pump a large tire to 70psi with a floor pump? Ask Bala what might happen.

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