Tuesday, March 27, 2007
It's my tire in a box
I picked up a new tire on the weekend. Choices were limited at the store I went to, so I bought my first ever boxed tire. It was more expensive than I planned ($44) but it had the advantage of high puncture resistance due to the kevlar content. So I didn't so much pick the Panaracer Pasela TG, as the store picked it for me. It seemed that a couple of the sales people were very happy for me to get to own these tires for some reason.
I found a phenomenal review of the tires on epinions.com. It's true that there are no reflective sidewalls; a big negative.
I felt like The Hulk when installing the Pasela. OK, maybe not the Hulk, since he would have crushed the rim. I nearly did the full installation with my bare hands. The tire levers were useful at one point, mainly as a third hand.
The surprise for me came when I pumped up tire. The material of the tire is more sticky than my old tires, and it stuck to the sides at certain points on the rim. This isn't so unusual, and I usually just pump up the tire until the bead pops into place. This time, I pumped it up so much that the bead rose up past the rim along one section of the tire without me noticing. This looked nearly disasterous for having a quiet evening at home. I quickly deflated the tire and repumped, working the tire into place as I inflated.
The test ride went well, down the alley, around the block. Cycling through the alley, a.k.a. the laneway, is very cool. Overhanging trees, cracked pavement, puddles, even some artwork on some of the garages and sheds. (There's real artwork, and a few graffiti tags. I'm not a fan of the tags, but it does look a bit bad-ass). It looks like the kind of place I would start all my films if I was a movie-maker.
My morning commute was not so successful. My tire rubbed against the fender as I rode, and it seemed to get worse with every minute that passed and every adjustment I made to my fender. I ended up turning around and taking transit to work.
Time to go figure out what went wrong. At least the weather is so nice today I can ride my fenderless one-speed if I don't fix it.
On the remote chance that I keep track of how long this tire lasts, my odometer currently reads about 8430 km.
I found a phenomenal review of the tires on epinions.com. It's true that there are no reflective sidewalls; a big negative.
I felt like The Hulk when installing the Pasela. OK, maybe not the Hulk, since he would have crushed the rim. I nearly did the full installation with my bare hands. The tire levers were useful at one point, mainly as a third hand.
The surprise for me came when I pumped up tire. The material of the tire is more sticky than my old tires, and it stuck to the sides at certain points on the rim. This isn't so unusual, and I usually just pump up the tire until the bead pops into place. This time, I pumped it up so much that the bead rose up past the rim along one section of the tire without me noticing. This looked nearly disasterous for having a quiet evening at home. I quickly deflated the tire and repumped, working the tire into place as I inflated.
The test ride went well, down the alley, around the block. Cycling through the alley, a.k.a. the laneway, is very cool. Overhanging trees, cracked pavement, puddles, even some artwork on some of the garages and sheds. (There's real artwork, and a few graffiti tags. I'm not a fan of the tags, but it does look a bit bad-ass). It looks like the kind of place I would start all my films if I was a movie-maker.
My morning commute was not so successful. My tire rubbed against the fender as I rode, and it seemed to get worse with every minute that passed and every adjustment I made to my fender. I ended up turning around and taking transit to work.
Time to go figure out what went wrong. At least the weather is so nice today I can ride my fenderless one-speed if I don't fix it.
On the remote chance that I keep track of how long this tire lasts, my odometer currently reads about 8430 km.
Labels: mechanical
Darren J 3/27/2007 07:27:00 a.m.
2 Comments:
The title of this post is scandalous! Scandalous. hahaha.
The Pasela TG is one of my favorites.
