Sunday 14th December Ride East

It was probably your 700x100 armadillos that helpded Barbados.

  Originally Posted by **stompy** [![](http://static.londonfgss.com/images/londonfgss/buttons_lite/viewpost.gif)](http://www.londonfgss.com/thread13395-3.html#post422106) 

ElGuapo: ripped the tip off his valve while pumping

haha i was next to him when this happened it was crazy, and then after my puncture the same thing happened to my new inner tube! but the even more wierd thing was that the new inner tube is fine? even though the top part is missing so i can never pump it up...

so i can never pump it up...

But maybe it will never deflate. Ever...

Pneumatic Fail List

hillbilly: 2 puncture.
lucky7: 4 punctures
nosferatu: just the 1(more then enough though :|)
BigSteev: 3 punctures
veLLo: 1 puncture
Crispin: 2 punctures, one fixed
BlueQuinn: 2 valves snapping. Fuck Continental tubes.
Lebowski: 1 puncture (not sure it counts though)
hoops: 2 punctures.
Stompy: 1 puncture. 1.5 miles from home, so if Lebowski isn't counting his, I'm taking a Mulligan.
Stallionlegs: 1 puncture that i thought would fix itself (it didn't)
Sarah: 1 puncture (on the way home)
ElGuapo: ripped the tip off his valve while pumping (Thought you'd got away with not mentioning it!)
Crowbar: 1 puncture just after the thames barrier. Cheers to the dude who gave me a spanner and got the piece of glass out of my tyre with his pliers.
mashton: 1 puncture before leaving the house - snapped the valve whilst 'topping up' the rear tyre.

I wonder if cold weather makes the valves more likely to snap? I know that at least one toe clip snapped clean off during yesterday's ride.

Any way, I had a great ride, thanks a lot to John "double exhaust pipe" Mack. Some of my highlights were:

The new tour de ville gaffe, mmmmmmm porn.
Finally riding the Greenway and seeing the beauty that is Plaistow!
Ray liviig the Kick Start dream.
The cops at Woolwich ferry, how polite they were.
Savage drops.
The random route through the farm - pigs are cool.
Two grey haired guys waxing lyrical about riding fixed. One of them bought a curvy stay Holdsworth on the day he left school in 1955. The other is about to ride to Greece on a tandem with his wife. I gave them both the URL so hopefully we'll see them online (sorry about the gray hair line!)
Seeing old faces and meeting new ones.

Oh yeah, and seeing Tommy roll off the Woolwich ferry and past us all. DO A SKID!

Pneumatic Fail List
hillbilly: 2 puncture.
lucky7: 4 punctures
nosferatu: just the 1(more then enough though :|)
BigSteev: 3 punctures
veLLo: 1 puncture
Crispin: 2 punctures, one fixed
BlueQuinn: 2 valves snapping. Fuck Continental tubes.
Lebowski: 1 puncture (not sure it counts though)
hoops: 2 punctures.
Stompy: 1 puncture. 1.5 miles from home, so if Lebowski isn't counting his, I'm taking a Mulligan.
Stallionlegs: 1 puncture that i thought would fix itself (it didn't)
Sarah: 1 puncture (on the way home)
ElGuapo: ripped the tip off his valve while pumping (Thought you'd got away with not mentioning it!)

Please note that my one was repaired when everybody was waiting for the ferry, and was a pre-emptive repair as I suspected a slow puncture... My name needs then to be removed from the list of shame!!!

Just kidding of course, I am as well desappointed with my Continental tyres... I had a lot a punctures with them during the last 4-5 month, when I had no puncture in more than a year with my previous tyres: Bontrager RaceLite (grey and black)... That can not be only luck! And I will buy those again when I'm done with the Continentals (Grand Prix something, don't remember exact reference)

It was a great ride anyway, was my second one only with the forum, and it won't be the last I hope... Thanks to the organizer(s)!

Loic

the puncture pixies were angry we didn't stop to protest at the airport

Yes, the queues at immigration are a fucking disgrace.

hillbilly: 2 puncture.
lucky7: 4 punctures
nosferatu: just the 1(more then enough though :|)
BigSteev: 3 punctures
veLLo: 1 puncture
Crispin: 2 punctures, one fixed
BlueQuinn: 2 valves snapping. Fuck Continental tubes.
Lebowski: 1 puncture (not sure it counts though)
hoops: 2 punctures.
Stompy: 1 puncture. 1.5 miles from home, so if Lebowski isn't counting his, I'm taking a Mulligan.
Stallionlegs: 1 puncture that i thought would fix itself (it didn't)
Sarah: 1 puncture (on the way home)
ElGuapo: ripped the tip off his valve while pumping (Thought you'd got away with not mentioning it!)
Crowbar: 1 puncture just after the thames barrier. Cheers to the dude who gave me a spanner and got the piece of glass out of my tyre with his pliers.

• 1 puncture for Jimalex - miraculously timed to coincide with the pub stop in Greenwich. Thanks very much Andrew for donating your spare tube. I will be sure to re-supply. Plus I did have a toe clip snap clean off - so much snapping going on! Very much enjoyed my first ride though and will be sure to be out again soon. Good to meet you all.
  

Those of you with punctures - could you tell us what tyres you were riding?

I've got GatorSkins on (front and back) and, despite reading on numerous threads what glass magnets these things are, thought they held out really well.

me and teddy i think?(guy on a yellow low pro) both slipped on some cobbled things and managed to style it out but i came out worse with a puncture :( and it was on my front, a michelin tyre not sure which 1

I quite enjoyed myself. As said above the emphasis was more on the social due to all the stopping.

Apropos Punctures:

I couriered for quite along time and would find that in the summers I would rarely get a single puncture but come the winter time, riding 80 to 100 KMs a day I would still only get on average 1 puncture a fortnight.

A lot of the times the majority of punctures can be avoided by simply:

Buying decent tyres(I was on Armadillos)
Inflating them to the correct pressure
Periodically removing flints and glass from the tyres
Road positioning
When riding in sketchy locals, paying attention to where you are putting your tyres
If you haven't the skills to put your bike over a curb, get off and lift it over and avoid that pinch-flat

As for the for the repair failures, technique is learned with practise.
It is worth taking the time to do it right the first time as the seconds you save will cost you minutes later on:

Ensure you remove that piece of glass, while you are at it check the whole tyre
Do not use levers to put the tyre back on
Seat the tube properly, check both sides twice
Be gentle with that valve!
Loosen the little ring when you are inflating the tyre, tighten it down when you want to remove the pump-head

Failing all that, opt out of the whole sordid business and get yourself some Schwalbe Marathon Plus, never have a puncture again in your natural life.

lies.

Shut up you irritating little man.

ok.

.

Should the next ride be followed by a neutral service vehicle, then?

I mean, perhaps a different sponsor, like, something that's actually hip enough.

It would only have to carry about, hm, 30-odd wheels with a variety of cogs?

Oh, and tubs for some I'm sure. ;)

Do not use levers to put the tyre back on

How do you get the tyre on then? I can sometimes just use my thumbs, but when it's cold and the tyre is tight I sometimes have to resort to levers.

Any good advice?

i use levers everytime... but you can twist them on, by griping the tyre and the rim on the edges that havent been bedded and kinda rotate them on, bit like a motor bike throttle... and work your way round till the whole tyre is on.

1.Seat the tyre fully in the rim
2.roll the beading on
3.repeat 1 & 2 until the tyre is fully on.

also... I've laid the wheel on the floor before and stepped on the tyre and angled the wheel away from me, using the whole wheel as leverage and my foot and ground to grip the tyre on, that works too... but be careful of pinches get the inner tube tucked well in. (new gators are a fucking pain.)

piss on the tyre.
thus making it warm and stretchy.

Did anyone take any pictures of the ride?
i remember we lined up,but where any actually taken?

No punctures and i was running on thread .... touches wood....

Despite the punctures it was a good ride. what a great route to really race it round!

• 1 on seeing Tommy roll off the ferry, stick his fingers up and carry on riding.. class act
  another highlight was the ferry driver giving the racing commentary as we rolled off the ferry..
  
  

@tao- Mask has got shed loads of photos

No punctures and i was running on thread .... touches wood....

Despite the punctures it was a good ride. what a great route to really race it round!

• 1 on seeing Tommy roll off the ferry, stick his fingers up and carry on riding.. class act
  another highlight was the ferry driver giving the racing commentary as we rolled off the ferry..
  
  

@tao- Mask has got shed loads of photos

cheers

Correction, I have lots of video, here is a consolation photograph: