Red: Rusted out Rim

Needed to address Red's flat front tire.  It had been fine until I'd pumped it up, so I figured the tube had been on its last legs and filling it had been the last straw.  And as soon as I took the valve nut off, I immediately saw it was cocked, making me even more sure it had ripped.

I'm fairly good with the drill now (this being the 3rd tire I've done in just a few days).  Had the tube out in no time.  Shocked to see the base of the valve totally crusted with rust.  I was sure it was hiding a tear.  I was curious to see exactly where it was leaking so I pumped it up and found... nothing.  No leaks at all, tight as a drum.

So I put the (odd looking) valve core back in and pumped it up again.  And there was the problem.  A bad core.  It leaked as if it wasn't even there.  Maybe something about the air pump attachments did it in, who knows.  Replaced the core and we were good to go.

The rim was actually in decent shape.  In fact I was able to get a spoke out pretty easily.  Measured it to about 7" which makes it the 175mm spoke you'd expect for the cross two lacing pattern.  Spoke hole was 5mm.

But too bad the area around the valve hole was absolutely caked with old rust.  That must have been the low point when it was sitting for all those years.  Just like that one rusty part of the primary gear.  If not for that, it would have been a great candidate for a full rebuild.  And maybe it's still possible.  Will need to Evapo-rust it clean and see what we're dealing with after that.

The rim strip was totally perished and ripped at the valve hole.  Tried to tape it in place just to have something there, but duct tape wouldn't stick to all the WD40 I'd sprayed.  I didn't want to use up the single spare strip I had (because I was saving it for Ivy's new rear), so I left it bare.  It's an old tube anyway.  I'll eventually just replace both tube and strip at the same time.

So tube went back in, tire went on without irons, and pumped her up to about 26psi.  Job done.