Roxy: Epic Rear Flat

Following the sudden and overwhelming paranoia of riding Ivy without a title, I was looking forward to getting back on Roxy for the first time in ages.  Especially wanted to feel the acceleration again to see if she really was that much faster, or if it was only my imagination.

Started to pull her out of the parking spot only to discover a totally flat rear tire.  I knew this wasn't the normal deflation since the front was still good.  Decided to try to put air in it anyway and could clearly feel the air escaping out through the hole in the rim (missing spoke).

So that ride cancelled...

Luckily had the perfect session time later that afternoon. 

Fender
First things first, had to get the rear fender off.  But the left side bolt was covered by the chain guard.  And the bolts to the chain guard were hidden by the front sprocket cover.  So both of those had to come off in order.

Then, while disconnecting the taillight wires, I popped off one of the bullet connectors.  The top bolts underneath the seat were fiddly to reach (probably would have been worth my time to remove the seat entirely) but once those were out, the fender came out easily.

Rear Axle
The rear axle popped out with no problem.  But the sleeve itself was completely stuck inside its notch in the frame.  Really jammed in there.  Luckily, that doesn't stop you from removing the wheel, but the sleeve and rear flange have to stay put.  That's a fix for the future, although I'm not sure it'll come out without significant damage.

Tire Tube
The tire popped off with no problem.  I checked both the rim and the tire for any sharp points but couldn't find anything.  Couldn't even find the puncture in the tube until I pumped it full of air and then I only found it from the low whistle.  It was a tiny puncture.  Could have just been age that led to that?

Re-install
Everything went back together pretty easily.  Fortunately had a spare tube in the bin that was the right size.  Because the sleeve was stuck, though, I couldn't easily move the wheel forward in order to give the chain some slack during reinstall.  Not quite sure how I managed to muscle the links close enough to put the master back on, but somehow got it together. 

With everything back on, found the chain was still too slack, but also discovered that the sleeve did move if you use the chain adjuster nuts.  In retrospect, I realized that I could have also used the chain adjusters to push the sleeve forward to get the chain back on.

Added a new bullet connector to the taillight wire only to discover that the taillight is not lighting up anymore.  Brake light works fine.

Red: Front Tire Change

Catching up on old entries... (today is Dec 12th!)

Changed Red's front tire in 30 minutes flat after getting my head back into it with the rear.  Tire change itself was easy, but still need to find a better way of stabilizing the bike when removing the front wheel.

Using the rifle rest was a little better than doing it with the wooden bench, but still too much of a fiddly balancing act.


Then started Roxy on the SLA battery for the first time since the original one died.  Too many kicks, but eventually she turned over.

Ivy, Red, Roxy: Little Bit of Everything

Had a good three hours worth of free time so had big plans for the day.  Turned out to be rather epic.

Kicked if off by trying to recharge Roxy's battery for the second time.  The last time I did it, it took 5 minutes and it was back to 6 volts.  This time I left it charging for almost 3 hours and... zilch.  It started at 3.6 volts and actually went down to 3.4 by the time I rechecked.  I even added distilled water to bring the levels up.  Think it's toast.

Though given how little I'm riding Roxy now, maybe it's for the best, as it would be hard to maintain.  Maybe better to just run her off the sealed battery as needed.


Did an oil change on Ivy and planned to go the full nine yards and check both filters, but the struggles with the tire changed will delay that till the next time.  Added 700mL back in.

Cleaned and lubed the chain, too.


So... on to the tire change.  Swapping out the old knobbies on Red for the new Michelins.  Tried to "wing it" from memory.  Did pretty well, though made a couple mistakes and had to back track.

For example, went around pulling out the entire circumference of the old tire instead of just half so then it was hard to actually get the rim out.  Then totally forgot the step on the new tire where you have to add in the tube!  Lucky I even had a spare tube as I forgot there's no point doing a tire change without a tube and rim strip on hand.  Had to leave the old rim strip in, and it was very brittle.

All that and I was thinking to myself that I should really write all this down.  Only later that night did I realize, I ALREADY HAD.  Beautifully detailed set of step-by-step notes sitting there in the dropbox folder.  D'oh!

That old knobby was a real bear to get off.  Felt like I'd gone a few rounds on the mat by the time I was done.

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.