Re: Suspicious damp patch

On Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:57:46 -0800, "Kerry Montgomery"
<kamontgo@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


<carlfogel@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:cblkr31bgaphmhe4endlk4casm8q93ud20@xxxxxxxxxx
On Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:47:29 -0800 (PST), alanstew@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
wrote:

On Feb 17, 7:04 pm, carlfo...@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
A quick squeeze reassured me that neither tire had gone flat
overnight, so I flipped my bike up onto its rear tire, walked it out
of the garage to the driveway, set the front wheel down, and . . .
http://i25.tinypic.com/2udym1e.jpg

Comrade,
Is that an artsy splatter paint job on that fork or does your bike
need a shave and a shine?

ABS

Dear Alan,

I suppose that I could wash and wax my bike every day while the snow
melts along the paths and roads, but I'd rather fix flats, go for bike
rides, take pictures, and do just about anything besides wash cars and
bicycles.

I do haul trials motorcycles to the do-it-yourself car-wash and use
the pressure washer to remove most of the mud.


Carl,
As I am a novice Slime user, was hoping you could help me with proper valve
stem orientation? That is, where should the valve stem be located when the
bike is parked, and where should it be when pushing in the top of the Presta
valve prior to inflating? I seem to get sprays of Slime pretty often.
Thanks,
Kerry (who is very glad he's never seen a goathead in person)

Dear Kerry,

When I deflate my Slime tubes, I put the valve down around 4 or 8
o'clock, roughly like this:

/ \
/ \
bottom

Much closer to the bottom, the tube may be full.

Much above that angle, the Slime isn't going to drain back out of the
valve stem and into the tube.

I don't worry about where the valve stems end up when I flip my bike
upside-down and leave it in the garage. (Maybe I should, but to hell
with it.)

Cheerful sprays of lurid green Slime are inevitable. The stuff is
annoying, but it isn't toxic and wipes off easily.

If a valve clogs, you can usually blow it back open with one stroke of
a small pump and try deflating again.

But carry a pair of needlenose pliers to grab a stubbornly clogged
valve by the flats and unscrew it. Once the valve is out of the tube,
it can be easily unclogged. (If you can unscrew the valve with your
fingers, either you have very powerful fingers or else the valve
wasn't tightened enough.)

Deflating tubes enough to patch and roll them up can be a chore. I
usually point the valve straight up, strip the Slime down into the
dangling tube, and then roll the tube up from the bottom with one hand
while holding the valve open with the other hand.

It's often easier if you loop one side of the tube around something
handy and pull it sideways a little, so that the tube right under the
valve is rounded instead of folding straight down.

This way, hooked around something and pulled sideways, so that the
rounded tube leaves air between the valve and any Slime nearby:
http://i31.tinypic.com/w5mpj.jpg

Not dangling and flattening the tube like this, where any Slime near
the valve is likely to be pushed up into it:
http://i26.tinypic.com/r10dwp.jpg

Remember, you can pump up a Slime tube with a pump that has an air
gauge because the hose and pump pressure keep the gunk well away from
the gauge, but checking a Slime tube with a hand air gauge is likely
to cost you a clogged air gauge.

If you're not getting frequent flats from small punctures, I doubt
that Slime tubes are worth the fuss that I'm used to.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel
.

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