Flat tyre

With all the staff hired and working away, my guilt for not finishing fixing the wife's bike reemerged. I had had the bearings fixed, but never bothered to put the wheel back on. So to prove that I too could be a useful member of the household I got to the task.

Put on the wheel (back) and was good to go. Then I noticed the front tyre was flat and I had just pumped it up a few days ago. I pumped it up again. While fooling around with the brakes that are just such junk they will never be adjusted properly but at least I could get them to not rub on the rim, I noticed that the front had gone soft, then quite soft. Good, another thing to do to demonstrated my prowess.

Took the wheel off, gathered up the tools. It is so hot in the yard at that time of day I thought of taking it all over near the pool where the lanai would be cooler. I also had the idea that the driver would come over too so as to give me time to impress him.

Well, the driver got distracted by the gardener putting up the bouganvilla that falls down off it's trellis every windstorm so I went over by myself. There were two federal police officers there and I thought that would do. One officer got up and left, the other returned the obligatory "good morning/afternoon/evening". (I think it's the first thing learned in grammar school, even the smallest toddler knows good morning).

I sat down, took the tyre off and started looking for the leak. Feeling around the inside I explained to the officer that I was checking to see if anything was sticking through.

"Might be a nail" he commented and then continued
"My eyes are probably better than yours, let me have a look."

So I handed him the tyre and started pumping up the tube to see if I could find the leak that way. After the tube was quite distended I ran my had around and sure enough felt the pinhole of air escaping.

"It's inside the tube" I exclaimed, "not a nail".
The officer showed me the spoke nipples in the rim, "these should be covered up, this thing isn't on there properly".
He was right. The rim strip had been installed thoughtlessly. A sure recipe for the pin hole leak on the inside of the tube.

I got out the patch kit and looked for what I needed. Now I started feeling like the student as he guided me through the process.
"don't you have to scrape that?"
"that cement looks old"
"is it completely dried?"
"use pressure to set the patch"

The officer was right all the way. I got the job done and then asked him.
"So you know how to do all this?"
"Of course, Practical Vulcanisation. Don't want to get stuck somewhere."

After fitting the tyre and inflating it we sat down again. His name is "Sule" (soulay) currently sergeant and hopefully soon to be Assistant Superintendant.

I wish him all the best.