My first day a riding my bike to work ended before it even started. When I went to get on my bike I found the rear tire flat. I stopped at two bike stores to get a new tube, but for some reason they all publish Monday business hours, but are not open on Mondays.
Here is my first of many helpful hits for the rest of you. Before doing a google search for a bike store in Veldohoven, first use google translator to translate bicycle shop to fietsenwinkel.
I also checked at the hardware store just outside our apartment (I mean loft.) They directed me to another shop, which they promised was open on Monday. After walking several blocks and getting within site of the third shop, I realized it was actually the second shop, but by a slightly different route. The good news is I found a slightly better way to get to work.
So returning home empty handed, I began to think a little more about the circumstances of my flat tire. I won't bore you with the details, but I found that it was actually a bad valve stem, not the tire at all. Which was good news because to change the rear tire on this bike you have to disconnect brake cables, gear cables and it requires an actual wrench to remove the wheel.
These tires, as do most "dutch" bike, use Woods valves with a removable pin and rubber seal. The seal had deteriorated and was no longer sealing. I thought there must be some sort of quick repair for this sort of thing so I did more google searches. Interestingly the best source of information about the dutch valve stems came from Sheldon Brown's web site. For those of you who don't know, Sheldon Brown is an American icon known for knowing everything there is to know about bikes, which is absolutely true. Unfortunately he died a couple years ago. Anyway no short cut repairs for me.
This morning I walked my bike two blocks to a third bike store (there are a lot here), put in a new stem, pumped up my tire and rode to work. It was great.
Here is my first of many helpful hits for the rest of you. Before doing a google search for a bike store in Veldohoven, first use google translator to translate bicycle shop to fietsenwinkel.
I also checked at the hardware store just outside our apartment (I mean loft.) They directed me to another shop, which they promised was open on Monday. After walking several blocks and getting within site of the third shop, I realized it was actually the second shop, but by a slightly different route. The good news is I found a slightly better way to get to work.
So returning home empty handed, I began to think a little more about the circumstances of my flat tire. I won't bore you with the details, but I found that it was actually a bad valve stem, not the tire at all. Which was good news because to change the rear tire on this bike you have to disconnect brake cables, gear cables and it requires an actual wrench to remove the wheel.
These tires, as do most "dutch" bike, use Woods valves with a removable pin and rubber seal. The seal had deteriorated and was no longer sealing. I thought there must be some sort of quick repair for this sort of thing so I did more google searches. Interestingly the best source of information about the dutch valve stems came from Sheldon Brown's web site. For those of you who don't know, Sheldon Brown is an American icon known for knowing everything there is to know about bikes, which is absolutely true. Unfortunately he died a couple years ago. Anyway no short cut repairs for me.
This morning I walked my bike two blocks to a third bike store (there are a lot here), put in a new stem, pumped up my tire and rode to work. It was great.
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| I moved the bad stem to the front to prove the rear tire was okay. This is the unhappy flat. |
