Wednesday, September 12, 2012

BikesDirect.com


People often ask me about my road bike. “Where’d you get it?” “Do you like it?” “Is that a girl’s bike?” And so forth.

As you can tell by the title of this post, I ordered my bike from BikesDirect.com. I did so because a knowledgeable friend recommended it and I found the prices to be competitive, especially since the price included shipping.

The bike arrived earlier than expected, didn’t need much tuning up after assembly and has performed admirably ever since.

One problem: The wheel rims.

Every single ride, I would get a flat. And, one time, a tire popped when I wasn’t even on the bike—just standing next to it—and after changing the tire, it immediately popped again. Granted, a few of the flats were due to my riding style—I once hit a road grate and took some train tracks too hard—however, it got to the point where I hated riding the bike.

So I took it to a shop and got some recommendations. I wrapped each rim in black electrical tape. It helped, but didn’t solve it. I sanded the hole for the valve. Results inconclusive. Finally, I invested in some cloth rim tape and it seems to have taken care of the problem for the most part. Sure, I still get flats on occasion and pack extra tubes, just in case, but I no longer dread riding for fear of flat tires.