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.