Care & Repair


Although I am still too ill to ride I dragged myself from bed took more medication and went to the Cycle Maintenance class this morning.

We learnt how to determine the quality of a tyre and wheel rim. Apparently Brompton wheel rims have indicator lines that when they disappear means your wheel is about to go. But this is after a lot of use, about 5000 miles. I’ve got years and years. We removed the tyre on a practice wheel and then pulled out the inner tube. I didn’t do this bit as doing it on a Brompton is more complicated because of the brakes. I did learn about the importance of cleaning and gave the Brompton a good wipe down. I took my cheap foot pump to the class to ask if this was ok to use. It is, and it was easy to get rear tyre inflated. I have previously used the hand pump that comes with the bike. Very hard work.

I got valuable advice on the simple stuff, like making sure I don’t damage the gears which sit on top of the handle bar of the Brompton when I turn the bike upside down to work on. Plus if I am not up to repairing an inner tube. Just carry a spare, replace the tube and then do the repair at home.

So my next task is to learn how to remove the wheels on the Brompton and get them back on. First I have to get some tyre levers. I found out that you can get strong plastic ones and avoid the steel ones as you risk damaging the rim in your efforts to get a tyre off.

I don’t know why I am being such a wimp. I used to do my own puncture repairs years ago when I had a three speed Raleigh Cameo bike! I am just older and more afraid.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I think you have courage !