Saturday was spent winterizing our camping trailer, hauling the kayak up from the lake, making sure the paddle boat is set to endure the cold, emptying the rain barrel, and turning it upside down, and taking some cushions in.
Haven't emptied the flower pots yet, as the flowers are still blooming.
We still have to get some wood together for using in the fireplace this winter, and put the grill away.
In between all of that we have been taking walks and enjoying the deck. Had morning coffee out there a few times. Soon Tony will have the lawn chairs stacked and tarped. hen there is all the leaves to deal with. I was going to mulch them and bag them, but Tony told me the handle came off of the new lawn mower last time he used it. Haven't had time to look at it yet.
We decided to ride to church Sunday morning, then take a side ride on the way home. Got everything ready to go on Saturday night, got up early on Sunday, got dressed, filled the water bottles, and put on our shoes and helmets. I went into the garage to get the trike out, only to be greeted by ANOTHER flat tire. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It has been less than 3 weeks since we put all new tubes and tires on. Things were fine on our last ride. How could we have a flat? The car was already hooked up to the camping trailer, which is going into storage on Monday.
I had such a hard time lining up the ball and the hitch, that I didn't want to unhook it, so we stayed home from church.
I knew the tire was going to be a bugger to get off, but after lunch, Tony and I decided to tackle it. It took 2 of us to get it off. We finally got it by letting as much air as possible out of the tube, (wasn't much left in there anyway.) then I squeezed the opposite side of the tire together, which gave more slack to get the edge of the tire off of the rim.
Took the tube out and went in the house to my trusty cake pan of water to check for a leak. I put the tube in, and squeezed a small section, looking for an air bubble to pop to the surface, none appeared. I repeated the process several times, using the stem of the tube for my starting and ending point. Still no telltale bubble. Finally, I held the tube under water, for about 2 minutes. Slowly, little bubbles started to form along the seam of the tube. I brushed them away, and more formed. I had found the problem, a defective tube. I had bought 5 new tubes all at one time, this was the second one that was defective. Caught the leak on the first tube at the bike shop, when we were having the new tires mounted. It wasn't even on the trike yet, leaked right away, when it was pumped up.
As a precaution, I decided to check the one I was going to put on the the rim. Back to the cake pan I went with the pumped up tube. I held it under the water for about a minute or 2, and little bubbles began to slowly form all over the surface of the tube. Yep, another defective one. No more spare tubes, no riding, until I get some and I sure don't want the brand that is on there now. Since 3 out of the 5 tubes I bought are defective, I don't really trust the other 2 that are on the trike now. We'll be looking for anoter brand of tubes, for sure.
This morning I called Terra Trike, which is where I got the tubes. Told them the whole story, they said they will have to determine if they are going to" deem" the tubes defective, and then decide what they are going to do. As I write this, I am waiting for them to call me back. We are heading in their direction tomorrow, so I am hoping we can just load the trike up, take it there and have them change all the tubes to a different brand .
We decided to switch to Schwalbe tubes. They are kind of pricey, but teh people I know, taht use them really like them a lot amd feel the price is worth it. The tubes are made in England, and they under go pretty stringent quality control. Each tube is filled with air for 24 hours to check for leaks. If it passes the test, it is packaged and shipped. The butyl on the tire is a denser weave, so the tire doesn't loose air as fast. Ours lose about 10 -15 pounds between each ride, sometimes they are down 20 pounds. We have found that we like to ride at 85 PSI.
It has surely been the summer of flat tires. I have checked the rims for sharp edges, including spokes that might be poking through the liner. I put the tubes in straight, and check the tires for any punctures or sharp objects that might be causing the tube to go flat. All the stuff I learned in my bike maintenance class. about tires and tubes, has been put to use. Each tire on the trike has been flat at least once this year.
This afternoon, called Terra Trike back and left a message asking them to call me and let me know what they decided about the tubes, but they never called back. The trike is loaded on the trailer ready to tag along when we go to Grand Rapids tomorrow. Guess I'll just show up at Terra Trike with the trike and the bad tubes and see what they say. They can't ignore me then.
Enough is enough. Time to move onto a different brand of tube.
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