Two Wheel Blogs

I once took part in a survey that claimed to determine how competent of a bicycle wrench you were by simply answering a few questions. It was a short survey and I recall agreeing with the results which claimed that I must be a competent mechanic, but perhaps a few degrees short of legendary (it may have been more than a few...I tend to have selective memory).

Anyway, I recall only one or two of the 30 or so questions on the test. One of the questions was a multiple choice question seeking to determine how much stuff (in dollars) you have destroyed on the work bench. I think there was a follow up question that dug deeper to determine how much bike stuff you managed to destroy prior to even riding on it.

The logic was that if you tore up a lot of stuff, then you were an idiot and forever doomed to pay others for bike repair. OTOH if you tinkered with and destroyed a bit of stuff, you probably learned some valuable lessons that can not be otherwise taught. Finally, if you tore up nothing while wielding tools, you either were bullshitting or lacked any real world experience (both relegated you to the most dangerous type of mechanic and all your friends should be warned to never let you "help").

In the vein of "you are never too old or experienced to learn a hard lesson", I had a situation this morning. This sort of thing would be embarrassing if it were not so dang funny.

As a self proclaimed tire-nut with a fair amount of credentials to support the claim, I managed to install a tube this morning while preparing for the TT tonight and have it blow up in my face! I even went through the motions of using talc, doing a partial inflation and purge prior to re-inflating to operating pressure.

Some of my co-workers (certified tire techs, mechanics, etc.) could be heard over the ringing in my ears muttering about what that noise must have been. I took the hit like a man, and fessed up to what I had done...everyone had a good laugh with their morning coffee.

Lesson learned (again): Take the time to actually CHECK the bead and tire alignment during the installation process!