The Importance Of Bike Maintenance Or When Good Wheels Explode

Yesterday I talked about how to clean your bike in winter, and mentinoned that I removed both wheels. The back wheel was removed to make for easier cleaning of the back cog, the front wheel was removed because it exploded.

It did not go flat, it exploded. One moment I am having a very nice bike ride, the next BANG! I look down to find my wheel had blown up. The tube blew out so powerfully that a jet of white powder (they put powder inside tubes), and some side wall shrapnel went rocketing out into a snow bank. Lucky for me I was able to slow to a stop without flying over the handlebars.

That’s a brand new gator skin tire (grrr) totally ruined. How you might ask did this happen. Filth. I let so much crud build up on my tire that the brake started to rub against the side wall, after a while the side wall weakened, and BANG!

Lesson learned, adjust your brake pads, and don’t let a crap load of crud build up.

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