After several months puncture free on the Kettler Spirit I get two on the rear wheel (the harder to fix) in about a fortnight.
No problem I thought, I know what I'm doing, I'll have it repaired in less than 20 minutes, might manage it in 10, after all, I've done this enough times...
Wrong...
First, decide to disconnect gear cable from Nexus hub whilst bike is on ground. Struggle with this...because it's hard to remove the pinch bolt from the cassette because the bike's down low, so decide to mount bike in workstand by seatpost; struggle with this as well...Forgot the amount I had to adjust the clamp and which way the bike should be so that the frame doesn't get in the way of closing the clamp!
Having mounted bike at last and disconnected gear cable, I remove rear wheel and remove tyre.
Remove inner tube. Inflate slightly until I can locate puncture hole. Nothing. Inflate some more. Nothing. Repeat until at last I can feel the air coming out - another tiny puncture - feel inside the tyre to see if there's anything sticking through - nothing. No sign of whatever it is that has caused so much aggravation...
Next, mend puncture with puncture repair kit; apply rubber glue which you're supposed to leave for a minute before applying patches. Apply patch and leave until I can remove the sticky cellophane with the patch left on the tyre. When I try to remove cellophane, patch keeps coming off with it...Leave until it comes off without pulling the patch off, which doesn't happen. Enough! Gingerly remove cellophane whilst pressing patch on tube...
Ehhhhnyway, patch affixed, slightly inflate tube and insert into tyre. Inflate and reattach to bike, Next, need to get the chain tensioned correctly and the wheel centred within the chainstays. And this is where the fun starts...should be 15mm gap each side. Get the chain tight enough, pulling the axlenuts back, find that the wheel isn't central. Get the wheel central and the chain's slackened! Use socket wrench to tighten (having to switch clockwise/anticlockwise to tighten/untighten). Then digital caliper to measure gaps and ensure wheel centred.
And in between, the top of the telescoping bar holder (keeps the front fork and handlebars stable facing forward) keeps coming off...adding and lengthening the time it takes to what should be a simple task...
Repeat, over and over. Lost count how many times...
Hands black with chain oil - wash twice...
While we're about it, remove chainguard so we can better see what we're doing, give it a bit of a clean too, then, at last, the wheel is where I want it and I can replace the chainguard.
Bike ready to ride...
My goodness - is that the time?! One and a half hours it's taken :-((( - started at 0920, finished 1050, not the best start to the day...
So, how did the 10-20 minutes turn into one and a half hours? Maybe a bit of planning beforehand wouldn't go amiss and something to hold the chain tension and wheel position wouldn't either...What about self sealing inner tubes, tyre liners, Marathon Plus tyres - then again, had a few punctures with these last year? Learn not to underestimate how long a theoretically simple job will take...
Any ideas?
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