Today was very basic; just swapping tires between each rim.
When I originally installed the new Vittoria Zaffiro tire, I realized that it was slightly larger than the Bell Streetster kevlar tire that it is installed on the other rim when it is inflated. The Zaffiro was originally installed on the front rim. This, combined with the fact that the Zaffiro isn’t designed for installation on “hookless” rims, I decided that the Zaffiro would be better suited for installation on the rear and the Streetster on the front. (For more information about the Zaffiro, read more about it in the original tire installation entry.)

I took advantage of the nice (yet hot) weather to make the swaps.

The first rim to receive the swap was the rear rim. I installed the Zaffiro on the rear rim and installed the Kenda thorn-resistant tube that I was going to install back in March.

The Zaffiro actually slid pretty easily onto its new rim. The thorn-resistant tube didn’t present as much of a fight as I originally thought it would when mounting the second bead on. The “gap” that was originally present when I tried to install the thorn-resistant tube in this tire back in December was there again today. However, after carefully inflating the tire past 30 PSI, the gap got smaller and smaller and the tire properly seated. The tire was then deflated and reinflated to 65 PSI, which will approximately be the pressure it is run at.

The tire was sat against a tree for it to rest while I did the other rim, just in case it decided to ruin my day by blowing out. Thankfully, nothing happened. (The Zaffiro isn’t supposed to be mounted on hookless rims, but so far there hasn’t been any problems. The real test, though, will be in the field when it is loaded and being ridden.)

Since the rear tire went well, the front tire should be as easy as pie since the Bell tire is easier to work with and the tube is just a standard-thickness CST/Bell/Walmart tube.
Well, it went as easy as expected. The only hiccup of the entire task was I noticed there was a hole (rust hole?) in the front rim. These rims are getting replaced in the near future (both are damaged and have rust), but my main concern was whether or not the hole may pop the tube.

Nevertheless, I went ahead and installed the tire and inflated it to its final pressure of 60 PSI. Once again, let it rest but the tire held. I installed the dust cap on both valves and put it back in the garage to wait once again until the brakes are fixed.

You may remember that I installed the thorn-resistant tube. But what about the Cheng-Shin tube that was installed before? I deflated the tube completely (pushing all air out), rolled it up, and rubber banded it up. That tube will be used as my emergency spare. I hope to assemble an emergency repair kit before the summer ends for use with this bike.

And viola! The swap is done. I believe this swap only took 30 minutes for both rims. The roughest part was getting the final section of bead back on the rim, but other than that it went smoothly. I’m hoping to have the bike back on the road sometime this summer – all it needs now is new brake pads and a tune up!