Another week, another darn flat tire… and then some.
T450 Update
In the post directly before this one, I discussed the screen issue with the T450. I believe the issue is caused by a loose (or possibly damaged- although I don’t think it is for many reasons) video data cable going to the display panel in the lid.
With it like it is, the image displayed starts out garbled and then starts fading to white with various lines and patterns.
So, it’s home-bound until it can get repaired by the refurbisher, which I’ve been trying to get in contact with. It still works perfectly with the external monitor (which is how I’m writing this post), but I miss having two screens.
Pinnacle Update
Another week… another tube bites the dust. 🙁
Things were going fine today. In fact, the Pinnacle ran a whole two weeks (and one day) without having a flat tire. That’s a pretty good record considering lately I’ve been riding on the streets (in the shoulder in many cases) where sometimes trash is littered everywhere.
I just pumped both tires up last night. Running the tires at 70//75 (front/rear, respectively) has yielded pretty good results. The bike rides much better, there’s less flex, and yet the tire is still inflated to a point where it is cushioned. While the rear has been overinflated by 5 PSI, it doesn’t seem to mind one bit. The tires seemed to hold fine. As usual, the rear tube (which was the oldest of the two, installed back in August but the actual tube is older as it was a spare) held pretty well, and the front tube (at its two week birthday) lost slightly a bit more air.
As for the rear tire, it has been very lucky. The front tire has got the most abuse so far – as in having almost three flats since the semester began. The rear hasn’t had any issues, despite being inflated to a slightly higher pressure.
But what about tonight’s flat? I’m guessing it was yet another thumbtack. Deja vu!
I (heard then) saw the thumbtack on the tire, and pulled over when I could. By that time, the thumbtack head broke off and the needle portion had popped its way from the tread to the sidewall of the tire. Well, this doesn’t look good. The tire did hold air for a good three or four blocks for me to get to a good spot to start fixing it.
After getting the tube removed from the tire and carefully extracting the thumbtack needle, I got to patching the tube. The needle left a pretty large gash in the tube.
After patching the tube, I inflated the tube to find out that there was more than one hole. There was more than two holes. The needle must’ve poked five or six holes in the tube. These holes were smaller and leaked slower, so I mounted the tire back on and inflated it. And since I didn’t have a spare tube, I had to just deal with it.
Things didn’t go good after that. Those other punctures leaked quicker than I thought they would, which left me re-inflating the tire a couple times on my way home.
So, another tube bit the dust. More like talcum powder, as every time I inflated the tube to find the hole talcum powder would squirt out.
Blog Update
I’m working on pushing out two new posts (one computer related, the other kinda-bicycle related) this weekend. I’ve been busy so I’ve had little time to sit down and write a good blog post.
I think my “computer burnout” has been hitting fairly hard lately. I’ve tried to combat this by focusing on other things and growing (or, regrowing) my bicycling hobby and doing some other stuff. I’ve also taken on more at my job and classes.
I think bicycling is a good way to combat the burnout. I spend a huge chunk of my day staring at a computer screen or thinking about what I’m going to do next with the computer. It’s nice to hop on my bike and go for a ride, even if it is just around a block or two. The fresh fall air feels amazing.