Typical. My luck has been out this week.
My new TCR Composite arrives this morning - there's been months of waiting to get this thing. During the day at work all I can think about is "I so cannot wait until I get home tonight and finally ride this thing. I've been waiting so long".
So when I get home I fix the handlebar nice and tight, screw in my new Look pedals, attach the seatpost..... you get the picture.... by now I just cannot contain myslef with excitement.
Last thing I do is check the tyre pressure - I don't want to get a flat on my first ride, right? The bike came with Shimano Wheels and Hutchinson tyres - it said on the side of the tyres that the recommended pressure is 7 bar (or 100 psi).
Earlier on this week I got a brand new pump for the job - an 'Innovations Top Dog' pump that came with a gauge to check the pressure. It's one of those floor-mounted pumps that makes it easier to inflate the tyre.
And then the first weird thing happens. I unscrew the cap and twist the top of the valve. Before attaching the pump to the stem I press my finger down onto the stem to check the air is flowing OK. Suddenly the whole tyre has deflated - just like that! I'm not talking about a gradual deflation but an instantaneous one!
A little bemused, I figure that the stem must have some sort of 'quick deflate' mechanism - I've been riding the same no name steel frame bike for years so I have absolutely no idea what developments have occurred in modern bikes. I guess I must have pressed the valve stem in such a way to deflate it instantly.
In any case, I now attach the pump head over the stem and start pumping. I can see from the pressure gauge that air is now going into the tyre and things are starting to look good. But the needle on the gauge is nowhere near the recommended pressure of 100 psi or the max pressure of 110.... in fact it's not even at 80 yet. Nevertheless it's really starting to get difficult to pump the tyre so I keep forcing the pump.
All of a sudden..... BANG! The noise was so loud that my ears were ringing for about 60 seconds. And to compound matters I don't have any spare tubes.... guess I ain't going anywhere until tomorrow.
So can anyone figure out why this happened? Could it be that the pressure gauge on the pump is faulty? I hope not cos it's a reasonably expensive floor pump. Did I do something wrong? And what's up with the instant deflation that occurred?
Your frustratedly,
S
My new TCR Composite arrives this morning - there's been months of waiting to get this thing. During the day at work all I can think about is "I so cannot wait until I get home tonight and finally ride this thing. I've been waiting so long".
So when I get home I fix the handlebar nice and tight, screw in my new Look pedals, attach the seatpost..... you get the picture.... by now I just cannot contain myslef with excitement.
Last thing I do is check the tyre pressure - I don't want to get a flat on my first ride, right? The bike came with Shimano Wheels and Hutchinson tyres - it said on the side of the tyres that the recommended pressure is 7 bar (or 100 psi).
Earlier on this week I got a brand new pump for the job - an 'Innovations Top Dog' pump that came with a gauge to check the pressure. It's one of those floor-mounted pumps that makes it easier to inflate the tyre.
And then the first weird thing happens. I unscrew the cap and twist the top of the valve. Before attaching the pump to the stem I press my finger down onto the stem to check the air is flowing OK. Suddenly the whole tyre has deflated - just like that! I'm not talking about a gradual deflation but an instantaneous one!
A little bemused, I figure that the stem must have some sort of 'quick deflate' mechanism - I've been riding the same no name steel frame bike for years so I have absolutely no idea what developments have occurred in modern bikes. I guess I must have pressed the valve stem in such a way to deflate it instantly.
In any case, I now attach the pump head over the stem and start pumping. I can see from the pressure gauge that air is now going into the tyre and things are starting to look good. But the needle on the gauge is nowhere near the recommended pressure of 100 psi or the max pressure of 110.... in fact it's not even at 80 yet. Nevertheless it's really starting to get difficult to pump the tyre so I keep forcing the pump.
All of a sudden..... BANG! The noise was so loud that my ears were ringing for about 60 seconds. And to compound matters I don't have any spare tubes.... guess I ain't going anywhere until tomorrow.
So can anyone figure out why this happened? Could it be that the pressure gauge on the pump is faulty? I hope not cos it's a reasonably expensive floor pump. Did I do something wrong? And what's up with the instant deflation that occurred?
Your frustratedly,
S