Decided this morning to go on the Hiawatha Cyclery weekly ride. The plan was about 15 miles of off road. Fairly flat rocky trail. Complication one - when I got up this morning it was raining. Okay. Maybe it'll stop by the time to ride down there. Check. So get out the Atlantis as that might be more approrpiate off road wit Big Apple 26x50 tires. Ride down to the shop. Notice that the rear wheel has been making an unusual "thump" when I'm braking. Okay. Figure it's a flat spot on the rim after riding 10 miles or so on a flat during the MN Ironman last month.
Get to the ride. No problems. Ride itself. Well, let's just say the rain and the local clay/sand mixture next to the river caused some, uh, interesting moments. After walking the bike through the wost and using a stick to repeatedly clean the mud from the interface between tire/frame/fenders, things seemed fine. But there are instances where even the ample clearance of an Atlantis just isn't enough. Was only really a problem when the wheels refused to move. So far, not too bad. Then get back to the shop. Wait a bit for Jim to look at the wheel. Hmm. He tightens the flat spot. Which then appears in another place. Oops. That should not happen. So after a little more work and some logic, Jim figures it out. Take off the rim strip. Yup. The inside of the Velocity rim has split. Probably due to a combination of my running the rear at around 50psi and my weight. The latter of which had me running that pressure for "correct" sag. Luckily Jim was able to save the day. He had a built up wheel with a wider rim which now proudly resides on the back of the Atlantis. So day is saved. Ended up riding a total of 54 miles on the Atlantis today. The longest ride on it since getting the Sam Hillborne. Speaking of Mr. Hillborne, one was actually on the ride this morning. Seemed to handle the mud no worse than the other bikes. It was shod with Marathon Supreme 700x40. Looked to be another fine ride. Even making the day better - on the ride home, noticed a Quickbeam heading the opposite direction. With a Little Loafer up front. If you're on this list "hi". As if that wasn't apparent from my waving. All in all, it appears the correct choice was to bring the Atlantis. Otherwise who knows where I would have been when the rim finally went kaput? Lastly - again, Jim, thanks. Eric Platt St. Paul, MN --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
