As a standard routine I would check everything over before hitting the road but this time I noticed something odd. Even on center stand the front tire was flat, way too flat. The first thing that came to mind was, "Oh great, I hit a nail!" So I spun the tire around to look for a puncture but there were no signs of one, no nails, no screws whatsoever. I pumped up the tire and decided to wait a bit before heading out just to be sure.
The tire was holding pressure but there was something about it that I couldn't leave to chance completely, so I decided to leave it overnight to see what happens and use my car in the meantime.
When I came back the next morning it was again flat. I spun the front wheel again this time carefully examining the tire. There were absolutely no sign of punctures. I tried listening to hear if there were signs of air leaking but couldn't hear anything leak. I called my brother to see if I could come by to get tools to remove the tire to examine it for leaks and possibly patch it but he was at work. I had things to do during the day so I decided to put it off until I get home that evening.
Definitely a slow leak but how long? I pumped up the tire again and this time clocked it to see how long it actually took to deflate. About 20 minutes to get to a fairly low point. Great! I could ride over instead of having to make two trips in the morning. Since my brother lives about 6 miles away, 10 minutes via freeway, I deduced that it was an acceptable risk to get the motorcycle over to his place. Plus I would pack my foot pump as a backup plan in case things go awry with the short hop.
In the morning after donning all my gear I over inflated the front slightly and started my stop watch. Even with 10 minutes to spare I constantly monitored the tire and the time because when there was full weight loaded on the tires I surmise that the front tire would leak even quicker. I made it alright and within 10 minutes of arrival, sure enough it went flat. A calculated risk and everything went as planned!
I took the wheel off, broke the tire bead and took the tube out. Inflated the tube and dunked it in a bucket of water to look for signs of leaks through air bubbles... But no bubbles, the queerest thing! My brother and I then examined the inside of the front tire and there were no protrusions. We figured there was only one other possible thing, the inner tube air valve. So I dunked the tube with the valve in water again but still found no leaks. After half an hour of chasing leaks and air bubbles, we surrendered and decided to put everything back. And just as a precautionary measure lube the valve core with WD40 before re-installing it.
Everything goes back on. We decided to wait it out once again to see if the valve is the culprit. After about half an hour we noticed that there was only a little bit of a pressure drop. That was it! It was the spring loaded valve core being stuck.
Although a small victory, I rode back home happy that I discovered the problem and fixed it. To be certain I took a new core from a spare inner tube and replaced it with the old one. I have a special tool that was included in my bead breaker kit to remove the valve core (Schrader valve - also spelled as Schraeder) but you could also purchase one from a bicycle shop (maybe a car parts store) for such use. This valve type is interchangeable from bicycles to cars to motorcycles tubes, they use the same valve. So if you wanted, you could use the valve cores from your bicycle tubes.
The moral of the story? Everything wears over time and mileage, be sure to carry spares, maintain your equipment and always keep a cool head when running into problems.
No comments:
Post a Comment