[commutergrl]

If you have holy 29er tubes could you please send them my way?

I'm a commuter in the Bay Area and to get across the bridge, I take the Caltrans bicycle shuttle where bikes get completely scratched to bits. To keep this from happening, and to make my bike less desirable to the sticky fingered public, I've taken to sewing inner tubes on it.

But I can't bring myself to cover up the insignia with a big ole 26. I've scoured the local bike shops and I'm just not finding any 29er tubes in their dead bins so I'm appealing to the greater 29er ridership.

If you have any dead 29er tubes lying around, would you please send them to me?


The address is
Alison Horton
2091 California St #331
Berkeley CA 94703

Thanks
c

 

[pimpbot]

10 or 20 mil tape...

If you have holy 29er tubes could you please send them my way?

I'm a commuter in the Bay Area and to get across the bridge, I take the Caltrans bicycle shuttle where bikes get completely scratched to bits. To keep this from happening, and to make my bike less desirable to the sticky fingered public, I've taken to sewing inner tubes on it.

But I can't bring myself to cover up the insignia with a big ole 26. I've scoured the local bike shops and I'm just not finding any 29er tubes in their dead bins so I'm appealing to the greater 29er ridership.

If you have any dead 29er tubes lying around, would you please send them to me?

The address is
Alison Horton
2091 California St #331
Berkeley CA 94703

Thanks
c

.... basically a big fat electrical tape, also works well for uglifying a bike, and giving it a protective coating, and is not a total PITA to peel off.

Tubes work, tho. You'll probably have to zip tie them or something. I might have two super heavy ass tubes lying around. I shed 1/2 pound of rotating weight by switching to 26er light tubes on my 29er. Then again, I don't ride it on the street and have to deal with street debris.

 

[commutergrl]

Thanks

I used handlebar tape on my hopper 12 years ago and that WAS a total pain in the a$$. So much so that after I finally got it all off, I refused to tape it back up again and a pristine 12 year old bike looked it's age within 2 weeks

Here's some pics so you can see what I'm talking about. I think the sewing's coming along. Time consuming but it ads to the quirky appeal (to me anyway).

The 29er lettering is what I want on the headtube right up front.

This bike looks so much more inviting to me, the rider, when it's not hospital green.

Thanks again
c

 

[Nat]

Interesting. I'd like to see a pic after you're finished. With the bike encased in rubber, will it have sort of a weird, kinky, S&M bondage look?

 

[commutergrl]

And just imagine what I can do with my kryptonite and cable!

BTW Pimpbot, I always thought of rocks as similar to street debris. Do you get flats more often than you used to way back when you rode those tiny 26ers? Or did you use 20 inch tubes? (Couldn't help myself) But this is a serious question. Losing 1/2 pound of rolling weight sounds really good to me. I just don't want to trade my flatless life for it.

I can use all the 29er tubes you guys want to drop my way. I'm hoping to add a KaiTai to the family soon. The rack and panniers will go on that. The hopper is now too small and feels like a slug. I may turn it into a ss.

thanks
c

 

[jms]

Kinda like it

Interesting. I'd like to see a pic after you're finished. With the bike encased in rubber, will it have sort of a weird, kinky, S&M bondage look?

LOL. Cool pictures! I love it! Nice needlework too. I think the look is more Johnny Depp's character in "Edward Scissorhands".

 

[JudoLizard]

You'll have a few in the mail this week. Lotsa thorns out here and plenty of 29er riders that don't either run tubeless or use slime. I'll scrounge off of my riding compadres.

 

[Padre]

Are the 29er tubes better for this application?

 

[GreenLightGo]

Are the 29er tubes better for this application?

dude, seriously :skep:

 

[commutergrl]

They have numbering on them that says 29

they're bigger so I don't have to sew 2 together to get around that massive down tube

and according to pimpbot they're thicker = less scratches. Or maybe it's just his tubes that are thicker. I haven't had a flat yet so I've never actually inspected one. If you've never ridden on the caltrans van, it might be hard to appreciate just how scratched a bike can get.

All 29er tubes are very much appreciated. I'm thinking about sewing a messenger bag for the rainy season and if I could get enough tubes for it say 29 all over the front, that would be so cool. It's such a pain to bag everything and then put it in your bag.

Thanks guys
c

 

[pimpbot]

Nah, its about the same

And just imagine what I can do with my kryptonite and cable!

BTW Pimpbot, I always thought of rocks as similar to street debris. Do you get flats more often than you used to way back when you rode those tiny 26ers? Or did you use 20 inch tubes? (Couldn't help myself) But this is a serious question. Losing 1/2 pound of rolling weight sounds really good to me. I just don't want to trade my flatless life for it.

I can use all the 29er tubes you guys want to drop my way. I'm hoping to add a KaiTai to the family soon. The rack and panniers will go on that. The hopper is now too small and feels like a slug. I may turn it into a ss.

thanks
c

but I hardly ever ride my 29er on the street, mostly trail. Mountain singlespeed gearing sucks something awful for actually pedaling somewhere on pave. I occasionally ride it to the corner store and back if my city bike is buried too deeply in my garage for my lazy ass to dig it out.

I was referring more to glass and those little fibrous tree acorns that shatter into a million shards (kinda like pistachio shells) all over Contra Costa Canal Trail. There was a stretch where every other ride I got a flat from those f'ing things. It just about made me give up on bike commuting.

I mostly get pinch flats on my 29er, because I love to run the tires too low. I love to pick up tons of speed and when I hit rock gardens, I pinch them. My fault. I was running them down to 23 psi, which feels great until I pinch.

So my only 29er tubes are thick 240g each ones. They came stock on my Monocog 29er. The Performance Bike Lunar Lites I use are closer to 95g each. Not sure I would recommend it for street riding, but they are great on dirt.

 

[Wish I Were Riding]

I mostly get pinch flats on my 29er, because I love to run the tires too low. I love to pick up tons of speed and when I hit rock gardens, I pinch them. My fault. I was running them down to 23 psi, which feels great until I pinch.

I had that problem until I switched to 28mm wide rims. How wide are yours?

 

[pimpbot]

Dunno...

I had that problem until I switched to 28mm wide rims. How wide are yours?

but kinda standard XC width... prolly 23mm or so.

 

[Timo]

dude, seriously :skep:

Yeah because they roll over bigger tubes better.

 

[ATBScott]

Commutergrl, this is off topic, but have you looked into going tubeless with Stan's? That will stop 99% of the punctures you get on the street - wire, staple, nail, small pieces of glass, etc... And it makes your wheels lighter too.

 

[Wish I Were Riding]

but kinda standard XC width... prolly 23mm or so.

I was using Bontrager Mustang rims (great rims) but they are only 24mm wide and I pinched too much. I don't have that problem after switching to 28mm wide rims. (I use 26" tubes in my wheels though)

Sorry for the thread hyjack.

 

[commutergrl]

My only flats for years have been pinch flats. Armadillos are so worth it. They make a really good road/dirt tire that never had me sliding around unnecessarily on the mild trails that I might come upon. Anyone know when they're gonna start making 29er tires?

I've got schwalbes on order.

Have to admit that I've never really thought of going tubless. But the weight savings is very intriguing. It looks like a plug, strip and goo system. The goo and strips don't add up to a similar weight? Any weight weenies out there know the difference? If it's half a pound, I'd think seriously about it.

c

 

[GreenLightGo]

plenty of Armadillo 700cc tires

http://www.hargrovescycles.co.uk/index.php?cPath=486&hargrovesSID=9cd4dbc47d4d862eb37c64f5f3159747

Check out the Borough, Crossroads and Infinity.

 

[commutergrl]

Yeh, it's the crossroads that I like. I found them on the web but every single LBS that carries Armadillos said they weren't available.

And then there's the width issue. 38mm is a bit small, 1.5"? My tires say 2.2 which would be 55, right?

I'm not exactly attached to all that rubber, and it would be lighter if there was less of it, but what am I giving up when I slim down? Will it still roll right through deep gravel/glass, etc, blocks of rumbly choppy pavement, jumping on and off curbs?

thanks
c

 

[jayssmtbde]

i had crossroads front and rear; just changed the rear to a maxxis hookworm. it's so much nicer! waiting for the front crossroads to die so i can put a big apple on there