Changing Tire

Being able to change tires on my own is very vital to my long term survival on the road, I think. So I set out to try and change the tires on Jill. ( could not bring myself to do it on Lara, could hurt her. )

I started with acquiring the necessary tools. Tire levers, rim cream and air pump. Yes it is a manual pump. Read it on the internet that the electric air pump won't do good in raising the bead so I got myself this one.

 Tires are 50USD a piece made in Taiwan. Looks like racing spec tires but I really don't care. Any tires is better than the stock block tires.

It looks easy on the blog but in actual it was very hard. Very very hard indeed for a newbie like me. I wrestled the tire for a good 90 minutes before I knew just how exactly to work the tire levers to get the tire out. So yes I finally got the tire out.

And I ended up laying Jill on her front end without tire. sigh.... why?
because I couldn't put on a fresh tire back in. I just couldn't figure out why the tire wouldn't get back in. This is a very valuable lesson learned.

On top of that, I have photos to show that I was not thoughtful enough in preparation. Notice that I do not have any front end stand or car jack to stand the bike up. I just used a block on the right peg. I though it was OK as shown in the second photo but no, the bike eventually just toppled. I hope I didnt fxxxed up the front forks....

So all in all, Jill is still in critical condition. I am looking for help now.

Pray for me that Jill will get well soon. :-)

Cheers,
CK