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Written by Dave Irving
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We had a very good bimble to The Swan on new years day. A very sociable lunch followed and everything was fine until Mark & Alison departed. Alison 'poured water into my wine' by telling us that 'the old black blade' had got a puncture... Going into denial didn't help but I tried it anyway even though I knew mine was the only old blade on the ride. Don't you just hate it when that happens? The rest of my lunchtime was spent in the hotel car park with a Reema puncture outfit. I think that these are seriously good bits of kit, the best £20 you'll ever spend. I had assumed that everybody else was aware of these outfits but me having the ability to get out of my predicament seemed to be a pleasant surprise to a lot of the party. Sure, there are a couple of little 'knacks' that you need to acquire but the resulting repair is long lastingly sound. The toughest hurdle to overcome is that you have to shove a rat’s tail file into the puncture to clean up, roughen and enlarge the hole. Your subconscious screams at you that you are supposed to be sealing a small hole, not making it bigger and, at first, it overrides any attempts you may make to tell your hand to 'stick' the tyre with the rat tail file. The three co2 bottles put in somewhere between 25 to 30psi which is designed to be enough to get you to a filling station with an air line to top it up. Luckily Howard King was on hand with a magic 12v electric air pump and in went another 10psi. Thanks again Howard. The decision to buy another repair kit is a no-brainer for me. £20 for a kit versus £100 plus recovery charge and one or two hour wait for the truck. Twenty minutes and you're on your way. I guess I’ve repaired about a dozen punctures and am getting to be a dab hand at their repair. But why is it that Mr Sod wrote the law stating that I'll only get a puncture when I fit a new tyre; a shabby old threadbare carcass never picks up a nail. Perhaps the moral is that I should only use shabby old tyres. So before you throw away your old worn tyres; think of me.
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News (Making Progress) 
