Grim up North
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Jim Crosskell
Grim up North
Thanks to Angus the former Salmon farmer who gave us a lift off Yell with his estate car and large trailer 30/08/05. There's not much thet can carry a fully laden tandem and bob trailer. We had just been blown off Fetlar (Shetland Islands) after our tent failed during a prolonged force eleven gale. At least it had the courtesy of not self destructing until 0800hrs and it wasn't raining. A sidewall punture and three failures of brand new inner tubes had left us scratching our heads a bit until we graciously accepted this chaps kind offer. I can recommend Lerwick youth hostel, if a little pricey at £15 per bednight. The roads are very good and the outer islands magical, getting about by regular and cheap inter island ferries is fun and if the weather is too bad for cycling there is a very good bus service all over the islands. If you get to Unst the most Northerly inhabited island you must sign the visitor's book at the bus stop between Haroldswick and Saxo Voe, you'll understand when you see it.
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Pedalling Pete
Re:Grim up North
Yep, even has it's own website:
http://www.unstbusshelter.shetland.co.uk/
http://www.unstbusshelter.shetland.co.uk/
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Jim Crosskell
Re:Grim up North
Continental Top Touring whatevers!
On examining the scene of the crime I discovered we had chaffed the sidewall with something. The brakes were ruled out as there was plenty of rim showing between brake block and tyre. I thought it could have been a burr on the rim as they are very new Mavic T521's?, but I couldn't find one. The rip was right on the line of the rim though. I sort of put it down to cornering under high load, although this has not happened before. We used our folding "Specialised K2" to get us home with no problem and at the minute have a Raleigh tractor tyre bought in Lerwick doing the job. I had not run a line on sticky tape around the rim before fitting the Conti's and will probably forget when I get round to changing tyres again!
On examining the scene of the crime I discovered we had chaffed the sidewall with something. The brakes were ruled out as there was plenty of rim showing between brake block and tyre. I thought it could have been a burr on the rim as they are very new Mavic T521's?, but I couldn't find one. The rip was right on the line of the rim though. I sort of put it down to cornering under high load, although this has not happened before. We used our folding "Specialised K2" to get us home with no problem and at the minute have a Raleigh tractor tyre bought in Lerwick doing the job. I had not run a line on sticky tape around the rim before fitting the Conti's and will probably forget when I get round to changing tyres again!
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Jim Crosskell
Re:Grim up North
Don't think it was a cattle grid. Problem was it was so windy I could hardly hear what my stoker was saying, let alone pick up on those little noises that let you know how the bike is doing. A piece of debris trapped between the cantilever boss and the tyre, or perhaps the mudguard stays may have been the culprit but I can't see it. My stoker did tell be it was about to happen, so something gave her warning enough to get us slowed down before the big bang. Whether this was the tube protruding through the slit in the tyrewall or the agent of our downfall I cannot decide.
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Oldknees
Re:Grim up North
Same thing happened to me using continental top tourers. I think the thin side walls have nothing to take the problem of running with a puncture. Bad rim tape was the cause of my series of six punctures. The walls of the tyre were shot to bits. I suppose this is what we get for wanting to save a gram or two.