2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
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2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby AUbicycles » Fri Dec 22, 2017 11:37 pm
The Challenge
Each time you puncture, document it here and your bad luck could turn to good luck because Australian Bike and Body Care brand Pedalit will brighten up your day... and your bike.
The Quarterly Prize
Each quarter (i.e. 3 months) a prize is awarded to the forum member who has documented the most punctures in previous quarter. They will receive Pedalit Bike Degreaser + Wash + Shine. It's Australian, environmentally friendly and ethical - read more in the BNA review of Pedalit Bike Care products
The Rules
Thanks in advance to members Ozkaban and queequeg who have championed the Black Cat Awards. The following rules are an adaption of the rules which these members have created.
1a. To be eligible for the quarterly award, you have to register here with a simple post to note that you are taking part. This needs to be latest one month after the begin of competition period. For example, for the first quarter, you need to post here before February 1. If you have posted once, you no longer need to register for each subsequent quarter in the year.
1b. To be eligible for the yearly award (a prize is however not defined...) you have to register here prior to June 1. It is not possible to simple post "I've had 37 punctures" at the end of the year and expect to be eligible.
2. Every puncture must be listed individually or with some substantiation - "Five punctures on my 16km ride today, three from thorns and two from glass" is barely acceptable, but "I had five punctures last week" won't be counted.
3. You can only claim one puncture if you have not ridden the bike before discovering the next puncture. That is, breaking the valve stem off whilst pumping doesn't mean two flats. However, a double flat (both front and rear tyres at the same time) can be counted as two.
4. It has to be a flat to your bike, fixing someone else's flat doesn't count, and it must be on a bike. No car, pram, soccer ball, or blow-up doll flats please.
5. Flat must have occurred between January 1st 2018 and December 31st 2018 inclusive.
6. To have punctures listed in this competition, you must be a forum member or an immediate family member who has been the subject of amusing/scary/blonde moment stories on this forum. Or have slipped me a $50.
7. No post whoring, let's try and keep chatter to a minimum.
8. Newbie questions re. punctures and prevention should be directed to The Bike Shed. But here is a freebie on how to avoid punctures - if you don't ride your bike, you don't get punctures.
9. When you post your puncture, include a little story. And you have to include a running total of your flats otherwise mistakes will be made and you will have to pay for innertubes for every single member of this forum for an entire year.
10. All other contentious points that aren't addressed by these rules will be decided by me. If you don't like my ruling, read the last sentence of Rule #4 and ask me again.
Extra bits
- In the case of a tie, the member who had the most photos and/or best stories will win.
- Open to forum members in Australia and New Zealand only
- The prize is not transferable
Glossary
Fairy Pube : Piece of tyre reinforcing wire.
Caltrop, Goat Head : Tribulus terrestris.
Best of luck in the comp for 2018
Christopher (Admin)
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby jasonc » Sun Dec 24, 2017 11:42 am
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby queequeg » Thu Dec 28, 2017 6:19 pm
I only did so well in 2017 as I have been off the bike for 9 months.
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby DavidS » Thu Dec 28, 2017 10:40 pm
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby V17L » Mon Jan 01, 2018 10:24 am
First ride of the year, thinking nice thoughts of the world and good will to all mankind, when a mighty explosion and I'm fighting for control of the front wheel. Catastrophic failure of the front tube I had replaced last year. No prob's, I'm prepared, replaced the tube with a spare tube (right size this time) and then get my new CO2 catridge out, as I'm hip and don't need a pump. Well, the CO2 cartridge doesn't work, the pin is not piercing the canister. A walk to a mates house, reflecting on where I had kicked the black cat.
Moral of the story, don't be hip carry a pump. Also, use the right size tube for repairing a flatty, maybe the manufacturers do know something after all.
Happy new year to everyone
V17L punctures = 1
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby Kronos » Wed Jan 03, 2018 8:27 pm
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby cancan64 » Thu Jan 04, 2018 1:43 pm
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby skull » Fri Jan 05, 2018 7:56 pm
Riding the MTB at Mt Stromlo heading down boy wonder, launced off one of the beams and got some good air. The landing wasn't the best and came in sideways against some rocks causing the side wall to rip and blow the tyre off the rim.
Didn't notice the whole and put the tyre back on and filled it, gu and air blew everywhere. Thought I could be tricky and use the foam to fill the tyre and stop the leak then chucked another co2. More gu and air everywhere.
Walked 2kms back to car.
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby Philistine » Sun Jan 07, 2018 10:54 am
I got a flat on Thursday coming off the M5. I had been pushing my luck trying to steer a path through all the truck tyre debris (it seems to be worse than ever at the moment - they really need to bring back capital punishment for truckies who drive on dodgy tyres!), and my luck finally ran out. When I came to fix it, I found two bits of reinforcing wire embedded in my tyre, but apparently only one hole in the tube. This I duly repaired, and when I blew up the tube to test my repair, I found the second (smaller) hole.
Does this count as one or two?
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby jarwil80 » Sun Jan 07, 2018 12:12 pm
Thursday night was out for a ride and 4km from home felt the back tyre get wobbly. Stopped and tyre was a little flat but hopped back on. Rode another 50m and tyre was down more. Hopped off and started walking. Wife ended up picking me up. Took bike to LBS and had tube replaced and sealant put in tube. Was told either glass or bindi caused flat. Left shop happy that it had been fixed.
This morning went for first ride since back tube replaced. Ride was feeling good and not much wind around. 3km into ride felt the back tyre go suddenly flat and hear air coming out. After a few expletives hopped off bike and walked the 3km home. When home checked the tyre and couldn't find any evidence of object causing puncture. Tried to pump tyre up and as I am pumping air and sealant is coming out of the base of the valve on the tube. From my limited knowledge I don't think this is a good thing. Assuming tube is damaged at valve. Going back to LBS tomorrow morning.
Think it is time to get spare tubes and tool bag to carry on the bike.
Not a great start on new road bike.
Flat tyres = 2
Giant Defy Advanced 3 2017
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby kenwstr » Mon Jan 08, 2018 8:28 am
Have used thorn resistant tubes to no avail. Really resisting slime as it eventually leads to having to carry a wet drippy tube home in my jersey, hate that...... But I am about ready to cave on that again, Sigh! Currently carrying 2 spare tubes.
Ken
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby Philistine » Tue Jan 09, 2018 10:15 am
When I finally got around to fixing the puncture, it had the look of a pinch flat, and I could not find any wire or thorns in the tyre. The M5 shoulder strikes again.
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby queequeg » Tue Jan 09, 2018 11:53 am
Anyway, I see the Doc next week. He'll tell me to stay off the bike, and my 15kg overweight self will tell him life is short and to thank him for his advice. Hopefully then, my slow road to recovery will begin...and hopefully it will puncture free!
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby Philistine » Fri Jan 12, 2018 10:39 am
I'm not all that bothered about "winning" an award. I had a vague idea (call it a superstition if you will) that by documenting the punctures on the forum, the cycling gods might realize their nefarious activities were being scrutinized, and would lay off me. It doesn't appear to be working.
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby Philistine » Sun Jan 14, 2018 12:40 pm
To give the Motorway Authority its due, I ride the M5 enough to see that they put some effort into keeping it clean. It's just that there are more dirty sods (can I say that on here?) dropping the rubbish than sweepers cleaning up after them. A truck tyre doesn't go from AOK to falling apart in ten kilometres. If the people responsible for the M5 had any brains (fat chance), they would be holding random inspections of trucks and utes as they are about to enter the motorway, and issuing infringement notices for every dodgy tyre and unsecured tray item they find.
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby Mulger bill » Mon Jan 15, 2018 9:34 pm
London Boy 29/12/2011
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby Philistine » Sat Jan 20, 2018 12:20 pm
I was on the same bit of path a few days ago and I noticed a couple of workmen fiddling around with the manhole cover. My guess is they had to inspect the drain / sewer / gas tap / water tap (choose one) and used a crow bar to pry up the manhole cover, breaking off the corner while doing so, then leaving the broken piece on the path for some unsuspecting cyclist to find. I would fire off a complaint if I had any idea where to direct it. It could be the local council, RMS, gas board, water board, or some body I haven't thought of.
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby Philistine » Mon Jan 22, 2018 7:43 am
Puncture #6 on Saturday (another pinch flat on the M5). This was a classic "snake bite" with the two holes too far apart to be properly covered by one patch and too close together to accommodate two patches side by side. I had one unsuccessful attempt to fix it before throwing the tube away.
Puncture #7. I went to wheel out my spare bike on Sunday morning, only to find the rear tyre flat (cause unknown). It was fine the last time I used it (Thursday). The hole took some finding - it was a tiny one that would take a day to go down, and was probably another pinch flat.
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby cancan64 » Mon Jan 22, 2018 10:13 am
Jan is normally my worst month and sometimes I would think I was a scratched record posting puncture after puncture, but so far (touch wood) I have had none. I do have newish tyres on all wheels but then it is wet here which normally brings the glass to the surfacePhilistine wrote:It's getting lonely on this thread, have I scared off the competition?
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby Noviss » Tue Jan 23, 2018 10:05 am
So, brand new tyre (Conti GP4000SII) and tube; 15kms into the ride and I hear the familiar click of something flicking against the rear brake housing. Sure enough puncture. Even though it was a hot day the tyre hadn't warmed up enough to come off easily. The new tyre was a bit tight on the rim but first bit of force exerted with the tyre lever and it snapped. Still had one lever so I managed to get the tyre off, new tube in and inflated. All good.
Another 10kms on and rounding a corner there's the click again. Another puncture. Rear tyre again. Luckily I carry two tubes but I am out of CO2. Fortunately, one of the others in the group had a spare cartridge. The new tube had been in my saddle bag a while. The valve seemed to be slightly gummed up but still worked but wouldn't fully inflate with the Co2 cartridge. Managed to get the tyre inflated with a hand pump.
Rejoined the group at a meet point with another 50kms to go. I reached down and sure enough the tyre isn't as firm as it was. I had had a gutful by this stage so nursed the slowly deflating tyre home with my tail between my legs. Pulled the tyre off and the tube had a small split on the seem. It had obviously been in my saddle bag too long and had degraded.
50kms, three tubes, a tyre lever and a brand new tyre that seems to attract punctures! Hopefully, next week will be better.
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby Philistine » Tue Jan 23, 2018 10:24 am
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby AUbicycles » Thu Jan 25, 2018 7:44 pm
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby find_bruce » Fri Jan 26, 2018 7:08 pm
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby V17L » Sun Jan 28, 2018 7:06 pm
I had changed the tyres and tubes yesterday. Obviously expecting no issues now. However, today the black pussy struck 2km into the morning ride, with the back tyre letting all its air come out. I carry a pump now, so fixed the flatty, no cause apparent. Another 8km down the road, another flatty, this time I found a thorn as the cause. Just as well I carry two spare tubes. Spent the afternoon looking online for more puncture proof tyres, and other bike parts that I absolutely want, but don't really need.
Some days you are the fire hydrant, some days you are the dog. This weekend I was the fire hydrant.
V17L punctures = 3
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Re: 2018 - Black Cat Award (Punctures) - Prizes from Pedalit
Postby Philistine » Mon Jan 29, 2018 12:56 pm
Puncture #10 on Saturday on a different section of the M5. I thought it was a pinch flat because I had just failed to dodge a piece of debris. I checked the inside of the tyre (not very well apparently) and changed the tube. Sunday morning the tyre was flat again (#11) when I went to get the bike out. It turned out to be a bit of truck tyre reinforcement (fairy pube?), that I had missed the previous day. All three punctures were to the rear tyre of my roadie. The tyre itself appeared to have a few more kilometers left in it but I replaced it anyway to try to change my luck.
Today puncture #12 to the front tyre. I had just left the M5 when I noticed the tyre was soft, and getting softer. I did ride over one piece of debris on the M5 but the impact did not seem sufficient to cause a pinch flat. I shall know more when I repair the tube.
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