FH - tyres & brakes

 We're nearing the end now. I've got the tires tubes and rim tapes, the wheels are both built and the brake plates are stripped out. 

The plan was to fit the tyres myself so that I didn't have to have the bike off its wheels for too long, because I wanted to be able to develop the setting up of the brakes.

I started with the back wheel, trimming the spokes with a large half round file, fitting the rim tape and then the first bead of the tyre, making sure that the direction of rotation was correct. All went reasonably well. Next step is to put the tube in, so in the timeline of fashion I put a bit of air into the tube and pushed it into the tyre. Getting the valve in through the rim and the rim tape was a bit of a hassle, but it's never an easy job. The next bit is to get the second bead on .

Fortunately I've had some large levers lying around for quite a long time for fitting tyres and these came in handy. Handy that is until the following day when I went to blow the tyre up and of course I had nipped a tube.

B*****. Just save any further messing about, I decided to do what I usually do and take the wheels to SPS services in horsford to fit the tyres for me, but first I needed to order a new tube .

While I waited for the tube I engaged myself in some more domestic duties, putting up some coat hooks and repairing the chainsaw which we had attempted to use to trim some damson trees at the allotment. I found poor crankshaft oil seals in the chainsaw and remarkably a run out of just under a millimetre in the crankshaft - and consider how small a chainsaw crankshaft is!

I sent the brake shoes to Villiers Services as usual for re-lining. I had asked for them to be riveted as well as glued, but Steve at Villiers Services explained that they had bad experience with Ariel brake shoes cracking around the rivet holes and didn't want to do it. I accepted the shoes with no rivets.

A few days later the new tube turned up and we made a rapid trip to Horsford to drop off the tyres and wheels and to buy an apple tree, scones and a cup of coffee or two on the way home. 

I was back there the next morning picking up the wheels with the tyres fitted and properly centralised. I have found it very difficult in the past to get the tyres concentric to the wheels, but these are perfect and fitted in the right direction.

They were back on the bike with the brake plates rebuilt and fitted by the evening.