On 14 Jul 2005 at 17:05, Sam Alison wrote:
>
> I was interested to read Ted's comments below on tyre wiping or
> 'gloving' as he refers to it. My understanding was that should a shard
> of glass hit your tyre (or vice versa) the initial impact is what
> would force it in far enough to your tyre to puncture the tube. If it
> doesn't cause a puncture on first impact, it's not going to. Therefore
> putting your hand near whirring spokes, flying shard of glass, and
> narrow gaps was a foolhardy thing to do with no perceivable benefit -
> other than perhaps making you appear a "real bike rider" or even, if
> your style is smooth enough, a "cogniscenti di gruppo".My very much ad
> hoc and admittedly not statistically rigorous survey conducted during
> riding with wipers and non-wipers over the years seems to show very
> little difference in puncture rate between the two.
While this has precious little to do with classic lightweights, perhaps the funniest thing I ever saw on a bike was when a friend of mine, riding just in front of me, decided to clean his rear tire. He proceeded to get his right hand caught between the tire and downtube, which promptly locked up the rear wheel and firmly attached him to the bike. He did a commendable job of controlling the resultant skid with just his left hand, right up until the bike stopped and he demonstrated the old horizontal track stand.
The two of us were off-the-front at the time and he swore me to secrecy, a silence I maintained for about a year; until I started hearing the story from third parties. He must have finally decided the story was more interesting than embarrassing. ;-)
John Everett - Aurora, Illinois
jeverett3@earthlink.net (John V. Everett)