Hitchcocks Forum

Whilst I'm "at it" and in the swing of things today thought I'd share a couple more shots of todays Bullet "exertions"?
With three tyre levers and a bit of brute force, {I even bent one of my very old Dunlop levers?) I had this tyre off in less than 10 minutes. The original factory fitted Cheng Shin front tyre was removed after 13 years/15,000km service. As expected, a lot of rust had formed inside the rim with the damp and rust trapped under the rim tape and on the ends of the spokes [not shown]. A good wire brushing and a coating of Hammerite had this fixed up in less than 30 minutes. The original tube was still in very good condition but with a lot of rust residue "stuck" to the inside/rim contact area. For obvious safety reasons and as part of the re-furb, a new rim tape and new tube will be fitted along with a new Dunlop K70. The re-fitting will be entrusted to the local branch of Watlings as there appears to be no cost savings on buying and fitting it myself.






Clearly seen in the second shot is the rust around the valve core, a weak spot that could have failed at any time, as did happen on the rear tyre fitted to this same bike in early 2012.



Enjoy, on this wet Sunday afternoon in Kent...
BI

Doing well, coming along nicely, i think that valve is better off out of there, especially as its the front tyre.. one less thing to go wrong...

I lent my tyres levers to an ex friend in 1973 never saw him or the levers again, He was called Norman and buggered off to Australia.. Swear its true.. Point is where can you get a decent set of levers from these days, the kind you can stand on almost, they all seem to be made of cheese.... Would army surplus do such a thing?? cheers gwilly.

Gwilly, wasn't me the only time I have been overseas is to Tasmania lol

Indeed. Some longer levers would have been better to "pop " that first section of bead over the rim. Plain sailing after that. Says something about the Cheng Shin, ridiculed by many, but, as most people know, it's a tough, long lasting tyre. A bit wobbly in the winter, but you know your limits. Nothing wrong with my tyre as such aside from age, thousands of k's worth of tread left on it, but I think a change to the K70, to match the rear will be a good move. I guessed, after doing the same treatment to the rear rim at tyre replacement time last year, that this front one was going to be just as corroded inside, and so it proved. The treatment, now complete this afternoon,, and pictured here, will keep it straight for another ten years I hope?

Regards
BI

PS. Re the pictures, a quick run around the rim with a 4" abrasive wheel in the drill and a liberal coating of Red Oxide and the rim is as good as new. Original spokes are all tight. Also, the Brake plate side wheel bearing had gone quite rusty, wet and very notchy, speedo drive side felt as good as new, but will replace both as a pair, as is good practice. Cleaned and lubed the brake parts, job done and ready for a new tyre and tube.
I know this picture thing is well reported here, but I just have to say it, posting these pics to here from my Flickr Photostream is a 5 second doddle! Works a treat. (Click on the Share bit in the picture, copy the HTML code, paste it into this message, and, hey presto, it's here, instantly!).
Regards
BI

Hi Matey !!------------V. impressed with the work and the longevity of the "demon" Cheng Shin tyre....BUT, why there has been so much discussion about posting photos is exactly demonstrated by yours, alas !! I can now trawl through all the others on your account......That's why the likes of TINYPICS are advised as it gives just that one shot only... A person may have photos of their young daughter or (in our case) granddaughter which certain undesirable elements in our society take great pleasure in..... Not what you would want I'm sure ?? May I suggest you try to re-list those images?? I believe it can be retro-done but I don't know how myself.............

Cheers Alan. Your comments are most welcome and I can see your point, BUT, for the benefit of all others here, in my case, Flickr is my "new thing" at the moment, a Window to the World, or the Google/Wikipedia of the Picture World, if you like? I've really got into it via a recommendation from a regular contributor that I met up with recently. The idea is that ANYBODY with web access can view my pictures at ANYTIME that suits them. EG; I can use my mobile or conventional digi camra, but I don't want to go to the time/trouble of e-mailing, or expense of printing to show others, especially holiday snaps ect, hence, the wonder that is Flickr? Other sites out there of course, and I'm sure our host's have no objections, as a lot of there products and stuff are up on the site too (from others!). As for stuff I don't want the world to see, well, that doesn't really come into it. The point is, I want the whole World to see my pictures, and any comments/feedback from the people that are "flicking" through the site are always welcome. The "rules" are there, and copyright exists, but most don't need them, after all, you wouldn't publish something on the web if you only want to share it [privately] with a few people would you? And the Bullet subject is the one part, at least on my flickr page, that's easy to navigate to. As mentioned, you, and the rest of the world of course, are welcome to leave your comments/views on any of my pictures, Bullet related or not. In fact, the Flickr world encourages feedback. But I hope you like my dream specials though. And Poland of course? Good to talk. Regards BI (another Alan) in Kent.....