Sheesh! I’ve been riding a bicycle for more years than I care to count, fixed 100s of flats, mounted dozens of new tires, broken more than my quota of spokes (although none for for the last six years), and owned perhaps two dozen bicycles — but I never noticed!
Until this evening, when perusing Bike Snob: Systematically & Mercilessly Realigning the World of Cycling by BikeSnobNYC (Chronicle Books). (An amusing, knowledgeable, overwritten reprinting of the blog Bike Snob NYC. Real name Eban Weiss.)
Turns out you’re supposed to mount a bike tire so that the tire label aligns with the valve stem hole in the rim. Apparently everyone knows this but me.
It makes a lot of sense if you have to fix a flat tire. Of course that’s because when changing tubes you first have to find out where the tire was penetrated to make sure that the offending intruder is removed from the rubber. Otherwise… well, let’s just say a lot of cursing will go on and your friends will be deserting you as you try to bum a tube for your second flat of the ride.
Most of us try to pump up the punctured tube to see where the air escapes and then match that with where the tube sat in the tire. If you know where the tire was on the rim — with the label over the stem hole — you know exactly where the tire was penetrated. But if you somehow lost track of where the tire was you have to trace every inch of the tire.
Align the label with the valve stem hole ahead of time and your troubles are over. Bingo, you’ve found that tiny little bit of radial tire wire or sliver of glass.
So now I know: align tire label with valve hole. Thank you, Bike Snob.
