Starting around before sunrise today
I rode out to Okumizuma knowing it would rain—
actually it was already raining when I left.
I often take photos at the location in the image above,
but this spot especially has moss-covered rocky faces
that give you a "deep in the mountains" feeling even though it's not really that remote.
I could probably get away with lying and saying it was Yoshino in Nara.
The front wheel has a Vredestein Grandprix 5000 25C in transparent,
and it has a squishy ride feel in both good and bad ways.
If I was given one Grandprix 5000 25C in black
and one in transparent,
I'd put the transparent on the front wheel and black on the rear.
Personally, the opposite is completely out of the question.
The difference in tire performance is so significant
that the pretense of "they're the same tire, just different colors"
doesn't hold up at all.
Even if I could choose different 25C tires for front and rear,
I'd make the same choice without matching colors front and rear.
Something's...
Getting fogged up...
The grip is so good that the wet road surface doesn't bother you much,
and you can trust the corners. That's nice though, but...
On the way back, just under 10km from home, the rear wheel got a puncture.
When it punctured, there was a hissing sound,
and since I was on a straight stretch with good visibility,
I accelerated a bit to build up centrifugal force to help seal the sealant.
The major air leak stopped pretty quickly,
but accelerating probably didn't help much.
I don't think it would have sealed if I'd been stationary though.
The image above was taken from the sidewalk at a traffic light,
but the sealant crust isn't forming completely—
the sealant keeps seeping out like blood from a wound that won't stop bleeding.
It goes without saying it's Effetto (イメジ) sealant,
but I wonder if the reason the crust isn't forming completely is because the road surface is wet.
After riding a bit, I started feeling rim impact even on non-obstacle sections,
so I added air with my inflator up to around 4 psi.
I inflated conservatively because I wanted to avoid crossing the threshold
where pressing too hard would open the wound and cause a sudden blowout.
Near home, rim impact appeared again as the air leaked out,
but I gently rode the rest of the way home.
After removing the tire, I just rinsed the rim with hot water.
To quote a detergent commercial, I didn't scrub it at all.
↑The puncture location.
There's not much visible damage, but...
When you pinch the tire from both sides...
It was quite a large tear.
The reason the sealant crust didn't form completely
was partly because the road was wet,
but also simply because the hole was too large.
↑From the inside it looks like this.
It's an IRC S-Light, and this is the last 23C I have
in the hookless rim non-compatible model.
The new hookless-compatible version is available immediately in 25C,
but 23C won't be available until May onwards,
and the tread isn't devastatingly worn,
so as a makeshift measure I decided to patch it and keep using it.
I applied a patch that's nearly paper-thin.
You can tell where the puncture was by the bulge.
I can't do this at home,
so today I came by train and just brought the tire.
This tire just had the sealant rinsed out with hot water,
then wiped with cloth and left to dry,
but today when a customer who had come from Shiga Prefecture
asked me, "Is this a tire that had sealant in it?"
They were amazed at how clean the inside was.
That's a great reaction for Effetto (イメジ) advertising. Nice.
I rode out to Okumizuma knowing it would rain—
actually it was already raining when I left.
I often take photos at the location in the image above,
but this spot especially has moss-covered rocky faces
that give you a "deep in the mountains" feeling even though it's not really that remote.
I could probably get away with lying and saying it was Yoshino in Nara.
The front wheel has a Vredestein Grandprix 5000 25C in transparent,
and it has a squishy ride feel in both good and bad ways.
If I was given one Grandprix 5000 25C in black
and one in transparent,
I'd put the transparent on the front wheel and black on the rear.
Personally, the opposite is completely out of the question.
The difference in tire performance is so significant
that the pretense of "they're the same tire, just different colors"
doesn't hold up at all.
Even if I could choose different 25C tires for front and rear,
I'd make the same choice without matching colors front and rear.
Something's...
Getting fogged up...
The grip is so good that the wet road surface doesn't bother you much,
and you can trust the corners. That's nice though, but...
On the way back, just under 10km from home, the rear wheel got a puncture.
When it punctured, there was a hissing sound,
and since I was on a straight stretch with good visibility,
I accelerated a bit to build up centrifugal force to help seal the sealant.
The major air leak stopped pretty quickly,
but accelerating probably didn't help much.
I don't think it would have sealed if I'd been stationary though.
The image above was taken from the sidewalk at a traffic light,
but the sealant crust isn't forming completely—
the sealant keeps seeping out like blood from a wound that won't stop bleeding.
It goes without saying it's Effetto (イメジ) sealant,
but I wonder if the reason the crust isn't forming completely is because the road surface is wet.
After riding a bit, I started feeling rim impact even on non-obstacle sections,
so I added air with my inflator up to around 4 psi.
I inflated conservatively because I wanted to avoid crossing the threshold
where pressing too hard would open the wound and cause a sudden blowout.
Near home, rim impact appeared again as the air leaked out,
but I gently rode the rest of the way home.
After removing the tire, I just rinsed the rim with hot water.
To quote a detergent commercial, I didn't scrub it at all.
↑The puncture location.
There's not much visible damage, but...
When you pinch the tire from both sides...
It was quite a large tear.
The reason the sealant crust didn't form completely
was partly because the road was wet,
but also simply because the hole was too large.
↑From the inside it looks like this.
It's an IRC S-Light, and this is the last 23C I have
in the hookless rim non-compatible model.
The new hookless-compatible version is available immediately in 25C,
but 23C won't be available until May onwards,
and the tread isn't devastatingly worn,
so as a makeshift measure I decided to patch it and keep using it.
I applied a patch that's nearly paper-thin.
You can tell where the puncture was by the bulge.
I can't do this at home,
so today I came by train and just brought the tire.
This tire just had the sealant rinsed out with hot water,
then wiped with cloth and left to dry,
but today when a customer who had come from Shiga Prefecture
asked me, "Is this a tire that had sealant in it?"
They were amazed at how clean the inside was.
That's a great reaction for Effetto (イメジ) advertising. Nice.