The Solid tubes are History!

*** Update 09/14/2013   Due to multiple broken spokes within  a couple of weeks,  I think because of the extra stress caused by the solid tubes.  I today purchased a new rear wheel.   Bike coasts much better and rides much smoother!

S~~


Well we got up this morning with purpose and got all the pieces swapped between our bikes so that she could ride the new smaller SwissBike and I could ride the X-50.  This meant we need to move the handles we purchased,  the pedals, the kickstand, and my tires with the liner and anti-thorn tubes over from my old Schwinn High Plains to the X-50.   It took two of us to remove the solid tube tires from the wheel.  I pried the tire over while she stuck the removal tool under the tire so we could pry it over the rim. I discovered while working on the back tire that the tire is actually ruined. The sidewall had torn just above the bead and would be worthless without the solid tubes.  Here you can see:

Torn sidewall! Yuck!

 

Solid tube..  Darn things are heavy!

I was able to get the tires off my Schwinn by myself so she worked on wrapping my handles with padded tape like she had on hers.  It didn't take me long to get my tires on the X-50 wheels.  She then aired them up using an electric pump attached to her little Honda Fit.  While she was doing that I worked on mounting her handle extensions.  I had to trim the hand grips on her handlebars so they would fit on the end.  Once I had that done,  I had to add her mirror that just rides in a piece of rubber inserted into the end of the handlebar.  The handlebar on the bike was a little bit thinner than the previous bike so I had to trim down the rubber so it would stick in.  Took me a bit of finagling but I was successful.  Which made her very happy as she had grown to like her mirror.  :)

(LOVE love love my mirror!!!!) ~~H

We just rode the bikes 10 miles around town this evening and the X-50 without the solid tubes can actually coast without slowing to a snails crawl!  Still a little heavier bike than my Schwinn was, so its going to take a bit of riding to get back up to our 8+ MPH pace per 10 Mile ride.  But we will get there!

S~~
  

Mirror is sticking off left hand side of the handlebars -  Swapped Pedals over from my Schwinn-  All Set to Ride!

X-50 with tubed tires, handlebar extensions, emergency kit installed and Ready to Ride!

Old Schwinn stripped and Not so Ready to Ride!

With the ruined tire.  I didn't bother to put the solid tubes and tires back onto the rims.  When we can work it into the budget we will replace the tire.

S~~

We were busy little beavers today!

~~ H