blue tires

I decided that the best solution for now was to upgrade my bike, for a number of reasons, due to the race in a few weeks. Granted, it is more of a tour than a race, but that isn't important. I wanted to get a touring bike, and a friend made an offer to possibly buy a bike from him. It was a road bike, but it would fill the need. The other option was to build one from the ground up. I found a decent touring frame on Nashbar  and compiled a parts list for a dream bike. The total looked to be over $800, but I figured I could do it in steps.

Then I thought about it, and thought maybe I could just get new rims. Nashbar and most online places were right out for that purpose, due to cost, so I figured that would require going to the local bike shop. Schmitty's had told me that I could probably go down to a 35c from the 40/42c I had on the bike, but that didn't seem like much of a step. I got to thinking, the Schwinn has 622x20 rims, and the range doesn't usually start that much above that diameter. So this afternoon while waiting for the bus to pick up Mark, I called Nashbar and asked what size tires I could get, and they said that 700x23c should work. A bit of looking online using my phone, and I figured 700x25c would be better.

After getting Mark home from the bus stop, I looked at Nashbar for tires. I found a few that looked promising, but I got confused when it refered to folding tires and the types of beads. So I called Parkers, and found out that he would only be open till 6 and then be gone till Tuesday. (He does electric wheelchairs at a local festival.) I go over, and find out the bead type wasn't important, and we begin to look at tyres. (dammit, I like the British spelling.)

Now, when I walked in asking about if a 700x25 would really fit a 622x20 rim, he got a bit confused, and told me that I couldn't put a 700 on a 26x1.5 wheel. I won't fault him on that one though, since Arty specializes in Mountain Bikes. He looked up a chart, made a sound of almost surprise, and said picked up a phone and called a number and asked them the same question. He found that a 23 would work, but I had heard better things about using 25s.

He only had 1 in stock in that size, a Continental. Granted, I could have ordered the second one, or gone with the 23s, but he remembered that he had colored ones for a few bucks less. Now, I didn't expect what he meant by colored. I figured a line around the tyre or something. Nope. They were colored all the way. (And serial numbered. Tomorrow I will record the tyres serial numbers.) I had the option of red, blue, and yellow. I went with blue, partly because it clashed the least with the bike, partly that blue is my favorite color, and partly because Mark liked that option the best.

well, they match the car

I did a test ride on them, and even though I was wearing sandals, and not wearing a helmet so I didn't push hard, I still was averaging 10 mph without really trying. It was like a whole new bike.  This may not be a true touring bike, but it might just be close enough. I'll put it through its paces this weekend, but I feel ready for the Tour de Donut. I feel like being in the top 100 is just a bit more realistic of a goal now. (My favorite part is that they actually use Schrader valves, so I don't need adapters or to adjust my main bike pump.)

Granted, I had to adjust my speedometer when I got home,  but that wasn't too hard. (I used my phone's gps to get the data from the test ride) I have the old tubes and tires if I need them, and if anyone asks, I'll just say "I don't brake for Smurfs."