Velox rim strips are the best. Imitations always fall short. This point was driven home to me recently by a string of flats. I had just put on new tires. Open Paves. Feeling very euro hardman with the green paves glowing like the hulk. Then I proceed to get three flats on my next three rides. Who gets three flats on Paves? Unacceptable. The first one was obvious- a piece of gravel in the side wall, but the second not so much. I just threw in a new tube and road off. In the back of my mind a nagging voice said take the tire off and check for burrs or something weird between the rim and tube, but I ignored that voice.The next day when the third flat struck, I knew what the problem had to be. Sure enough, the generic rim strip on my wheels had slipped exposing the eyelets (single eyelets-always ready to eat a tube). Thus giving the tube the old pinch of death.
I ran out and picked up a coule rolls of Velox rim stips and problem solved.
I never really thought to translate what "fond de jante" meant. Despite taking French in HS and college, the words were lost on my. Over time, I built it up to be some major meaningful pithy phrase that some how summed up cycling. Tragically this is not the case as "fond de jante" means "inside the rim". Not so romantic, but at least it will prevent me from having anymore problems inside this rim. Merci, Velox.
It is extremely annoying to realize that if I had been a little more thorough on Sunday, I wouldn't have had this problem ruining a good nights ride (not complaining about missing the hill repeats-those will suck just as much tomorrow night). Doing your homework and paying attention to detail are the cornerstones to good cycling and I paid the price for cutting a corner on Sunday.
At least I fixed the problem. Otherwise there was a pair of Paves headed for craigslist. My infatuation with Italian tires took a hit with that first cut and the additional flats had me ready to run back into the arms of the dependable, but not even remotley romantic Conti 25mm 4 Seasons. The Paves have a new lease on life, but in the distance lurks the dependable deutsche replacement........ I have my break up song with Vittoria all ready if it comes to it....
