pump up for spring!

 happy wednesday! so good to be home and to sleep in our own bed! i am waiting for the film to develop so here is a bike chick tip for your wednesday morning!

everyone is aware that spring is here which means bike riding! SCORE! which also means that those of you who are not year round riders are digging out your long lost friends. your friend will most likely need a bit of a tune up in order to run at its best and the first and most obvious fix is the tires! rubber is porous so over time if sitting will leave your tires flat. this doesn't mean that you need to change the tube, which if you do you i did a post on that here. most likely you just need a bit of air in your tire!


bike chic tip# 14: pump up for spring!

first and for most what does a full tire look compared to a flat? well most of time you can notice a flat tire but it isn't always noticeable if you need more air. a full time should look like this when you pinch it:

and a flat time or any tire that needs air will look something like this:

if you can pinch your tire easily then  most likely it needs air!

bike pumps are so so helpful! and a floor pump is the best! they are easy to use and instead of dragging your bike down to the shop you can just pump up your tires at the convenience of your own home! we don't have a bike shop in walking distance so it is necessary for us to have one at home. tire pressure will range from the type of tire you have but you can find that # on your bike most likely in raised font on the tire. it can be really hard to see and taking a picture doesn't help as you can't see it. what my tire on mary says is inflate to 100psi, what does that mean you ask? well....psi stands for pounds per square inch. thats just a mesurement for the air pressure in the tire.

first off i would pump up your tire and let it sit for a day. if the next day it is flat most likely you have a leak which is an easy repair you can do yourself...here is how! most pumps will fit shrader and presta valve tubes.

insert

flip

pump

just insert the pump piece on the tire nozzle and flip the switch over...you should hear some air let out and then you can start pumping away! just watch the dial so that you aren't putting to much air in the tire. most of the time you will notice as it will start to get hard to pump.

i don't always pump up my tire all the way as i don't like my tire to be that hard. sometimes pumping up the tire to full compacity can make for a rougher ride but the tires will glide better on the pavement which makes you fly down the street :D


i will be back tomorrow with a our ny trip!

xo,
cb