So I guess I won't go home quite yet.....

This post was a little late in coming.  (Been a weird week.)  Last Friday I was all ready to head home to start the nice long 4th of July weekend.  I get my backpack on, head to the parking lot, get on the Stella and....

Flat Tire...

Now, I have to say this is a first for me.  Never had a flat like this.  I have run over something to cause my tire to go flat (A KEY!, Really?  Of all things a KEY??) but never just have one flat when I come out from work.

Just then I think.  Oh yeah, the Stella has a spare!!.  So I take off the cowl and go to grab the spare only to find that the spare was flat too!

Me on cell:  "Hey Honey.."
Wifey:  "Oh, Hey what's up?"...
Me: "Well, funny story.  Could you please grab my air-pump, and get in the truck and come over to the plant?" (I thought, bring the truck in case I have to bring it home that way...)
Wifey:  "Poor Pookie.." (Yes, she calls me pookie ) "..sure, I'll be there in about 15 minutes."

So, as I'm standing there waiting.  I get all of the "Oh, flat tire?" Jokes.  And stories of "Oh, I hate that.. You know one time I had a flat tire...."  I laughed at the jokes, and thought up the comment of "You know, I'm just taking the hit of a flat for everyone else at the plant for the 4th of July weekend."   Yes, that's me.  A giver.

After about 15 minutes or so standing in the parking lot, my dear one shows up.  I think I'll just try and air the tire up first and see if I can get it home.  The tire is holding air.  Good.  The wife gives me the "Go ahead, I'll follow you." signal and we take off.

Long story short, I make it home fine but the next morning the tire is flat.  Again.  Looks like I get to fix a flat.

I take the spare off.  I wonder if this one is just low on air?  I put the air-pump to it and sure enough it airs right up.  And it also holds the pressure for more than two days (I was riding the Burgman until I got this straightened out.).

It's been several years since I've done any type of tire changing.  I mean I've swapped out a flat, but I haven't removed a tire from it's rim and fixed a tube since my 'growing up on the farm' days.  Luckily for me, the Stella comes with the 'bolt-together' rims.  This means I wouldn't have to struggle with prying the tire off of the rim to get to the spare.  I had NO tools for that.

For those of you who have done this.  You are doing one of two things.  You are thinking to the first time you changed a tire on a split rim, and laughing at the finger you mashed.  Or the time you took struggling to pull the rim out of the tire.  OK, I'm in your club now. 

Finally I get the tire off of the rim.  Then I do the "Air the tire up, and run water over it to find the leak" trick my father showed me.  Yup, there it is.  A little hole in the tube.  I don't know why there was this hole.  I didn't see a hole in the tire.  Nor did I see anything fall out of the tire while I was struggling with it that would have caused it.  But there it was.  Just as sure as the nose on my face.

Well, to make a long story short.  This time I've tried the tube patch method instead of buying a new tube.  I may regret it, as that tire is now my spare.  But I'll keep an eye on it.

Oh, and I'll also remember to keep some type of 1/2 inch socket in my kit.