Saturday, November 20, 2010

What's In the Box?

I spent most of today on my craft fair mission.
The problem with making so many stuffs is that you sort of run out of ideas after about the tenth piece.
Okay, maybe at around the fifth.
Maybe even the second.
All I know is that I'm not really digging cranking out so much stuff at one time.
I'm sort of a one of a kind guy don't you know.
I'll have some pics of some of the goofy stuff I've been working on tomorrow when I open up the kiln.
So anyways, I'm working on the wheel in the gar-, uh, studio when the Postperson pulls up and hauls out this large box.
All right!
My scale from Amazon! Now I can start making some bowls and mugs!
Wait a minute, this thing is sort of light, like there's nothing in it.
Well as you can guess, it wasn't my stuff from Amazon, but my stuff from Real Cyclist.
Lemme back track a bit.
So I was hell bent on getting some new tires but I was having a hard time deciding what tires to get.
Well, after some rocks got stuck in my old tires, it was pretty obvious that I could no longer wait so I decided to get some tires, like right now.
Not like right now right now, more like back then right now.
That was fine except no one had the tires I wanted, which were Schwalbe Marathons.
So then the insanity started.
I mean you know how it is when you can't get your first choice so then you have to settle for your second choice but then your second choice is like a whole bunch of choices so it's like you have to make a first choice all over again.
Well Real Cyclist had my second first choice for a nice price and most important, the right shipping price.
I feel sort of bad cause I know they paid more than they charged me to ship them tires because they came in this humongous box:



Sort of like ordering brushes from Dick Blick.
Well, it seems Vittoria Randonneur Hypers come in these funky boxes, must be a marketing thing:



The other strange thing is that while the tire size on the box says 37c, the tire itself says 35.
That worried me a bit cause 35s are about the smallest I wanted to go and if these things measured out on the small side, well that just wouldn't do.
The good news is that they measure out about the same as my old tires which were 35s also, but slightly on the large side.
The thing about most tires nowadays, is that they all come with that reflective striping and I'm not really into the reflective thing.
Image is everything don't you know.
Well I didn't get to mounting them up until tonight so I only have a few pics.
Here I am mounting them:



This is what they look like mounted on my bike:



Finally, here I am taking a test ride. It was sort of dark so I apologise for the image:



I think I'll be getting me some of that tire black stuff and getting rid of the reflective sidewall.
They sort of stand out in the pictures.
Hopefully I can get a ride in tomorrow and really test them out.

2 comments:

Steve A said...

They really are folders (kevlar bead) in that width? My Vittoria cross tires are that way but these are about the only street tires I've seen that are both wider than my Contis and foldable. I look forward to your mileage reports.

limom said...

Schwalbe makes em in 40s too, but I read they measure out to like 37s.
They sort of look weird, like, well, flattened tires!
The carcass is thin, like a sport tire so I wonder about mileage too.
Taking em out now to try em out!