3/6/25
First thing in the morning Jonathan went downstairs to put a good inner tube in the tyre of the green Surly. We were now confident it must have been the jagged tyre lever pinching on the way in. The schrader tube we’d ended up with wasn’t good enough for the foreseeable.
Jonathan complacently took a brand new tube. Slid it in the tire and pumped it up to 60 psi. And then phhsstt. It had deflated. There was another cut mark in the tube on the rim side. Something else was causing the tire to fail. But what?
We patched the tube and then tried many other methods. We put baby powder on the inside of the tyre. We didn’t screw the valve core down so it could move easily. We didn’t use levers to mount the tyre. Yet again it failed. It was becoming immensely frustrating, and then some.
We pondered and considered. There was only one other possibility. It must be that the rim tape had failed. The soapy water that we used to get the tyres to seat properly had removed the adhesive. The exposed eyelets had sharp edges and were cutting into the inner tubes. We went to a nearby building merchants. They didn’t have any electrical tape but sent someone off on a scooter. Two minutes and 5k dong later we had some. We used it to stick down both edges of the rim tape onto the wall of the rim. We used the repaired inner tube, but it failed again. It didn’t seem possible to patch the rim side of an inner tube. It had nothing to push against. Instead it can easily go into the well of the wheel. Then blowup like bubblegum.
We used a backup inner tube. It was too narrow. But we only had one proper tube left. We weren’t willing to waste it. Finally, we triumphantly pumped up the tire. All the way to 3 bar and it didn’t fail. We were finally able to get on the move. At least it wasn’t quite so hot. We rode tentatively. It felt like almost any bump would leave us with another flat tire. This was far from enjoyable riding. We’d had a very stressful couple of days.
We were honing in on a bicycle shop in Hợp Hòa. The owner had been very responsive on facebook messenger. He had both inner tubes and new rim tape. To top it off he was only 20km way. We made good headway and arrived at about 1pm. The mechanic was eager to help. We tore off the electrical tape from the rear wheel of the green Surly along with the ruined rim tape. After a brief discussion he fitted two rounds of glass reinforced 3M tape and a plastic wraparound. It was possibly overkill. We have no idea.
The inner tube went in and inflated nicely. Then the second problem arose. It was impossible to get the tyre seated properly. No amount of soap in the world helped. We were reluctant to put lots on, fearing the tape would come loose again. Our compadre had no hesitation in putting lashings of it on. It still didn’t seat. After another hour of massaging and inflating over and over again we had to accept it was as good as it would get. Our helpful knight in shiny armour refused to let us pay him. We left with an armful of inner tubes and more glass reinforced tape for the inevitable future issues.
Our accommodation was 100m down the road. We weren’t going any further. Not today. The bed had some kind of weird wooden topper. We weren’t sure if we were meant to sleep on it. Viettel, the sim provider, had sent us repeated messages. We needed to be reverified. The first shop was pointless and he sent us to a second 500m away. Why do they have so many shops?
We had to wait an hour in the shop. The queue was long. Everyone seemed to be going through the same ridiculous process of verification. Their faces being scanned. Then a video call with a face in some corporate office somewhere. It was all a bit sinister. A bit too much like 1984. Afterwards we went to a fast food shop and bought some chips. Then to the market for some tofu. We also found fresh kimchi and a tofu version of crème caramel.
Our bed had some kind of wooden mattress cover. It’s a Japanese invention. It keeps you cool. Frankie wasn’t convinced but we didn’t have much choice. We laid the blanket down on top. We’d be risking mosquito bites instead.
Surly They Won't Make It 