Technology that delights but also infuriates

Astrid has already written about me having to pump up my back tyre and then replace the tube today. Let's just say it wasn't totally unexpected.

In preparation for the tour, and after a recent puncture, I realised I needed both a new tyre but also had run out of spare inner tubes. As I was ordering a new tyre, I was looking for a new inner tube with as few welds as possible - on road bikes the inner tubes are small and any seams can make fixing punctures harder than it should be - and I saw something bright and orange: a new kind of inner tube made from polyurethane promising to be lighter, more compact and better than standard rubber ones. I decided to give it a go.

They are a little trickier to fit: they're more elastic but also flimsier. And they have no securing ring on the valve, which makes it a little harder to pump them at first.

Lighter tubes are a good thing for wheels as they reduce the gyroscope effect, making steering a little easier. They might be more puncture resistant but they're just as susceptible to "snake bites" as rubber ones as I found out shortly after my first ride.

I'd already ordered some new ones from a different brand that came with a couple of self-adhesive patches so I gave them a go. Seemed fine in a water bath, but no go actually on the wheel. So tried one the other ones and it seemed fine until for a while until I changed the front tyre as well. The next day I noticed the tyre pressure was down, pumped it up again and decided to watch it. Same result, so I removed it and checked it in the water bath - nothing. But you can see the bulge in the picture above. It's like most of the air in the tube collects there.

Reported the issue to the supplier and tried my original, repaired orange one. Which I promptly managed to snag under the new tyre as I was pushing it over the rim with my fantastic new tyre levers. Repaired it and decided to keep it as a spare and try another blue one - that's still going strong and the orange one got its turn today as the replacement!

I'd also ordered a couple standard rubber tubes "just in case" and another orange Tubolito. I hope I'll be alright!

After our struggles in France last year, I wanted reliable new tyre levers and saw these. They are quite long but stiffer than most, making light work of removing a tyre. But you can also use them to stretch new tyres over the rim. The grey lever sits on the rim and you can pull the tyre up with the yellow. Just be careful not to trap the inner tube under it.

The big blue saddle bag is really useful but, as my bike lock was also mounted on the bike rack, this tender to push the bag to the end of the rack, where it sometimes slipped onto the wheel. Not any more. The lock does tend to rattle a bit under the saddle.

It's a new lock from Abus, lighter and a little weaker than usual. But nowadays mobile angle grinders make light work of pretty much every lock. It really needs some kind boot, but at the moment a bit of velcro does the trick. I've got one that fits my saddle, but a got mount for Astrids as well so that she doesn't have to choose between a second bottle and a lock.

Of course, this means we can't have little saddle bags for our tools so I got a little bag for my top tube.