What's new

New blue recumbent Vision VR64.

B

BulletsBad

Warming-Up
Jul 23, 2008
4
0
:):) Just arrived to Tokyo on 14 July and been riding on the Trail by the river. It is lovely. My girlfriend is working at the Univ. of Tokyo and we plan on touring Japan on our bicycles. I recently purchased a recumbent from John D. Dennis (Japanese Cycling Navigator) from Kanawaza and it is wonderful. I have several Vision recumbents back home in Minnesota but this one is a high racer with skinny tires (23-571...650 x 23c) and I am not familiar with these kinds of tires. Recently I have started having trouble with flats and have repaired several tubes but they puncture rapidly or the patches do not hold. The Wheel rim may have some kinda of abrasion and I would like a bike shop to look at it. I need some new tubes and some wheel rim tape. I have walked around the local bike shops and have not had much luck. I do not know any Japanese. I am staying at the Sakura House Motohasunuma and would like to know how I can go about finding local bike shops, I now have internet access (NWA destroyed my PC laptop on 14 July). Any help would be great. If I get the tire fixed I would love to go or meet for a ride!!!! John
 
Hello...

Hi John (BulletsBad),
I don't think many of us have ever ridden on a "recumbent"s before, and I might say they might not be the best bikes for Tokyo-traffic (maybe good for long journeys!)
Your question about the tires though, is a common problem that we all have:
It sounds like you're running on two different sized wheels. The "650x23" is a standard size for MTB's, but I've never heard of "23-571...".
It may be a problem with the puncture kit you're using... check:
https://tokyocycle.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=890

Or, it may be the tires themselves - I think there's a thread here somewhere about the best tires on the market.
If you can let us all know the exact size of your rims, I'm sure someone will be able to help.
Regarding "punc"s on repaired tubes, I would first check that the tube is not pinching between the rim & the tire wall. This can happen often, particularly if the tire is tight in the rim.
Hope you find a good LBS soon!
Travis
 
YellowGiant said:
... The "650x23" is a standard size for MTB's, but I've never heard of "23-571...".
...
Click to expand...

To try to dispel the tyre size confusion:
650 x 23 is the same size as 23-571, it's just a different naming convention. 650 is (roughly) the overall tyre diameter in mm and 23 is the width in mm.
The second naming convention is the ISO standard for bicycle tyre sizes and the most trustworthy. Here, 23 is the width in mm and 571 is the rim diameter in mm.
This tyre size is not actually an MTB tyre size; they use xx-559 so an MTB tyre will not fit. But a tube could stretch. You can find narrow MTB tubes suitable for MTB commuting tyres in OD Box in Okachimachi. To make things yet more complicated, they will be marked as 26x1.0 or 26x1.125 which is another naming convention based on the old Imperial system of measurement.

xx-571 is more commonly used on Time Trial or Triathlon bikes which use a smaller wheel diameter for aerodynamic reasons. A shop that has time trial / tri bikes is more likely to stock the xx-571 size, in this case likely to be marked as 650 x 23.

Good luck.
 
ty for the info.

I will check out OD Box Annex.

If anyone knows of a Local bike shop close to Itabashi or the River Bike Trail that would be great????

If I am riding the trail and break down it would good to be able to go to a bike shop closer to where I live!

Most of my other recumbents use tires that require less than 100 PSI. This Vision VR64 requires 145 PSI. It is a highracer type Short Wheel Base Recumbent that is very aerodynamic, while it is fast, the motor is not!!! LOL:bike:
 
Rim tape

Welcome to Tokyo!

Rim tape problems can be a source of repeated punctures, as you suggest. I've had terrible luck with those stretchy plastic rim strips from Schwalbe etc, as they move around on the rim reveal the edges of spoke holes. I only use cloth tape now, such as from Velox. Has the added advantage in your case of being one-size-fit-all. You can wrap it around your 650c wheels and just cut the excess off.

Supporting evidence:
http://draco.acs.uci.edu/rbfaq/FAQ/8b.10.html

Not every LBS here stocks it though, so it can be hard to find.
 
This is the bike that John (BulletsBad) bought from me:

recumbent1a.jpg


I'd only go about 8 bars or 120psi on the tires. And have you tried asking the Hostel Shoppe what to try?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom