06 November 2007

busted

Blown out. Busted. Bursted at the seam. Done broke.

That describes the tube of my bike's rear tire. Or "tyre" depending on how you translate from Katakana. (That is a joke for expats only)

.. In my search for replacement parts, I stumbled upon this detailed website showing the difference between US tube valves and Japanese ones. Yes, they're different. The kind with the metal pincher-clip ("French type," or perhaps also "English type" apparently) is most common in Japan.

.. I don't have firm evidence on the advantage of one over the other, but looking at the design I'd guess the French type wouldn't afford as high internal pressure as the "America type" (which is used on car "tyres," even in the UK), and neither as high as the presto type which is used only on expensive bikes.

What's your guess?

PS If you know a good source for strange bike tubes in Tokyo please comment!

PPS I put my love-quiz score in the comments below!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is a real fascinating conversation, Lance. :) Unfortunately I have no idea how to even comment on the tire tubes.
And what's the love-score results? I didn't see them. TMM

Lance said...

Go look for the "I like Oprah" post.

midi said...

there should be a link for the

"Go look for the "I like Oprah" post."

although I will go there even if no.

Lance said...

Midi, my apologies, you are correct. :)

The I like Oprah post.

Anonymous said...

I like Oprah too, Lance. (I went to the link but I haven't taken it yet) She taught me the "dead weight" tactic if someone comes up behind you to attack you. You just drop to the ground - total dead weight - and they can't carry you off. Try it - it's so hard. Anyway, I'll forever be thankful for that, even though thankfully I haven't had to use it. But I do practice. :) TMM

Anonymous said...

Dad:
Explorer: 26
Builder: 20
Negotiator: 19
Director: 28
Surprise, surprise!
Say the word, and a couple of tires are in the mail..

midi said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
midi said...

sorry.. seems the uri I posted is broken, will this one work?
http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/booksellers/press_release/100words/

midi said...

-_-
OK, I give up. sorry for the mess..
Please just delete them!!

Lance said...

Midi, I like your links, even if they didn't show correctly here. :) I guess links don't automatically parse HTML links for blogger edits.. But if you write the manual tag it works

Your link.

I only know about half of the words you linked to, but I'm not worried about it. Most of those words are never ever ever ever used. I was a little bit shocked by this one, though.