Monday, March 28, 2016

That didn't take long...


We have had the e-bikes almost a month (seems longer); we are enjoying getting exercise.  Since we picked the bikes up, the front tire (well, the tube) on Joan's bike has been losing air.  Sometimes it will last a couple days, generally it is less than that.  I have not been able to find a leak on it; assume there is a problem with the valve.

I let the dealer know about it before we left Arizona.  They got right on it and... did nothing.  I stood there with the young lady from the parts department when she called the distributor and left a voice message.  I stopped in a couple days later, since we hadn't heard from them.  She called again and left another voice mail for the distributor.

I said, "Since he doesn't seem to want to return your call, why don't you give me his phone number - I'll get a response."

I am guessing he didn't like my message, since I got a call the next day from one of the "managers" at the dealership where we bought the bike.  Hey, all I want is a tube for those big-ass tires.  He assured me he'd get something on the way to us.

That only took another week for the distributor (yes, the same one who doesn't return phone calls) to send the dealer notice that an innertube was being drop shipped to us.  It only took another 5 days to get a tracking number for that shipment.  It was "scheduled for delivery on Friday, March 25th.  On Saturday, after the Post Office was closed, we got a notice in our mailbox that we have a package to pick up.  We did that this morning.  Yep, got my innertube.  Didn't take long at all.

It is an unusual size, so I think I will get a couple more on their way to us (on my dime this time)... just in case.

I didn't get to replacing the tube until after lunch.  We had a very nice lunch with friends Herb and Wilma.  They have a home in Port Isabel.  The past couple years, we have seen them more often in the Pacific Northwest than we have been able to get together here.  None of us stay in one place too long.  ;-)  It was good to visit and catch up with our friends.

After lunch, we had a few errands to run, then back to the house where I went to work on replacing that tube.  I thought I was going to bend or break the metal tire levers - that "monster tire" fought back while I was trying to pull it off the rim.  With some grunting, sweating, and swearing, I managed to get it off one side so I could get the old tube out.  No evidence of a leak on the old tube.  The new tube went right in, and getting the tire back on the right side of the rim was a lot easier than getting it off.

I put the tire back on the bike, checked the disk brakes, ran it up and down the street... all good.  Now, we'll see if there's still air in it tomorrow.


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