Roast Suck

So I've been playing more and more with the used SB-800 speedlight I bought off eBay. And getting a lot of flats.

A. Lot. Of. Flats.

I wanted another Mavic A719 rim when I got my back wheel built last winter, but the shop that rebuilt the wheel wasn't set up a as a Mavic dealer and I was told, 'I got something better.' Cool, better is awesome.

It went fine for a few months, but when it quit going fine, it really quit going fine. I had a flat caused by a roofing nail (fair enough, even Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tours have their limits), but it took me almost an hour to get the tire off and back on because the fit was so tight on the Velocity Cliffhanger rim I'd been sold. I was getting close to RAGBRAI so I put a new tire on, got through RAGBRAI, then had a couple more flats (with no apparent cause), and all of a sudden a bulging sidewall. New tire, an even shorter interval and more mysterious flats, a blow-out, another bulging sidewall. Another new tire, and Schwalbe warranteed out the two, and more flats, and another delaminated sidewall.

Some tires don't play well with some rims, I was told. Try this one, and I'll order you a new tire, a Vittoria Randonneur Hyper. I've been skeptical of the Randonneur because I've used tires that felt like it before. It's a full pound lighter than a Marathon Plus Tour, and as far as I can tell that pound is a pound less of stuff that will keep you from getting flats. Three days later, another flat going home. The loaner tire didn't even get me to the new Vittoria tire. It's my third flat in a week, and one of those was a blowout. If my disgust were a gun, there'd be another massacre on the TV news.

I've already ordered another Mavic A719 from the shop that built my front wheel. The guy who sold me the Velocity rim and lent me the Vittoria tire wanted me to try another tire before asking him to do two hours of labor for free, and if he really thinks another, new Vittoria tire will yield a different result, I guess I'll try it but as far as I'm concerned I'm done with Velocity components. I will never buy another one. Ever. Done.

In a related note, I won't buy any more Cateye computers. I've had two different units now that consistently list my top speed as 65.9 mph, the max the thing goes to (but twice as fast as I ever go). Cateye sent me a replacement sensor, the bike shop replaced the whole unit, I've swapped batteries out of both ends, and it still gives me this 65.9 max speed bullshit. It's obviously a firmware problem or something like that, but if you won't acknowledge and fix the problem, I'm done buying your shitty products.

Oh, and I know the bus I photographed says 'Roast Sick,' but 'Roast Suck' more aptly described my evening.