Category: product development
A clever story about a flat, Caveman teeth and ingenuity
I pre rode the XTERRA Richmond course shortly after our arrival from XTERRA Northwest Cup in Coeur D’Alene, where I had a 4 inch nail puncture my tubeless tire in 2 places. See previous blog.
My replacement tire was in the mail, so I rode the tire with the 2 nail holes, and just put in a tube. Of course it flatted. I changed the tube. It deflated faster than I could pump. Before putting our last tube in I carefully inspected for sharp objects.
It also deflated faster than what I could pump.
We still had a lot of riding to do and I wasnt going to call it quits.
I was going to make that tire tubeless again.
First I used a bottle cap to scoop the sealant from the healthy front tire and put it in the rear. With the 2 huge holes.
The last of tire testing. For now…
Frank checking tire pressure, Chris and Mike coming back from checking out the rocks, and me snacking on a peanutbutterbanana
This was the 2nd and last day of tire testing. We also looked into trail side tire fixing:
Specialized tire testing II
In search of the holy rubber…
Following up on earlier tire testing in Stellenbosch*, Specialized’s tire whiz guys came up with 5 new prototypes to test. The goal is to make a tire that is very puncture resistant, but still rolls well and doesnt weigh as much as a tractor tire.
*Read earlier blog Tire testing Stellenbosch.
We know we have great tread patterns in the Fast Trak LK and The Captain, its a matter of making a strong, light, flexible casing. With an emphisis on STRONG.
Yesterday we tested rolling resistance of the 5 prototypes and also a few competitors’ tires. First I rode the rollers with a Power Tap and took Wattage outputs at 25km/h and 35km/h. Some tires needed 560 Watts to go 35km/h, and with the cold legs, the unfamiliar rollers, and keeping the speed at exactly 35 at 1500m altitude took some huffing and puffing!
Avia AVI STOLTZ XTERRA and trail racing shoe. Ads from Inside Triathlon.
WOW. I’m living a dream! This is so cool. Thanks Ed, Ike and the whole AVIA team for helping me create my dream shoe.
Fast racing just around the corner….
The Running Event. The Avia story: Avia AVI STOLTZ
Behold the new Avia AVI STOLTZ!
I’m super excited. The moment I got the shoes I test ran them into the Dallas sunset. As I stood there on the levee, I marveled at the full moon rising over the skyscrapers of downtown Dallas and I realized: “This is my proudest moment of the year.” “This shoe, with my name on it, that I helped build, is my 08 World title.”
