2 things

Firstly, the anonymous comments bit is now active. So who ever you are, if you want to leave a comment, be my guest. But: be polite and constructive...It will be appreciated. Secondly, the issues of supply and demand have hit home this week. A little while ago I bought a 29 inch wheel mountain bike. Its a bit of a niche I s'pose, but I am lucky in that our local shop (Alpine Bikes Glasgow) has a manager who is not only a great friend, but also a very balanced adviser in terms of bike parts and set up. They deal with fisher/trek/bontrager and as such I slapped some bonti 29er tubes in. They have been a mixed bag. I had 5 tubes of which: 2 pinch flatted (my own fault) and 3 developed valve leaks around the join of the valve to the tube (not my fault). I wondered whether an alternative would be better. I don't want this to turn into a product review, but briefly, I tried the conti 47c touring tubes. A little narrow for sure, and yes the first one blew after one ride, tearing the valve off. It may just have been rotation on the rim, but I reckon compounded by the thinly stretched butyl. So where to? As far as I am aware these are the only choices easily available in the UK. There are plenty of other manufacturers: schwalbe, wtb, IRC, salsa etc etc. But they ain't available. Even continental does a wider tube, again, special order item. It's not difficult to order things from the USA, where availability is greater. If you have ever been to any of the bike shops in the states particularly in San Francisco for example, you will have enjoyed the vast and esoteric array of parts, spares, clothing, shoes and bikes available. And this in a land where Lance is less well known than in Europe. Seems odd and a shame. But there we go. At the moment I'm awaiting an order of wtb tubes for a try and we'll see how we go...