The die was cast. Our decision was made. After several beers, Tom and I decided to actually change a tire by ourselves. We were helped by an unwillingness on the part of the local dealer to accept any work for the next month. Especially knobby tire changes.

Neither one of us had ever changed a tire before, let alone a knobby. But we had read the articles in the mags and it did look realistically possible. Girding ourselves with a six-pack, we headed out for the grease pit affectionately nicknamed "garage" and set about the dreaded deed.

The first part was easy and only took us a half hour. It consisted of getting the bike up on a wooden box without falling over. So far so good. Another hour later, we triumphantly had the entire wheel off and stood there grinning like idiots at our fantastic mechanical ability.

The grins disappeared when the bike, relieved of the balancing weight of the rear wheel, wobbled and fell over with a sickening thud. Oh well, at least now there was no danger of the bike falli