Better day

Yesterday's post title should have read, "Bad
crip day", or maybe just "Bad day". We all
have them, disabled or not. The iBOT is a
great mobility device that has changed my
life and I shouldn't have whined about it. It
was just a bad day and I blamed it mostly on the
iBOT, which I shouldn't have.

Just to clarify, IT is Independence Technology.
They provide iBOT tech support and they have
nothing to do with the design (except for
giving the engineers feedback probably). DEKA
is Dean Kamen's company. They are the people
who designed and who make the iBOT.

I took my BOT to the bike shop today. I decided
to put a new tire on the wheel that keeps popping.
I also decided that instead of changing just one
tire, I'd change them all. I could have called
IT and had them send a tech to change the tires
for me, but that would have cost me $90 for the
service call (as least I thought it would since
I didn't think it was covered under warranty). So
I decided to take it to the bike shop where
they only charged me $5.00 per wheel = $20.00.
They're super nice... it took them well over an
hour to get the new ones on. I know they must
cringe every time they see me coming in! I think
all the guys in the shop try to ignore me as long
as possible and hope that one of their co-workers
will find out what I need. LOL! Getting these
tires on and off is not easy.

At the bike shop they changed all four tires and
they thoroughly inspected the one that keeps popping
for anything that might be causing the flats. They
found nothing. I've been home for a few hours now
and no flat so far. Oh, also, when I ordered my
last set of tubes from IT, they also sent me these
rubber things. I don't know what they're called,
but basically it puts a layer of rubber between
the tube and the wheel. That should help prevent
flats.

When I got home from the bike shop, there was a
message from IT. They said they wanted to send
a tech here to inspect the wheels and try to
determine what the problem is. They said they
were also going to give me 4 new tubes since I've
been going through so many lately. They said it
will be covered under warranty, so I'm cool with
that. As I've said before, IT tech support is
excellent.

Still no call back from DEKA. I called them again
this afternoon and left another message. I still
want to ask them about switching the clusters when
there is a flat. Will post again when I do hear
from them.