Nothing like a flat to get your attentation

[pancho]

While riding yesterday, the bike got wobbly and had the unsettling feeling of a flat tire, so I pull into a Walmart, (my lucky day, one happened to be right there) and took a look... yep flat. So, I break out my trusty Slime 12 volt compressor I carry with me for such occasions, connect it up and go into the store for 5 or 10 minutes,, when I come back out, the compressor is still running but 0 air in the tire. After 3 or 4 offers of various kinds of help (one from a young woman with a 2 year old who offered me a ride home,,, I used to scare upstanding people off,,, go figure), a guy from Montana, yeah, Montana,,,, comes up with an air can with 80 lbs of air in it. Ok, we have an interesting conversation about parasite worms, and dosing dogs, cats and humans with proper amounts of horse dewormer,,  and then I fill the tire until the pressures are equalized and disconnect the can. Since I can hear air escaping rapidly, I thank the guy and hit the road as I am only about 10 miles from the house. I made it home although I pulled in on a flat tire. Here is what I found when I took the wheel off today.



Well, I understand why my compressor would not blow it up, but I don't see how it held any air at all to get me home other than the Lord was with me.  OK, so I had a wheel with the Vredestein CT to put back on the bike, guess I will try it out again.. I am just glad I did not have the new Avon on the bike at the time.



Some days are just strange!!

[Jess from VA]

That is a huge hole.  Did you not find the culprit?

Hard to believe you made it ten miles.   

[cookiedough]

I've got about 10-12 very tiny pinholes in my rear avon cobra tire with 10K miles on it with tread left for another year.

Now, I am thinking time to get a new rear tire and not take the chance on a blowout.  It holds air for my 20-30 miles commutes and lost in 2 weeks now about 12 psi going form 44 to 32 psi just sitting in the garage.

Probably shouldn't push my luck??  Tire still looks o.k. for tread, thought it would last this season and 2-3K more miles, but when no visible leaks to human eye, had to get the soapy squirt bottle out and that is when I saw in about 10 spots all over the very tiny air bubbles coming out, pretty darn small pinholes thru the existing rubber.

[pancho]

Hey cookiedough,, I don't know if you want to use the stuff, but some of that squirt in fix a flat, or Slime, may take care of your problem for you if you don't mind making a mess inside your tire. Also it will balance  a wheel as good as it can get,, you really don't want to be riding around on a tire leaking down that fast. Makes you wonder where pinholes came from?   pin worms??

Jess,,,, I am holding the thing open with the little screwdriver, but still,, it is a bit hard to believe huh???  but I did make it home.    No,, never saw or figured out what caused it. I did run past a scrap yard 15 or 20 miles before it went flat,,, you know, the kind of place where we go with old overloaded rusty pickup trucks full of scrap to make a bit of beer money,,, with these vehicles shedding crap all over the place... and I did think about sharp debris as I want by...... Teach me to think!

[Jess from VA]

If it's any consolation, your car tire should be many times harder to get a hole in than a bike tire.  And way more punctures are in back than front.

[Farther]

If it's any consolation, your car tire should be many times harder to get a hole in than a bike tire.

Please, you are going to have to back that statement up with something.

[Jess from VA]

If it's any consolation, your car tire should be many times harder to get a hole in than a bike tire.

Please, you are going to have to back that statement up with something.

I suppose there have been a few, but how many car tire punctures have ever been reported here?  The tread depth and strength of car tires is clearly superior to bike tires.  And you do have a much wider contact patch to pick up punctures with a car tire than a bike tire, and very few ever reported.  I have twice pulled out some metal in my tire that did not go all the way through.

 

[pais]

  Damn Poncho, that's a hell of a hole! 
  Nice having a spare wheel with a mounted tire. Might look into that. Would be a good way to try a car tire.

[pancho]

The spare wheel came from Pinwall on eBay pais,, I think $200 with a 12 year old Avon Venom that looked like new,,, I put 10 or 11K on that tire.
It is nice to have, but putting the CT back on shows me once again what I noticed when I took it off....  it is just a chore to ride compared to a MC tire, follows irregularities in the road and does not go into corners anywhere near as smoothly.. I am running it at 37. I wonder, do I just have a bad tire choice, or does this sound right..  It's like I can't wait to put the new Avon on.



Yeah, I agree Jess, but with a new Cobra just sitting around, I don't think the Vredestein will be on for long.  I do wonder about why most punctures seem to happen on the rear,, I mean it's a good thing, but seems like the front should hit a large percentage of the things that the rear runs over..........  I have never had a catastrophic failure on the front,, knock on wood.

[sandy]

Carry a Stop n Go tire plugger kit along with your compressor. You'd still be riding on your tire.

[pancho]

I carry a tire plug kit with me Sandy, but I did not look for the hole as I was close to home and made a run for it.  After seeing the damage close up, I don't think there would be any plugging that... check that picture out again.

[old2soon]

On the C/T tire handling "issue" go to the Taxi tire. I have one now and it's my 4th D/S choice and the thing I notice is the "quicker" handling. As to the rears coming up with the larger percentage of the flats-I've heard sometimes the front tire gives the flat producing object a glancing hit which moves object into path of the following-read rear-tire and in a lot of cases-NOT all-you have a flat tire. I've had a flat on the front at speed. Give me-IF I have a choice-a rear flat. While both do produce A-holes and elbows PLUS huge pucker factors-only one rear flat created a tank slapper. Course only one front flat created a tank slapper. And I've only had one front flat and 4 or 5 rear flats. Glad you are her to tell us about the situation you had. RIDE SAFE.

[Jess from VA]

Try the car tire at 40-1 (assuming that's under the max psi on the sidewall).  They are not for everyone, and took me a month or two of learning curve (most of which was to just ignore the new bumps and wiggles).  Contrary to many who claim no real handling difference, I did/do notice a difference, and have often described it as the difference between driving a power steering car and a manual steering car.  More input on the bars is required (counter steer); it is not tiring or fatiguing, it is only a pound or two more pressure here and there, it is just different.  I have long since forgot about it entirely, but it is there.  I won't go back, and they give me more confidence than ever (I no longer torque the rear sideways on a hot worn bike tire, or slide under hard braking).  

I think if you have made up your mind to dislike it, you will never like it.  If you give it a chance and ride it often for a few months, you may find you also forget about it, and then gain the advantages of better braking and traction, better wet riding, better stability (especially on long freeway jaunts/with crosswinds), less chance of slipping, less chance of a puncture or other damage, and way more miles per tire.  They are especially confidence inspiring when leaving for a long trip anywhere, or when you regularly ride out into bumfok nowhere with very few support facilities, or even cell phone coverage.

I do wonder about why most punctures seem to happen on the rear,, I mean it's a good thing, but seems like the front should hit a large percentage of the things that the rear runs over........

The reason for so many more rear than front punctures is I think twofold; 1) it is simply hard to have some irregular object (at rest) hold its ground when being hit at speed, and those objects are rarely sitting there pointy end up perfectly positioned to puncture on contact. (and fronts are usually narrower than rears, though the OE 150 front is pretty fat).  2)  objects run over pointy end sideways (or otherwise) are very often pitched up and back directly in line with front tire rotation and thrown right into the rear tire (maybe bouncing off the bottom of the bike), and the pointy end is no longer affected by gravity at rest but forces of the front tire pitch, and hit a bigger tire and you get a rear tire puncture.

Front tire punctures have to defy the odds... do have the pointy end up, do hold their ground, and are not knocked aside or thrown back.  

I have not read this anywhere, I just think it's true.  

[pancho]

Well thought out and insightful input guys,,,, thanks.

Old2soon, I have heard that the taxi tire is probably a better choice for me when I brought this subject up after going back to a MC tire a couple of months ago. If I try another CT that is what it will be.

Jess, I hope I have not made up my mind on the issue,, I am trying to keep an open mind for the advantages that you pointed out.... better traction.. etc.  It is just that the differences between the Vredestein and a good MC tire are kind of unacceptable,, just not worth the pluses to me. I will try a higher pressure and see if it makes a difference, but I may need to try a taxi tire at some point.

[Gryphon Rider]

I suppose there have been a few, but how many car tire punctures have ever been reported here?  The tread depth and strength of car tires is clearly superior to bike tires.  And you do have a much wider contact patch to pick up punctures with a car tire than a bike tire, and very few ever reported.  I have twice pulled out some metal in my tire that did not go all the way through.

I've plugged at least one screw or nail hole in a CT on my Valk. I don't remember if I mentioned it here, but I doubt it as it wasn't newsworthy.

[Rio Wil]

I picked up a nail and a screw in my Pirelli P4 just two days apart.....both were pluggable and will run the tire that way another 25K.....no big deal.

Jess.....I think you are on the right track about the front tire hitting the object first, but I don't think it gets flung into the rear tire.  After all, the speed of the tire contacting the object is at or near zero mph, it is more like slapping the object against the pavement and when the tire comes off, it will kind of bounce/stand the object up and the rear tire will then hit it.  I think the same thing happens on cars, except the object has time lay back down (because of the longer wheel base) before the rear tire can hit it, thus avoiding the puncture.

Pancho, Given the size of that hole, you are just kidding yourself that it had any air pressure at all on the way home......once, I rode an Avon 30 miles to get home like that, a hole you could stick a #3 phillips in with ease.....another time I rode a c/t home 8 miles with no air pressure.....love those stiff sidewalls....makes you take it easy around the curves tho.......

[pancho]

Well, you might have something there Rio, but it was up when I took off and I made it 10 or 12 miles at highway speeds without breaking a bead, so that's my story and I'm sticking to it........ 

Praise the Lord!!   

[Hook#3287]

If it's any consolation, your car tire should be many times harder to get a hole in than a bike tire.

Please, you are going to have to back that statement up with something.

I suppose there have been a few, but how many car tire punctures have ever been reported here?  The tread depth and strength of car tires is clearly superior to bike tires.  And you do have a much wider contact patch to pick up punctures with a car tire than a bike tire, and very few ever reported.  I have twice pulled out some metal in my tire that did not go all the way through.

 

I had a blow out, but it was the side wall of my BFGoodrich 205/55.  Something got stuck between the swingarm and tire and did it in.

But, it held air for a 1 /2 hour and when I couldn't find any damage, I rode away and it held for about a 1/2 mile.   I was looking for damage in the tread, I was in a hay field and the nature of the cut made it impossible to see until I took the wheel off.

[Jess from VA]

OK, so now we get reports of car tire punctures. 

I didn't say there weren't any.

I still think you have a better chance of not getting a puncture on a car tire than a bike tire (even with a much wider contact patch). 

[Rio Wil]

Maybe cause its such a non event that folks just plug'em and go......yawn.....

[Earl43P]

I had a low speed wobble develop on my 93 Redwing last Thursday and Friday's commute (65 miles each way).
It's new-ish to me, put about 3600 miles on it, double darkside, ATT and Michelin Pilot Activ rear on the front.

Yesterday morning, I wheeled it out to take it to Fredericksburg for the day. Had left the tire gage on the seat to remind me to check air pressure. Found 15 psi in the rear taxi tire. Then found a roofing nail right smack in the middle of the tread. Wheeled it back in the garage, put it on the centerstand and took the Valkyrie instead.

After I got home at 930 last night, I plugged it so I could check it again this morning. Pressure held so I rode it to work.

Let me tell you, that 6 ply ATT is a *^%&^@#$ to ream and even worse to plug. I was sweating like a politician on election day with no votes. I had to literally wrap my feet around the front of the tire and use every ounce of strength I had to ream and plug that $%^%&*%&.

No more low speed wobble though!

[pancho]

I had a low speed wobble develop on my 93 Redwing last Thursday and Friday's commute (65 miles each way).
It's new-ish to me, put about 3600 miles on it, double darkside, ATT and Michelin Pilot Activ rear on the front.

Yesterday morning, I wheeled it out to take it to Fredericksburg for the day. Had left the tire gage on the seat to remind me to check air pressure. Found 15 psi in the rear taxi tire. Then found a roofing nail right smack in the middle of the tread. Wheeled it back in the garage, put it on the centerstand and took the Valkyrie instead.

After I got home at 930 last night, I plugged it so I could check it again this morning. Pressure held so I rode it to work.

Let me tell you, that 6 ply ATT is a *^%&^@#$ to ream and even worse to plug. I was sweating like a politician on election day with no votes. I had to literally wrap my feet around the front of the tire and use every ounce of strength I had to ream and plug that $%^%&*%&.

No more low speed wobble though!

Yeah,, and probably won't have to worry about THAT plug.

[Gryphon Rider]

When I plug a steel-belted car tire, I use an electric drill with a 3/16 bit rather than the reamer. Much less work.