Pirelli P4.....Flipping AWESOME

[Rio Wil]

I was headed home from a day running errands and was about 30 miles away, 75-80 on the freeway and heard a quite loud clang-bang and felt two bumps as the tires passed over what ever the hell it was.  Immediate thought was a punctured tire but the bike still felt good.....wiggled the handle bars and didn't notice any undue wobble.  I was a bit miffed as I had missed my Pete's coffee stop due to holiday traffic at the exit I needed....1/2 mile back up out into the freeway exit lane!!  Decided to make a Starbucks stop about 5 miles further and continued on the way....still a bit leery of what the hell the clang-bang was.

Exiting the freeway was a straight off ramp and at the end was the turn in to Starbucks, as the speed dropped off to some 10 mph to make the turn into the parking lot.....I felt the rear end wobble a bit.....DAMN, I didn't escape undamaged!!!  Found a isolated spot to look over the damage.....finally found the puncture, got out the plug kit and Slime inflation pump. Checked the puncture size using the plug insertion tool with out a plug in it and ....CRAP, it went in with almost no resistance.....double CRAP.

I am 30 miles from home, don't want a tow truck, just want my coffee and a laid back cruise to the house. In the interest of time and smelling the coffee just feet away from my bike.....I decided to chance putting two plugs into the puncture and see what that would buy me.  The first went in WAY too easily, the second did have a bit of resistance, but not any thing like I would have preferred!. Hooked the Slime pump up to the 12 volt lead in the starter relay and went for it........the bead on this tire was still firmly attached even after 5 miles so the little pump immediately began to fill quite nicely.  I could hear a bit of hissing out the plug hole, so I grabbed the 4 ends of the two plugs with a needle nose and worked them around to kind of distribute the sticky stuff inside the puncture.  Sure enough the hissing stopped and air pressure climbed to 35 pounds so I stopped at that point.....maybe any more pressure would plow the plugs out.

Got my coffee and ventured out onto the freeway on ramp with an appropriate amount of butt pucker!.....
Didn't take long to figure out the slow lane on the free way at 50-55 miles per hour is probably the most hostile place in earth....those frigging people are insane, aggressive, rude and will offer to give you an unwelcomed push cause you are driving too slow!!!

The bike felt stable but I stopped every 10 minutes or so just to check the plug integrity....luckily they seemed to be holding and made it home.  Took 5 minutes just to release my pucker on the seat.

I have looked all over norther California for a replacement P4 and finally found one at a tire warehouse in Nevada and it will be here the day after Christmas.  Being grounded is the pits!!!

I think  the extra stiff side walls of the P4 allowed the bead to stay seated and not cause the tire to wallow around on the rim....the tire could not have had any pressure for those five miles on the freeway.....the hold was half the size of a pencil!!!!! 

So, despite the ugly nature a freeway blowout can be, I thank my stars that this one was quite mild and I still have all my parts in good working order......

[Hook#3287]

Cool story with a happy ending

Glad you made it home.

[whitestroke]

Pirelli P4  =  Darkside ?

[Moonshot_1]

Didn't take long to figure out the slow lane on the free way at 50-55 miles per hour is probably the most hostile place in earth....those frigging people are insane, aggressive, rude and will offer to give you an unwelcomed push cause you are driving too slow!!!

Don't mean to hijack the topic of this thread but this observation about the slow lane being the most hostile place on earth is dead on.

I try to explain this to my wife and some family members with the explanation of why I ride in the left lane and go fast on multiple lane (more than 4) highways and freeways. I only got to worry about those to the right of me and those behind me who I am going faster than, and I can see those in front of me.

The right lane have people coming from the left, right, behind, and they are not all going the same speed. The right side are accelerating into the traffic, the left decelerating to get off, who knows what the guy behind you is doing.

Hate the slow lane

[The emperor has no clothes]

Cool story with a happy ending

Glad you made it home.

+1 ,also don't forget to put some sanitizer on your seat

[R J]

Didn't take long to figure out the slow lane on the free way at 50-55 miles per hour is probably the most hostile place in earth....those frigging people are insane, aggressive, rude and will offer to give you an unwelcomed push cause you are driving too slow!!!

Don't mean to hijack the topic of this thread but this observation about the slow lane being the most hostile place on earth is dead on.

I try to explain this to my wife and some family members with the explanation of why I ride in the left lane and go fast on multiple lane (more than 4) highways and freeways. I only got to worry about those to the right of me and those behind me who I am going faster than, and I can see those in front of me.

The right lane have people coming from the left, right, behind, and they are not all going the same speed. The right side are accelerating into the traffic, the left decelerating to get off, who knows what the guy behind you is doing.

Hate the slow lane

Mike, I liked your explanation of the right lane.

I think I had been on the CHP for maybe a year or so, running about 65, came upon a older model Chevy running about 40, really impeding traffic.

Rolled up beside him, his window was down and I honked the horn at him, he looked and I said, hayseed, will that car run any faster?   He gave me a dumb look, and I asked if he could keep up with traffic.   He said yes sir I can and hit 2nd gear nailed it and shifted into 3rd and 4th.    Decided to just lay back in case any of my brothers were going to bother him for the speed he was running.   Followed him clear out of my territory and he was doing fine.     

[Brian]

Awesome testimony. Glad you made it home safe!

[Rio Wil]

Indeed the P4 is darkside.......sure disappointed, this tire has only gone 25K and is good for another 25K.  This is my second P4 and since they are becoming hard to get, I think I will order the one other remaining in CA as a spare.

I was pleasantly surprised as to the fact the tire was not overly warm when I pulled off the freeway and stopped.  Perhaps the stiff side wall and centrifugal force kept the sidewall sufficiently supported to make it feel "inflated".

Mike, you are right on about the right lane, I ride point with a group of from 5 to 20 and make it a point to whenever we are on the freeway to ride in the fast lane at 5 over and let the crazies do whatever in the right lanes.  If someone wants to go more than 5 over, they can pass our group!

Another interesting  tidbit about learning to ride the freeway is, when I started about 7-8 years ago, I learned to get comfortable on California freeways during "rush hour"!!  Think about it....during rush hour the traffic is moving only about 3-5 mph and it is easy to get accustomed to being right beside a 18 wheeler with wheels bigger than my bike!!

This will be my 3rd P4 and will post a picture of the two plugs from the inside of the tire.  I can't break the bead loose to get the damaged tire off.  I took the last one to a goldwing mc shop and their machine would not break the bead so I had to take it to a car tire place.....heavier bead breaking machines.  My new P4 will be the day after Christmas....dang....hate being grounded!!!

[Bighead]

What size is that tire?

[Rio Wil]

What size is that tire?

I like the 205-65-16 because of the increased height of 65 profile, it reduces cruise rpm about 250 rpm....

[Bighead]

No issues with rubbing. I may go over to the dark side

[old2soon]

No issues with rubbing. I may go over to the dark side

    Nut cage mod and no superheavyweight girl friends you'll be good to go. I run a 205-65-16 and don't have rubbing issues. You can't run fast enough or talk loud enough to get me back on a M/C specific rear tire on the Phatt Ghurl.  RIDE SAFE.

[mike4sho]

Glad everything turned out ok.  Pretty scary out there and the jerk off drivers are unforgiving.

[Bighead]

No issues with rubbing. I may go over to the dark side

    Nut cage mod and no superheavyweight girl friends you'll be good to go. I run a 205-65-16 and don't have rubbing issues. You can't run fast enough or talk loud enough to get me back on a M/C specific rear tire on the Phatt Ghurl.  RIDE SAFE.

Well the wife isn't extra heavy or even over weight but did you see the picture of me in my sig line

[Rio Wil]

I did the nut cage mod just for good measure and set the stock shocks on 4 and have no rubbing problems.  I don't often ride double but have carried a couple of 200 pounders and 2-90 pound golf cart batteries OK......not at the same time of course......

[bogator]

VULCANIZE that tire ------that is a hot patch on the inside---it will work----GOD BLESS

[old2soon]

No issues with rubbing. I may go over to the dark side

    Nut cage mod and no superheavyweight girl friends you'll be good to go. I run a 205-65-16 and don't have rubbing issues. You can't run fast enough or talk loud enough to get me back on a M/C specific rear tire on the Phatt Ghurl.  RIDE SAFE.

Well the wife isn't extra heavy or even over weight but did you see the picture of me in my sig line

     I ain't zackly a light weight and da ex has a big butt.  Even on the D/S and stock seat I can flat foot it.  The Falken Ziex I took off just missed 24 G.  RIDE SAFE.

[Rio Wil]

Finally got some time today to get the P4 swapped, have a little country motorcycle shop that will do the deed. Pictured below are the two plugs from the inside of the tire with a quarter alongside for reference.......

While doing the tire swap, I had a metal valve stem installed that I got from some recommendation on this list....I think it cost about $2.50 each. The thing I wanted to mention is, I got the tire home and checked the tire pressure before putting the tire under the bike.   It had exactly ZERO psi....I watched the guy fill it and he asked what pressure I wanted, told him 42 and and he topped it off and screwed on the valve stem cap.......

So I filled the tire to 42 again and listened for any  air escaping.....none I could hear.....very strange.  Maybe I did not really see him air the tire up and I hallucinated.....

So, I screwed the valve cap on the stem and began to hear a hiss......WTH!!!!

Looked inside the valve cap and noticed a little pink o-ring that seemed to be pinched sideways.  Looked closer and noticed that as the cap was screwed on, the center portion of this pinched up 0-ring would depress the valve stem center and let the air out

The reason for mentioning this, this stem is a common one recommended on this list (and it is a well made quality stem).......if you use it, be sure to inspect the placement of the o-ring or simply remove it altogether....it is intended to seal any slight valve core leak (I guess) or maybe to prevent any water  intrusion........if I had not hear the hiss upon screwing this cap on, I could have chased a leaky tire for a while...

[HayHauler]

Glad you caught it.  I think I would take an ice pick and poke the little seal back up in the cap.  It might save you a slow leak in the future.

My $.01875...

Hay 
JImmyt

[R J]

I'd just through the little bastard away and get a new one out of the box.

Oh, I fur getted, we keep a box or 2 of them around all the time.   Okay, I bad on that.

But I'd still toss it and get a new one.

[Rio Wil]

It is just a matter of putting the 0-ring back in its proper place.....I did check the 3 spares I have and they are OK..not my day to go to Reno, pulled one out of four out of the parts bin and it was the duffed one....

It was nice to get the phat lady back on the road today.....150 mile coffee run, feet on the highway pegs, sipping the brew and enjoying the cold crisp air....not a bad day to scrub the slick stuff off a new tire...