Check your tires... or else...

Scruffy

Scruffy

West Tennessee
Found out a good friend on another forum crashed Friday afternoon. 30 mph, front tire on his Sportster blew out or came off the rim. He's in the hospital with 4 breaks to one shoulder, and has a compound ankle fracture (bone through skin for those who don't speak medical).

He said the bike was rolling along smoothly and then just "fell out from under him". Bike is in the impound yard, another forum member is going to check on it Monday. Bike is a total loss, but he wants to see exactly why it went down. Smooth pavement, no traffic, straight road section...

Rider has 100s of thousands of miles under his belt, he's been riding for decades. Said he remembers hearing his helmet take a few good knocks on the pavement.

He'll be fine, already talking about getting his next machine.
 
That reminds me to pull a tire off and put an extra layer of electrical tape around the spokes.
 
A comprehensive inspection should be part of any riders routine. I usually do my inspection "post-trip" while cleaning the bike up before putting her to bed. Then I can just do a quick "walk around" when it's time to ride.
 
Same thing happened to one of the riders in my group when we went out for the camping trip about a month ago. Low pressure and he broke a bead on his rear in the middle of a turn. He was OK, but his girlfriend was on the back and she wasn't wearing much in the way of gear. Broke her hand in several places... real ugly... bone sticking out...
 
I have a class A trucker's license, pre and post trip everything I drive/ride. And still missed bad steering head bearings in 2008, 5 breaks in my left shoulder when they locked up and I crashed.
 
Scruffy said:
I have a class A trucker's license, pre and post trip everything I drive/ride.
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As do I.
I've had someone ask me if I'd lost something because I circled my stepside while fueling up.
 
hc243102 said:
Never heard of that.
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It replaces the rim lining. Works better with old time cloth based tape than the modern vinyl crap. Last thing you want is for the spoke heads to pinch or bite the front tube... I pulled the tire off my Titan rim Saturday, rim liner is torn, will get a new one before the new tube and tire get installed post painting. Aluminum hub, cadmium spokes and chrome rim... gag... whole thing is getting blacked out. Will pop by Cycle Gear tomorrow and get new 18 and 19 inch rim strips, couple bucks, but not worth a separate trip to town.
 
Glad to hear your friend will be ok ! I'm always kickin my tires and grabbing this or that to see if anythings loosened up ! Never hurts to do a quick walk around while bikes warming up !
 
Scruffy said:
It replaces the rim lining. Works better with old time cloth based tape than the modern vinyl crap. Last thing you want is for the spoke heads to pinch or bite the front tube... I pulled the tire off my Titan rim Saturday, rim liner is torn, will get a new one before the new tube and tire get installed post painting. Aluminum hub, cadmium spokes and chrome rim... gag... whole thing is getting blacked out. Will pop by Cycle Gear tomorrow and get new 18 and 19 inch rim strips, couple bucks, but not worth a separate trip to town.
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Good to know
 
On multiple occasions, I've had to tell Suzie Soccer Mom at least one of her tires is really low. I know they were all married, do their husbands not give a dam about the wife and kids? Neither my ex-wife's nor my present wife's vehicles ever had this, since I had to walk by them every day to get to my vehicle. As for the OP, was it a blow out or did he run over something?
 
Damn that sucks. Hope your friend heals up quick and I hope the bike does as well.

I had a tube go on me when I was going 80kph about a month ago. Lucky for me the tyre was so old the bead was stuck to the rim and I was able to make it home (2km) After that I had a new tyre and tube fitted only to have the rear tube try the same thing, Lady Luck saved my ass again in that the tyre fell away from the rim the second I jumped on the bike to leave a friends place.

I would also advise fitting new tubes to any bike you purchase (if they are tubed of course).
 
Checked my tire the other day, found this. Not sure how that happened, as it wasnt like that the last time I rode it.
 

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You bottomed out. Check your under carriage bolts (fender and seat, tail light, plate mount, etc) and any wiring conduits. And go up 2 clicks on your rear shock preload, you have them set on softest in the pic, unless you weigh 150 pounds or less, that is too soft.
 
jrswanson1 said:
On multiple occasions, I've had to tell Suzie Soccer Mom at least one of her tires is really low. I know they were all married, do their husbands not give a dam about the wife and kids? Neither my ex-wife's nor my present wife's vehicles ever had this, since I had to walk by them every day to get to my vehicle. As for the OP, was it a blow out or did he run over something?
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I think Ford deliberately put a tack in every 25~50th passenger side rear tyre,
My pick up leaked air from new
When I eventually checked there was a black panel pin (finishing nail?) down inside the tread groove
No way it could get flush with bottom of grove by accident, when you pick up a nail or something it's just about always a shiny 'dot' where it contacts road
I've seen multitudes of cars with rear passenger tyre 'low', actually started looking for them and it was always passenger side rear tyre
That tyre with center damage means you have something sticking down too far.
Is it an oversize tyre for rim (eg, 150 instead of 130)
 
Scruffy said:
You bottomed out. Check your under carriage bolts (fender and seat, tail light, plate mount, etc) and any wiring conduits. And go up 2 clicks on your rear shock preload, you have them set on softest in the pic, unless you weigh 150 pounds or less, that is too soft.
Click to expand...

Didn't mean to thread jack.

You sir would be correct, def not 150lbs. You just saved my new tire.
 
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