Road Hazards

[KSRIDER10]

Greetings All, and a Happy New Year!

I was reading the post about iffy handling in curves and during the tire discussions I remembered something peculiar.

I ride a 1999 RSTC which came with the Dunlop 404F's. They were the whitewall type and I didn't care for the look so when the front wore out I replaced them with Pirelli 66 Route's. WOW! What a difference in handling. Instead of the bike rolling into a turn like a bloated whale in a surf-break, she turned-in smartly (for a 700+lb cruiser) and cruises straight and true with no rain groove tracking or other such distractions. I swear the Pirelli's feel like they took 200lbs off of the bikes' handling charateristics. Now for the "peculiar" part. One day riding home from work the bike started handling squirrely in the turns so I checked the air pressure. It was low so I aired her up. A few days later the same deal. Long story short; I found a 5/8" long TOOTH had punctured the tire between the tread pattern! Thinking back I recalled that a week or so before I had hit some roadkill at 5:30 AM because I didn't see it in the dark in time. I'm pretty sure the the tooth donor was a 'possum, judging by the shape and remaining length of said tooth. So, my question is, what kind of strange debris have other riders had cause them tire punctures?

[MiCarl]

It wasn't me, but a friend had what appeared to be a chicken bone.

[slowrollwv]

I hit something in the road do not know what it was but it left a 3" gash in the rear tire that only had 200 miles on it. It was a Dunlop E3.

[aharbi]

Didn't get a flat from it but I missed a "pull out sleeper sofa" at 70mph as if fell off the back of a PU truck and tumbled down the highway throwing wood and metal pieces all over. Thought for sure I was going to lose a tire, but didn't. Dang, my knees get weak just remembering it.

[cowpuc]

Back in the summer of 2012 we decided to head down to Florida to goof around with the Gators in the Everglades.. Thought it best to give Tweeks a shoeing before we did,, went down and picked up a couple brand new Shinko's at a local shop and spooned em on just before we left...

The old school GPS we use (tossing a coin at intersections) led us south by way of a place called Johnson City Tennessee.. Heading north of Johnson City on one of them VERY HOT ick-spressways (it was a balmy 105 degrees in the shade that day),, Tippy was pointing out the gorgeous mountain views , Tweeks was lappin up miles like a kid eatin a melting ice cream cone and me all stretched out in my longg distance riding mode when all of a sudden I heard a pop and felt "THE" wiggle..

Leaned back and told Tip to sit still cause we had a flat tire on the back and things were gonna get a little dicey.. Riding down a flat on a fully loaded, 2 up touring bike can be exciting!! Thankfully the hardest part always seems to happen at and below 20 mph which gives you plenty of time to let people around you know you might be using both lanes (this is where those ick-spressways are actually kinda nice)...

We successfully landed Tweeks in an upright mode and didnt even have to use the highway weeds to do it - she lit perfectly on the shoulder!!! Just about the time I got the gear off her and her backside up in the air a gentleman in a pickup truck stopped to see if he could help.. He offered to run us back to a place called "Jims" in Johnson City to get a new tire.. Of course, being smart and not wanting to walk the 20 miles or so back I took him up on it..

As I was spinning the rear wheel getting ready to pull the axle, he stopped me and said "you got way more wrong than a flat - sounds like you got a drive shaft problem" - to which I replied - "I hear that clunk clunk too but I gotta tell ya - that is not a drive shaft noise - whatever made that 1/2 inch hole in the tire is rolling around inside of it".. He said - NO WAY!! I said,, I know - I been riding many many years, have had my share of flats and stopped to help lots of folks with flats and aint never seen nothing like this either!!! I told him I couldnt wait to see what was inside!!

The folks at Jims treated us like royality,, moved us right to the front of the line (good bike shops do this when dealing with stranded bikers) gave me a super deal on a new tire and allowed me to stand there and watch as the tire guy opened her up!!! The piece of steel inside measured 3/8x1/2x1-1/4 and I still have no idea how it managed to go right thru a brand new tire!!

Edited January 1, 2015 by cowpuc

[krispy]

We had a rear tire go flat on our RSV a few years back. We were only a few miles from home, rolled toward a stop sign, and I thought it felt a little squirrelly. Considered our options and decided to go for the gas station about half mile away to check air and half some place to park if we had a problem. Tried to pull away from the stop and knew for sure we were done. It had gone down VERY fast, though I never heard a blow out. When we got it off, we found most of a replaceable utility knife blade in the tire. Wrecked it for sure.

[Oldodge]

I read somewhere about a guy who found a rattlesnake fang in a tire. As I remember he got a bad infection from a scratch on his hand that he got running his hand around inside the tire looking for a protruding object. The moral of the story was to use an old rag or something that snags easily for that chore.

I found a self tapping sheet metal screw in the rear tire of my Vulcan that had been there long enough to wear off the entire head. The tire was worn out and a new one in the garage when it went flat at work. I was able to ride 40 miles home, very slowly on the shoulder of the back roads stopping three times for air. When I broke it down the pointed tip of the screw had just put a pinhole in the tube. I was very surprised I never saw it during my weekly inspection, and never heard it when the head was still attached.

[Motiv]

So if a tire is pluggable do you guys use up the tire if the plug seals or is it a temporary repair till you can replace the tire?

I have tubes in the other bikes and on a car I would just run it if it holds air.

[aharbi]

You opened a can of worms. Everyone has a different opinion on this. Personally, it depends. For any tire if pluggable I will plug it to get me home. For a rear tire if better than half worn I'll replace the tire. If fairly new which is usually the case I'll plug it with those sticky rope plugs (don't waste your money/time with those mushroom plugs nor CO2 cartridges) and if it holds air and the plug looks good before each ride I'll run it to the wear bars. Front tire I will and have plugged but only till I can replace it ASAP. I've plugged 4 or 5 on the road in my day.

 

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk100/aharbi/Motorcycle/VstromTireNail.jpg~original

Plug after 50 miles

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk100/aharbi/Motorcycle/VstromPlugged50mi.jpg~original

Plug after 700 miles

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk100/aharbi/Motorcycle/VstromPlugged700mi.jpg~original