Flat tire on the Interstate

[kerrfunk]

Truth be told, I shouldn't've been riding on the interstate and I knew it.

My rear tire was low. I don't know why, but I did know it was low. I tried to fill it at a gas station yesterday but there just wasn't quite enough room between the hub and the valve for the nozzle to get a good fit. And I rode to a meeting Thursday night, 20 miles away.

Five miles into the ride back home, it's 9pm and I'm riding on the interstate, and I feel it, the weird floaty fishy feeling of there's no air in my rear tire.
Nice wide shoulder, I'm able to steer to it easily, and just think don't crash don't crash don't crash don't crash and I bring the bike to a controlled stop without issue.



I text my wife and call a buddy who has a pickup. He gets my coordinates and heads the 15 miles to where I am.

Lot of traffic going by, including bikes, but my bike is upright and I am too, so nobody stops for the distress.

Except my new friend Nate. Nate saw me at the side of the road and decided to turn around and ask about me. He's a biker and he has a towing business. He learns I'm okay and I have a buddy coming, and he offers to stick around and help load the bike into my buddy's truck, which was very nice. Tim brought a 2x8 ramp, and it was especially nice having three guys push a lame bike up it.



We bid farewell to Nate, and Tim drives me home. I get a neighbor to help unload the lame bike from the pickup, which we did less than gracefully but upright.

I guess tomorrow I'll be ordering a tire and figuring out how to remove my rear wheel. I will dutifully report in again with progress

 

[craz1]

Glad you'r ok and got the bike stopped. I ran over a razor blade during rush hour traffic in the middle lane. Tire went flat instantly but somehow I managed to get over to the shoulder upright.

 

[Brendan W]

Well.... that's one way of finding out who your friends are I suppose.......
If I had a penny for every time I did something I kind of knew I shouldn't, I could probably buy a bag of chips.

 

[rphillips]

Oohhh, looks like tire didn't come off the rim. Is it one of the so-called run flat bike tires... congrats on no major damage nor injury.

 

[kerrfunk]

Oohhh, looks like tire didn't come off the rim. Is it one of the so-called run flat bike tires... congrats on no major damage nor injury.

Not a run-flat, no, I was just fortunate and quick enough that it neither blew out nor shred entirely, neither did the rim get damaged. But I can poke my finger through the hole in the sidewall now...

 

[Rich82GS750TZ]

"Somebody" was watching over you. (not an invitation to debate religion).

Since you were traveling to/from a meeting (I'll assume work-related) surely you can use the Pastor's Discretionary Fund for a new tire, right? ray::-\\\

Glad you're OK, Padre.

 

[gustovh]

Was hauling a$$ through a hard right when I felt something like a rock bump under my rear tire. Didn’t feel squirmy until about a quarter mile down the road. Ended up riding the gas tank for a distance until I could pull off. On a back road no cell or cell service. After a while a car came by and stopped to help. Long story short, he got ahold of my son who brought a transfer hose and filled my tire from his spare…it got me home….turns out I rode over a shell casing and it cut a nice 3/8 hole in the center of the tire, but didn’t loose the plug which was part of what saved me in the corner and the fact that the tire had been filled with green slime.

That trip could have ended very badly, had the tire not stayed inflated for short period I would have smacked a rock face at +60
Good to hear that your safe.

V

 

[Grimly]

I tend to fit right-angle valves (or attachments ) to my rear wheels because many gas station air pumps don't cater for bike valves in awkward positions. Sure, you can often bend the air pump attachment, but the owners of said air pumps take a dim view of it.
Front wheels aren't so much of a problem.

 

[rphillips]

Hey kerrfunk, I just noticed the red valve stem cap. Those normally signify balancing beads. Wondering, Do you use the beads or do you just like red?

 

[LAB3]

I'm hoping to not find out if this stuff does as it claims.

https://www.ride-on.com/us/support/tire-types/motorcycle-formula

 

[kerrfunk]

Hey kerrfunk, I just noticed the red valve stem cap. Those normally signify balancing beads. Wondering, Do you use the beads or do you just like red?

I just like red.

 

[Redman]

Yah, that looks flat.

Interesting that someone stopped and could help.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . I can poke my finger through the hole in the sidewall now...

Ew....... Yikes......

 

[Suzukian]

A couple of revolutions at highway speed on a flat ruins the sidewall, you would have had to replace it in any event. You have good friends, and you're save. You handled a blow out in a turn, so you know how to ride. Good for you!!

 

[Redman]

On side of interstate highway with flat tire on motorcycle. What? To do?
Take a selfie pic so can post a story about it !

 

[Redman]

Hey Kerry,
you get a new tire on the bike?
before you moved?
or moved a bike with flat tire?

 

[kerrfunk]

Hey Kerry,
you get a new tire on the bike?
before you moved?
or moved a bike with flat tire?

So here's the story there.
Mishap happened on 4/20.
I ordered a new tire within a week, got it delivered to the house no problem.
And I figured "One of these weekends I'll take the wheel off and throw it in the trunk, take it to somewhere to get the new tire put on."
That weekend never arrived.

About two weeks ago I realized I never was going to take the wheel off myself, not before the move anyway, and I didn't want to have the movers have to deal with a lame bike.
So Monday (five days ago) I had the same friend, Tim, come back to my house with a trailer, and we took the bike to a shop in Charleston (5 miles from where I had the blowout). Told them I'd pick up on Friday (today). Wednesday I moved. The shop asked if I had a tire (yes) and a tube (tube? It needs a tube?) They ordered a tube and the guy cleaned up where the rim had taken some damage, and long story short, $160 later and I was able to ride home.

Now I need to take a photo for youse, and unpack so I can get in the garage

 

[kerrfunk]

Here's the new rear tire, in front of the place I moved into on Wednesday.
Full disclosure, I did a lazy editing out of power lines across the sky. You can still see them in front of the house cuz I was just being simple.

 

[Suzukian]

Most bikes with spokes need tubes. Some of the new bikes have the spokes laced outside on the inside of the rim in a special raised part, those kind of spoke rim bikes are tubeless. If you can see the ends of your spokes on the inside edge of your rim, it may not have needed a tube. You owner's manual, or Factory Service Manual would tell you this, and it would be written on the tire.

 

[rphillips]

Always been said around here, since the cast wheels came out, If it don't have "TUBELESS" stamped on the wheel" use a tube. Wonder if may be the same for spoked wheels?

 

[argonsagas]

Fitting an air hose to a bike tire at a service station does not always work. Sometimes the air hose ends just will not work on your bike.

Having had that problem I made up a small device that works anywhere.

It is just a simple connection of readily-available air hose fittings:
a standard-size hose nozzle fitting that has a clip-on lock. This holds the thing tightly on the tire nozzle.
a small screw-in extension fitted with with a normal tire-nozzle inlet valve.

This extends the actual air inlet point outside the wheel just a bit, which allows me to lock the device onto the tire valve and then inflate the tire with any service station air hose

.