rear flat at 65 mph banked over...idiot move...

So i have had a slow leak on the 900 for a while now...it has held air for long months then one day will again be flat if not getting ridden...i had messed with it to see why it is random on deflating ,r&r the valve stem/ checked for any signs of puncture/screw ect ect...aired it rode it parked it weeks later it was low when i checked on it again..

.so i aired it and went riding with a air gauge the other day and no changes...came home parked it....flat the next day.....
went and bought a new side valve inner tube..in stock their last one...met the guy with the ELR there and came home to install the tube soon...
and it rained for two weeks so it sat...sunday i put the new tube in and did some cleaning on the rear end....well "I" pinched the new tube talking to the neighbor kids about their dads new girlfriend who was visiting...and not paying attention gabbing while i was using the irons on those last pulls to seat the tire...too late now the bike was apart and shops all closed on sunday...
r&r again and decided to use a patch on the tube and get the stupid thing back together before i dropped the bike on the header ect...

went out today and the sunny afternoon was calling me...right away "BIKE FELT WRONG!!!
pulled over once and set the shocks, checked everything and hand tested the pressure.....
then a few miles later pulled over and put the bike on the center stand and spun the wheel for bead seating issues...tight spot in the chain...spacer in wrong....it just felt weird.....that is three times that i thought "I should turn around and go home and find the problem"...but i just rode around the funny feeling and tried to ignore my gut feeling too....after all i was only going for a short ride...right?

well i get to a gap in the commuter traffic and pull the trigger....i'm merging onto an on ramp and a sports car is pushing the sweeper in front of me so i just pushed too and kept pace...well on tip in to the S shaped ramp the rear was super strange and wiggly i was too far along to change mid corner and rode it out ,then about 1/4 mile later got off the freeway for town and at the first stop sign the tire was dead flat...

i found the first driveway and pulled away from traffic and put the bike on the center stand...the rear tire was almost melting from running it with no psi and was the hottest i have ever felt a trie get...and yes it was super sticky...

stashed the bike at the peoples house( turned out to be nice folks,were in the garden when along i came smelling like rubber) and got a ride home from family...gotta head over there tomorrow with an old no patches tube i had been debating about why i ever saved(unless i can find a new one right away), and some tools and fix it right in the street.....easier than trucking it home and should take a few minutes is all


i will never patch a tube again ,ever ,on a bike!!!EVER...i have had patches before that held for years...but no more will i run a patch...i am super lucky to be typing this...and not on life support right now....

i was leaned over in rush hour traffic at 65 with a deflating rear end...it could have been way bad!!!!:sick:

Wow Craig,
that is pretty scary... Glad it didn't turn out bad, the gods must have been looking after you. Be careful, and thanks for sharing a very powerful tip for all of us. Hopefully Alex and I can make our way up there to see you again later this spring, I promise we will stay longer than 2 hours this time.
Be safe my oversized friend...
Grant.

talk to him about may ...see if he wants come up for the weekend and see the show....peace

p.s tell him i said Hi

www.quaillodgeevents.com/pages/home.cgi?srvid=15

Holly Crapola that could of turned ugly... Glad it came out ok big man...

buy 2-3 of each size you have em and keep them on the shelf.

Thought comes to mind... What about that canned fix-it green slime on inner tubes... Work?

At least on a tubed tire, would get you home... Tubes are semi-cheap where as on non tubed would make one hell of a mess on the inner rim...

Same time, to get the old girl home, screw it if truly worked well enough.... Yeah, I'd use it and deal with the mess it makes later. :blush:

the hole is a good ball point pen tip size...i dont know if slime will be enough, the patch,in my minds eye,came off...i'll google slime at work and see....i have an old thick tube from a take off that is hole free....and can other shops today too in search....

it was no big ...but could have been a good crash in traffic...

because you are still here you say"it was no big". :whistle:

you are lucky ! :ohmy:

straight up ,that is it.

glad it worked out that tumblin around on curbs and medians ain't no fun. :kiss:

leon

Good to hear that you made it out of that one. One thing that my bicycling experience has taught me is to check the inside of the tire before you put the new tube in place. Often times, what ever caused the flat is still lodged in the tire, but ground down on the outside from the pavement. However the sharp pointy end is still poking through the inside of the tire waiting to ruin your new tube. Just make sure to run your hand carefully over the inside of the tire to check for protrusions, so you don't have a repeat on the ride home. I like to find the hole in the tube and look very closely in that same area of the tire for the offending screw or whatever. You can use the valve stem location as a reference point once the flat tube is removed.

Good luck!

I'm really glad to hear you're ok! Having experienced a total rear tube failure many years ago in traffic at 45mph I can only imagine the terror you felt at 65 mph. It sure does give you a different perspective on the value of good tubes! Ed

both the slow leak tube and the new tube were not leaking on the tire mating side the one i pinched was by the spokes and only a line of litght rust can be found on the original slow leaker ...which by the way is blown up like a swimming tube right now and holding...i inspected my previous duct tape job and found no spokes poking up on the rims center....but...but...never ran my hand inside the tire...good pull up there .....

anyhow....now i am wondering if the heat has weakend the tire it looked like it was a GP take off :pinch:

How far did you ride it flat? I'd bet the sidewalls are toast.