Tire Precautions

[kulbiker]

Okay so this may be a dumb question but since I have not had the problem so far......when and if my tire goes flat on a ride whats the best way to handle your bike.....and second, what is the best thing you can carry with you that will patch the flat and get you going to the nearest service station.
Do most repair shops fix bike flats and if so how much does it generally cost (in other words how much cash should I carry for that purpose). Am going on a long trip and wanted to clear this stuff up. I have almost brand new tires on but still.....flats happen to the best. Also have been doing a lot of research on bags and have looked up this forum but any pics that yu have of saddlebags on a kat would be helpful. Thansk a ton guys.

[smhholm]

Around here tire shops will not fix bike flats. They say it is too dangerous. But I live in Idaho, they might do it in other areas

[Zukiman]

http://www.denniskirk.com/jsp/product_catalog/Product.jsp;jsessionid=AKUFQC2KXK1A3LA0WTISM4VMDK0NCIV0?catId=119&leafCatId=11906&skuId=282207

http://www.denniskirk.com/jsp/product_catalog/Product.jsp;jsessionid=AKUFQC2KXK1A3LA0WTISM4VMDK0NCIV0?catId=205&leafCatId=20504&skuId=504111

I have the same saddle bags in black and yellow. Dennis Kirk stopped selling them for some unknown reason. All they carry now is blue, black, and red. The tire repair kit is just one of many types they carry.
Have a safe and fun trip on the bike. Take some pics and share them with us.

[kulbiker]

Thanks a ton for those replies. Will post for sure with pics. The dennis Kirk repair kit looks good. Seems like the one I can go for. Hope to get the saddlebags before Friday........ :P

[Zukiman]

[mx916]

I just got those Nelson Rigg bags this year. I havent loaded them yet, but they dont interfere with riding or moving around on the seat. I actually forget that they are there. I assume you may feel a slight difference with them loaded, just dont over do it!! Have a great trio!!!!

[WildKat]

Around here, you can get bike tires patched by a dealer or even a local garage.. but they wont guarantee the work and they tell u that up front. I dont trust riding on a patched tire, especially the front, but if ur out riding, and you need to get home and can find a garage to do it, it will usually hold long enough to get you back home depending on how far you are away.

Ive not had a flat tire patched for my bike, but if they do, do it for you, I wouldnt imagine it would be much more if any, to get a normal tire plugged/patched for your car.

If you riding and u have a blow out, on the rear tire, u can normally just drift and ride it out, unless your really flying.. just dont touch the brakes and let the bike slow itself down and ride it out... if the front blows, thats a different story.. you still dont wanna touch the brakes unless ur in an emergency situation where cars are pulling out in front of you. all you can really do is let off the throttle and try and ride it out as straight line as possible. dont panic, be calm. Ive had it happen to me at 75 mph on the highway, and yeah, its not fun.

[Mojoe]

Around here, you can get bike tires patched by a dealer or even a local garage.. but they wont guarantee the work and they tell u that up front. I dont trust riding on a patched tire, especially the front, but if ur out riding, and you need to get home and can find a garage to do it, it will usually hold long enough to get you back home depending on how far you are away.

Ive not had a flat tire patched for my bike, but if they do, do it for you, I wouldnt imagine it would be much more if any, to get a normal tire plugged/patched for your car.

If you riding and u have a blow out, on the rear tire, u can normally just drift and ride it out, unless your really flying.. just dont touch the brakes and let the bike slow itself down and ride it out... if the front blows, thats a different story.. you still dont wanna touch the brakes unless ur in an emergency situation where cars are pulling out in front of you. all you can really do is let off the throttle and try and ride it out as straight line as possible. dont panic, be calm. Ive had it happen to me at 75 mph on the highway, and yeah, its not fun.

+1 on the advice from Matt. As for getting a flat, the main thing, as he said, is don't panic. I was around 95mph on my cbr600 when the rear tire went flat. I didn't blow...just deflated. It is difficult to tell you what to do cuz there are so many variables. In my case, the road was not perfectly flat. It was higher in the middle and tapers to lower on the edges. If you rear goes flat, the bike will want to pull you in the ditch. Many roads are like this to allow water to drain off of them. In a situation like this, when you are rolling along at a good speed, and the bike starts to pull towards the ditch....don't panic, and don't hit the brake. The way I handled it was let off the gas and let the bike slow down until I was almost off the road, then I gave it throttle enough just to get me back towards the center again...then let off. I had alternate between giving it throttle and letting off just to keep it on the road until I was slow enough to go onto the shoulder. From 95mph, it took me a good solid 1/4 mile to get stopped.
So just don't panic, and don't be afraid to give it some throttle when needed to keep you on the road until you are slowed down enough to get off the road. If you leave the road too soon and panic, your instincts will make you go for the brake....and chances are you will dump it.

[The CyberPoet]

You might also want to look at alternative solutions: road-side assistance/towing packages. I know AMA offers one, and AAA offers one as well (but at far higher a cost -- same cost as an RV). This may take more of the worry out of the trip, in addition to a cheap plug kit.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[WildKat]

Some road side assistance programs for your car, will cover your bike, especially if they are through your insurance company as well.

[LaneWvr]

I'm glad I read that post, I had no clue what to do if it happened.

[Mojoe]

Some road side assistance programs for your car, will cover your bike, especially if they are through your insurance company as well.

I haven't had triple A for a few years, but I did have it for quite a while when I was travelling to NH each week for work. Like Cyber said, if you ask just for a bike, it will cost you more than a car. BUT....with triple A, it is not the vehicle that is registered with them...it is you. Meaning you could be in the passenger seat (or driving) of someone else's car, and if something happens, you can call up triple A. I have never called them with my bike, but this is something you should inquire about. Make it a casual question. Just tell them you travel alot with your car and you want the protection....but out of curiosity you would like to know what happens if you are on a bike...or your bike. Tell them you don't ride the bike much and not very far when you do...so you have no intentions of purchasing at the price they charge for a bike. I am almost certain your membership covers all vehicles you are driving or a passenger in....that is anything that is not commercial and for private use.

[WildKat]

I have roadside assistance through my insurance company for the cars and they mentioned that if I added my bike to that policy as well, it would be covered.. so food for thought for sure.

[harrye]

In the MSF Basic Rider Course, it says that actual blowouts are rare, but they can occur. The most common cause of tire failure is riding with the tire pressure too low.

The handbook goes on to state: "If a puncture should occur, maintain a firm hold of the handgrips, but do not fight the steering to correct any wobble or weave that can develop. Avoid downshifting and braking until speed is low and under control. If traffic permits, slow gradually and move off to the side of the road. If braking is necessary, use the brake on the wheel with the good tire."

So, if the most common cause of tire failure is riding with the tire pressure too low, what happens? A sudden loss of air in the tire? There would be no puncture to plug. If the tire isn't ruined, you'd just have to re-inflate the tire.

[The CyberPoet]

So, if the most common cause of tire failure is riding with the tire pressure too low, what happens? A sudden loss of air in the tire? There would be no puncture to plug. If the tire isn't ruined, you'd just have to re-inflate the tire.

We can look at those statements in a myriad of ways:

If the tire pressure being too low is a result of a puncture from an item that is still blocking the hole, in which case it would equate to a slow leak and a source of heat build-up (noticable mostly as sluggish handling suddenly coming on, if you're used to your tires being at proper pressures). The proper course of action is to stop as soon as safely possible, examine the tire and decide what to do next (patch, tow, etc).

Or let's say the tire pressure being too low is a result of inadequate maintenance (i.e. - user does not check/pump tires regularly or properly), but there is no outright puncture, then tire failure will happen as a result of overheating the carcass, which can have several possible outcomes, from just general stiffening of the rubber (accelerated loss of VOC's due to heat), to uneven wear (bad handling, shimmy and/or scalloping), belt delamination (very bad handling and high-danger if speed/direction changes radically at any instant after internal delamination), carcass delamination (loss of chunks of tread, such as on truck retreads), to sponateous blow-out at speed (combination of delaminations). In this case, it is darwinism in action, and I think they still want you to not engage in some panic reaction that may make the situation worse.

The type of tire you are on, and the situation you find yourself in both play into the result. Bias (nylon-belted) tires tend to lose their shape almost immediately upon getting a void (a non-filled hole), while radial (steel/kevlar/other metals) belted tires tend to retain their shape while they are spinning even with a void. The stiffness of the sidewall in this situation is critical for your good health...

If you are leaned over in a turn at speed and catch a piece of jagged metal (road debris) that cuts into the carcass, if you don't panic, you can ride it out and come to stop *usually* on radials; on bias tires you usually won't have time to consider what happened and what you should do anyway (other than how to try to fly & roll out to minimize damages to your person), so the point is pretty much moot.

One of our members has some good pictures (I think it's Yellow) of exactly this kind of situation that he went through last year -- coming through the Eiffel forest around a high-speed turn, he caught a big chunk of metal debris from a truck(?) that left a 2" x 1/2" gash in his rear tire clean through the carcass -- he managed to bring the bike down to a full stop because the radial tire held it's shape even with the damages.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet