Letting Loose

[Guest]

Hi all woke up today a ride had been planned with a couple of mates and the day was beautiful all prepared for another fabulous day on my 79 gs1000L. The missus had had her maiden voyage last weekend and enjoyed it so much throughout the week she purchased various forms of riding clothes leather jacket and pants, nice helmet still waiting for boots and gloves to arrive, She is hooked. We left home some of the riders unable to make it due to too much indulgence at a pre christmas party the night before, bugger I worked last night to bad a ride was waiting.
Off we went 2km out of town we caught up to one of our boys in blue ( The Police ) thats ok we were doing the speed limit. He pulled over and promptly followed us for around 10km. Roads very busy alot of bikes heaps of waving even the missus started.
Mr plod still close behind watching our everymove then around six more bikes caught up and we all proceeded to mingle with slower traffic ( only two lanes in this neck of the woods). Made it Masterton with no problems sat down and enjoyed some nice coffee, and soaked up the sun. The wife enjoying the day .
After a while we decided to return home lots of bikes still on the road I found out later that a small town further south had been having a speed day. Highest speed was reached by a Lady 300kmph on I dont know what.
Anyhow while riding home over a small mountain range wife on the back having a ball I felt the funny feeling of a slip in the rear tyre not going overly fast I thought my wife had just moved. It was not to be. At the bottom of the hill was a long straight and a slight right hand turn.
Holy **** wrong side of the road then on the right this happened around six times ,**** whos counting anyway we came to a stop on the wrong side of the road. This road had been so busy all day and then when this happened no cars or 40 ton trucks uncanny or just bloody lucky?.
The missus quickly dismounted the bike which is a mission for her toget on being only 5ft tall still shaking and a very pale shade of white. I thought she will never get on one of these things again. and for some husbands this would be a bleesing. My mates were all infront of me and unaware of our situation and did not turn back for some time thinking that I had been nabbed by a recent passing highway patrol car, and thought I would catch up.
Back tyre totaly flat, wife pale and trying to light a nervous cigarete my heart fluttering like a hummingbird in full flight, I could not believe what had just happened. A car we were following slowed when he saw what was happening but continued on" must have been from Auckland lol".
An hour later trailered home felt a hell of alot better no injuries and no damage to the missus or the bike, Cold beer in hand wife a vodka we sat and thought of the day that had could have been, good riding? good luck?

Has anyone else had an experience of the ass end loosing it so quick?.

[tomo]

Yep, know the feeling. Couple of years ago I was heading to a biker cafe near where I live on my GS750 chop. It was out in the sticks, set up by a guy in the garden of his house and was quite a popular meeting spot for all types, cruisers, crotch rockets, streetfighters etc. Anyway, I had just turned off the main road and was heading down the lane to the cafe, fortunately only doing about 50mph. Out of the blue felt the back tyre step out a bit, then the bikes steering seemed to have a mind of its own. I managed to keep it upright and knock the speed off, which actually seemed to make it worse. Anyway, got it stopped ok and found the back tyre flat as a pancake. With the help of some guys from the cafe, we pushed the bike there. Upon checking the tyre, found a 1" slash about where the tread meets the sidewall, with the head of a nail at one end. The nail turned out to be avery bent & rusty 6" nail. Later another guy turned up with a similar nail in his tyre. We had a walk up the road and found about a dozen bent rusty nails on the road, difficult to see because there was quite a bit of muck too from farm traffic. Turned out the guy who ran the biker cafe had been getting a lot of grief from one particular neighbour, who did`nt like bikes or bikers. We could`nt prove anything, but it did seem a bit odd to find those pre-bent nails on the lane. Certainly put scared the c..p out of me when that tyre blew, just glad I was`nt going any quicker !.

[spyug]

Glad to hear you are both ok. Get the tire replaced and get her
back on as soon as you can. Its like getting thrown from a horse, you have to get right back on or lose your confidence. You don't want her to do that after enjoying it and getting all the gear.

I haven't personally experienced anything like that but I find the backend on my modified XS to be twitchy when downshifting from speed. First time it happened I got a bit freaked so I can only imagine what a blown tire would feel like.

Another good story to illustrate the need the need to check your rubber before every ride. In the first MSF type course the instructors kept pounding that one in but somehow we slack off over time. I don't get to ride as much as I like so I'm pretty good about checking before first going out but I usually forget to look things over after a stop.

Thanks for sharing and stay safe.
Cheers,
Spyug

[bonanzadave]

I noticed some handling problems on a straight 40mph boulevard. As I approached my right turn and highway on ramp it felt like I was on ice. I was all over the ramp but managed to get it to the side of the road. Had a machine screw right in the middle of the back tire. Damn ! 12 miles from home and no trailer. The tow cost me $130.

[rudy]

Last year I had the front tire go on my 650. Manufacturing defect in the tube. It split at a seam and the tire was flat in about 3 seconds. Talk about a scary ride! I would have MUCH rather had a back tire go. Still, managed to keep it upright and slowed down. Front end goes to the left, then to the right with the bike leaning and basically feels like the front is on ice, but the back just stays put. Not something I would wish on anyone.

Tomo, if that neighbor actually did put those nails there and someone ended up dying because they lost control, how would he feel then? A flat can be a LOT more than just an inconvenience when you're on a bike. A lot of people don't seem to realize that.

[spyug]

Its terrible to think people would deliberately drop screws, nails and the like on roads just to frustrate riders.....but it does happen. I've heard there is a favourite twisty in California ( I think) that goes up to an observatory ( Mount Palomar ?) that regularily gets oil dumped on it.

In our region there is a short twisty ( Snake Road, Waterdown) that has claimed more than a few riders over the years. It is still a favourite of the sportsbike crowd and they have raised the ire of several residents. On any good weekend the boys and gals go zooming up and down. Someone recently has been dropping gravel and sand on three or four of the turns and while no one has died(yet) a few guys have gone down.

I read on a local forum that some guys have encountered an old coot who has threatened folks a few times but so far I don't think anything has been done about it.

I stay away.

Hope it was just a random thing.

Ride safe all.

Spyug

[seuadr]

i've never disliked any specific civilian group (that was not dangerous) enough to wish them harm, much less death.. i can't imagine how someone could justify possibly killing someone because they "drive too fast" or whatever.

[simon kuether]

No such bad experiences here,yet.Glad to hear you and mumma bear are unharmed (even if you did steal OUR Bledisloe Cup........Bloody,bloody,bloody.....).Cheers,Simon .

[tomo]

Yep, there are some crazy people out there !. Like I said nothing could be proven, but it did seem odd to me that all the nails we found on the road were bent, help them flick up into a tyre ?. The cafe was also raided by the cops a few months later too, following an anonymous tip off that there were drugs and unlisenced firearms there. Nothing was found of course, but someone sure had it in for us. The place did eventually shut down partly because of all the aggro, but also for work.

[Freddy]

(even if you did steal OUR Bledisloe Cup........Bloody,bloody,bloody.....).Cheers,Simon .

So the better team won aye.
Thats my story and Im sticking to it.



1979 GS1000L 20km " Flat tyre "
1979 GS1000L 54km " Waiting for some attention"

[themess]

ABout ten years ago, I and most of my neighbors got flats from nails on the roads in our small subdivision. Police think that they know who did it but can't prove it.

Last year I had the front tire go on my 650. Manufacturing defect in the tube. It split at a seam and the tire was flat in about 3 seconds.

Good example of why tubeless tires are safer than tube-type tires.

[Freddy]

New tyre and tube fitted today, upon investigation the tube was at fault,it parted in a seam. The tube was only around a year old. Back on the old girl today hopefully ( the bike lol).

[Greg O.]

2 years ago about this time of year it was an unusually warm, sunny day, so I went for a ride. I stopped on the side of the road to clean my glasses. When I pulled back on the road I went a short ways, and it started weaving like riding on a bidge grate. Didn't take long to figure out there was a problem with the rear tire. A big old rusty nail. Had to call my wife to come get me. Made me think of that comercial where the guys wife had to rescue her husband and his bike because he ran out of gas. She turns to their little girl and says, "Daddy just had to buy a motorcyle, didn't he." Funny.

Can't imagine a front going down.

[skreemer]

2 years ago about this time of year it was an unusually warm, sunny day, so I went for a ride. I stopped on the side of the road to clean my glasses. When I pulled back on the road I went a short ways, and it started weaving like riding on a bidge grate. Didn't take long to figure out there was a problem with the rear tire. A big old rusty nail. Had to call my wife to come get me. Made me think of that comercial where the guys wife had to rescue her husband and his bike because he ran out of gas. She turns to their little girl and says, "Daddy just had to buy a motorcyle, didn't he." Funny.

Can't imagine a front going down.

Was on a Highway (50 mph) that had a stoplight in the middle of it... Pulled in the front brake lever and there was a squeal and the rim rotated inside the tire.

On the way the tire went flat then as I was slowing down the whell kept going and the tire tried to stop... full on pucker mode... went off the side of the road and didn't drop it or me thankfully... pushed it to a gas station, reseated the bead and waited around to see if they would go flat again and then made my way home...

two days later I went from Dubuque Iowa to Indianapolis Indiana.... was a bit wary the whole time....