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Rapid loss of tire pressure practice


ESokoloff

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Yesterday morning I had a fairly rapid loss of air pressure on the rear of my RT on the freeway.

It took me several seconds to figure out what was taking place & what was the best course of action to take.

 

How often do you experience such event?

For me it was #3 in the last 6years/90K

 

I'm now wondering would make sense to deflate a worn out tire that is going to be changed out & ride it around a bit to "get that feel" every now and again?

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This happened to me in September on Alligator Alley at 85 mph fully loaded with my 11 year old daughter as pillion. I have alot of experience, even recently 3 years as a motor officer. I didn't know what had happened, it felt more like I was loosing engine power. my speed started to decrease even though I was adding more throttle. All that did was start the rear rim spinning inside a flat tire. That caused the tail to start wagging quite badly. THEN I realized I had a rear blowout. I drifted to the edge of the roadway and slowly decreased speed. Nearly had to clean my pants.

Now, ANY weird feeling I get whether it's engine noise, power or whatever, I decrease speed and direct all my attention to it until I'm satisfied it's not really something wrong.

 

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Eric, in most cases when a tire quickly looses air it isn’t that big of a deal unless the tire decouples from the rim.. If the tire comes loose from the rim then you can have a handful..

 

In most cases a tubeless tire doesn’t just blow out unless you hit something sharp,, or large like a big square edged hole.. On the other hand tube type tires are prone to blow outs as once the tire spins on the rim a little it can pull the valve stem off the tube..

 

In my long riding career I have had a couple of quick tire deflations but never a big problem as the tire stayed on the rim & the handling just got sluggish & a bit squirrelly.. On my later tubeless tire motorcycles I have had a few tires start going flat while riding but have always noticed the handling degrade so always got off the road before total tire failure..

 

The only real tire issue I have ever had was a dirt bike that had a front tire come off the rim & jamb the tire up between the fork & rim.. I instantly went down in not a very graceful landing.. Was probably doing about 50 mph so bent a few things in the process..

 

Maybe next time a person needs tires,, find a smooth road (so you don’t bend a rim) then let the tire pressure down to about 10-15 lbs & ride the bike a bit so you know what a low tire feels like.. Not sure I would try completely flat as rim damage is a possibility..

 

BTW I have pulled over a couple of times while riding as I thought I was getting a flat tire only to find that it was the road surface I was riding on not the tries..

 

 

Twisty

 

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I had a couple of fast deflations, never really dramatic or dangerous.

A tip: If you are getting a flat tire on a two-lane road, if safe ride it over to the left side of the road. With a flat tire the bike becomes so low that you can't use the side stand because the camber of the road. DAMHIK

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"BTW I have pulled over a couple of times while riding as I thought I was getting a flat tire only to find that it was the road surface I was riding on not the tries.."

 

+1 :dopeslap:

 

 

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My only experience with a flat tire was when I picked up a tooth YES A TOOTH from roadkill with a rear.

 

This happened during a long Hill Country ride.

 

I didn't feel anything wrong until we got to Texas 55, at a series of long sweepers ranked 30-35 MPH which can be taken at 100-110 MPH some say ;).

 

As I got full lean on my first left hander I felt the bike sqwirm under me :eek: I thought my shock had gone out or I har ridden over something. The pucker factor was significant, so I took it easy the rest of the way until I got to the gast stationn and met the rest of the group.

 

We gathered around my bike and tried to assertain what was wrong. Nobody detected the tire being flat, so we continued along on a straight at a good clip and then got onto 335 where a fellow told me I had a flat.

 

When we got to Campwood we found a tooth, which I still have and plugged the flat.

 

I shudder every time I think of the rear wheel coming of the wheel while at full lean at 90-100 MPH. (No icon for peeing in your pants, just imagine.)

 

No advice here, the bike didn't feel any different perhaps due to centrifugal force. Just a wish for the best for every one!

 

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I've always had CHP spec Dunlop D205 "run flat" tires on my bike. I have no experience with a flat on these tires but others have told me they can actually ride with a flat to the nearest repair facility. EZ on the lean angles though.

 

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I've always had CHP spec Dunlop D205 "run flat" tires on my bike. I have no experience with a flat on these tires but others have told me they can actually ride with a flat to the nearest repair facility. EZ on the lean angles though.

 

My flat was on a Dunlop, can't remember the model though (Sportmax?). It did run fine flat, but gave me a good shake at a lean.

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Dick_at_Lake_Tahoe_NV

I can't recall the last time I had a flat on a front tire--car or bike. I believe the front tire throws up the nail, screw, whatever and the rear tire catches it. In 10-years and ~120,000 miles I've had three flats. One on an RT and 2 on an F-650. None of the tires "blew-out". However, by the time I got the F-650 stopped (tube-type), the tire had spun on the rim, ripped out the valve stem, and the bead had broken. Made it easy to install a new tube (which one of our group had) in deepest darkest Mexico 100-miles from the nearest tire shop.

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I had a couple of fast deflations, never really dramatic or dangerous.

A tip: If you are getting a flat tire on a two-lane road, if safe ride it over to the left side of the road. With a flat tire the bike becomes so low that you can't use the side stand because the camber of the road. DAMHIK

 

 

Hi Paul,

 

Good tip! :thumbsup: Thanks for sharing.

 

 

 

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Glad things turned out well for you; not a fun situation.

 

Reminds me of the time I was about 3 weeks into riding after a 25 year "break", riding to work with my "new" (5 year old) 2001 RT-P. I had taken it to be "looked over" the day before by a local BMW dealer, which included the brakes. The ride the next day took me from Oceanside to San Diego down the I15 freeway. I had an "unusual event" probably related to the work the day before.

 

I decided to hop onto the car pool lane, which is in the center of that freeway. There's a fairly steep approach ramp on the right side of the road, it travels up and over from the right to left, back down hill into the middle car pool lanes. It makes a pretty fair "twisty" at freeway speeds.

 

As I hit the top of the ramp, and started to heel over into the sweep left, there was an explosion of noise and sudden sharply degraded steering. Random thoughts ran through my mind in a split second, including:

 

"Omg.. this must be a blow out..", and then

"Wait ... I've got Dunlap 'ride flats', they CAN'T blow out ..", and then

"D*mn $#@#@ friggin son-of-a @*$# Dunlop Corp!", and last but not least,

"... I think I'm dead...".

 

What had happened was that the front fender had lost the two top bolts and swiveled forward to wrap around underneath the front tire. In the middle of that first left turn, I was suddenly riding on plastic under my front tire at 75-80 MPH. I made it across the overpass, coasted down speed in maybe 4th, made the far edge of right turn (35 foot drop over the side), and continued coasting down the ramp towards the car pool lanes. I tried to dump speed and keep it upright while pretty much letting the bike go where it wanted to go, which of course, was directly towards a concrete median at the bottom of the ramp where the road turned right again. The bike stopped five feet from the wall, I got off it, and laid down and kissed the ground. (Thank you God!)

 

Then I saw what caused the problem and had quite a different reaction. :mad: The shop has a good reputation, but I haven't gone back to it since. I found out that later R11**RT's have modified fender bolts that include a slot for adding loctite blue. The was nothing on the bolts as far as I could see.

 

Anyway, I've since been one of those antsy guys who checks air pressure and tire condition about 15 times a week. Losing control is always scary and dangerous, but having control ripped from you at speed by a mechanical failure is terrifying.

 

- Scott

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This happened to me in September on Alligator Alley at 85 mph fully loaded with my 11 year old daughter as pillion. I have alot of experience, even recently 3 years as a motor officer. I didn't know what had happened, it felt more like I was loosing engine power.

 

Yes, the weird part that at first I thought thought I had a mechanical issue as well.

For those that know the area, I was Southbound on the Hollywood Freeway at the Cahuenga Pass so I was in a somewhat curvy section of the freeway.

About the time of the power loss sensation I had to negotiate a turn & found the response sluggish.

That was the OH Shoot moment.

 

 

Now, ANY weird feeling I get whether it's engine noise, power or whatever, I decrease speed and direct all my attention to it until I'm satisfied it's not really something wrong.

I hope I remember to do this in the future.

 

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Eric, in most cases when a tire quickly looses air it isn’t that big of a deal unless the tire decouples from the rim.. If the tire comes loose from the rim then you can have a handful..

Well the tire did not come loose from the rim but the back end did shimmy a bit as I was getting over & wowed down.

BTW I have pulled over a couple of times while riding as I thought I was getting a flat tire only to find that it was the road surface I was riding on not the tries..

 

 

 

Yes, I've convinced myself that I've had tire problems a time or two when all was OK.

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Reminds me of the time I was about 3 weeks into riding after a 25 year "break", riding to work with my "new" (5 year old) 2001 RT-P. I had taken it to be "looked over" the day before by a local BMW dealer, which included the brakes. The ride the next day took me from Oceanside to San Diego down the I15 freeway. I had an "unusual event" probably related to the work the day before.

 

I decided to hop onto the car pool lane, which is in the center of that freeway. There's a fairly steep approach ramp on the right side of the road, it travels up and over from the right to left, back down hill into the middle car pool lanes. It makes a pretty fair "twisty" at freeway speeds.

 

As I hit the top of the ramp, and started to heel over into the sweep left, there was an explosion of noise and sudden sharply degraded steering. Random thoughts ran through my mind in a split second, including:

 

"Omg.. this must be a blow out..", and then

"Wait ... I've got Dunlap 'ride flats', they CAN'T blow out ..", and then

"D*mn $#@#@ friggin son-of-a @*$# Dunlop Corp!", and last but not least,

"... I think I'm dead...".

 

What had happened was that the front fender had lost the two top bolts and swiveled forward to wrap around underneath the front tire. In the middle of that first left turn, I was suddenly riding on plastic under my front tire at 75-80 MPH. I made it across the overpass, coasted down speed in maybe 4th, made the far edge of right turn (35 foot drop over the side), and continued coasting down the ramp towards the car pool lanes. I tried to dump speed and keep it upright while pretty much letting the bike go where it wanted to go, which of course, was directly towards a concrete median at the bottom of the ramp where the road turned right again. The bike stopped five feet from the wall, I got off it, and laid down and kissed the ground. (Thank you God!)

 

Then I saw what caused the problem and had quite a different reaction. :mad: The shop has a good reputation, but I haven't gone back to it since. I found out that later R11**RT's have modified fender bolts that include a slot for adding loctite blue. The was nothing on the bolts as far as I could see.

 

Anyway, I've since been one of those antsy guys who checks air pressure and tire condition about 15 times a week. Losing control is always scary and dangerous, but having control ripped from you at speed by a mechanical failure is terrifying.

 

- Scott

 

What a nice welcome back to riding intro :eek:

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I have experience with a good number of rear flats at speed, including rapid deflation at interstate speed. Being sensitive to that "I think I'm getting a flat" feeling and then responding right away are very prudent. I haven't found flats to be as scary an issue as I initially imagined.

 

As posted above, putting down the sidestand, getting off the motorcycle without tipping it over, and getting it up on the center stand are all problematic. You need to fix the flat on the side of the road....and having the bike on the center stand makes finding the hole a lot easier. Although I've never gone this far yet, in order to find the puncture, I'm not opposed to tipping the bike on its side in the grass on the shoulder, should I be unable to get off the bike or unable to get it on the center stand.

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Thanks for the detailed experience with this. I had a flat last summer, and I was seconds from ramping onto a highway.

 

One added comment, your bike had better be off the road when you come to a stop. Moving an RT with a flat is really a back breaker !

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  • 4 years later...
Dave_zoom_zoom
Yesterday morning I had a fairly rapid loss of air pressure on the rear of my RT on the freeway.

It took me several seconds to figure out what was taking place & what was the best course of action to take.

 

How often do you experience such event?

For me it was #3 in the last 6years/90K

 

I'm now wondering would make sense to deflate a worn out tire that is going to be changed out & ride it around a bit to "get that feel" every now and again?

 

 

 

Hi Eric

 

I've been riding for many years & hundreds of thousands of KM's. I have had 2 or 3 flat rear tires. A procedure I started to use many years ago is as follows----

 

If riding locally (maybe 80-200 KM's per day) I check tire press. prior to riding, once every week or two. However, prior to "every" ride I use the old trucker method of picking up a fairly heavy hammer, which lives right next to my bike in my shop, & give each tire a solid "smack". This helps me to know that there is no "substantial" press. loss.

 

Prior to any substantial distance ride or a very very spirited ride I always check press.

 

Another good test is after you have ridden at speed for a I/2 hr. or more, pull over and use the back of your hand and feel the side wall of both tires. If one is getting warmer than it should, you have a problem. After a little practice you will know what to expect. This needs to be done before you go to a "slow down" area where your tires can cool down before you can check them. You need to do this test ASAP after you stop.

 

Since I've used these methods I've still had a couple of flat tires, but no more surprises! Always plenty of time to deal with the problem before it becomes a REAL PROBLEM.

 

I hope you find this of some help.

 

Dave

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Don't try to test out this type of thing. Just slow down and park it.

Had it happen to me at fairly high speeds with both the front and rear tires not at the same time & It was fine. Now a full blown blow out where the tire explodes is another matter. Good luck with that.

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........

Since I've used these methods I've still had a couple of flat tires, but no more surprises! Always plenty of time to deal with the problem before it becomes a REAL PROBLEM.

 

.....

 

Some good advice Dave, but it wouldn't have helped in this particular case/flat.

The tire sustained a substantial gash and lost pressure rapidly.

 

What would have helped would be a pressure monitor/alert system.

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Dave_zoom_zoom
........

Since I've used these methods I've still had a couple of flat tires, but no more surprises! Always plenty of time to deal with the problem before it becomes a REAL PROBLEM.

 

.....

 

Some good advice Dave, but it wouldn't have helped in this particular case/flat.

The tire sustained a substantial gash and lost pressure rapidly.

 

What would have helped would be a pressure monitor/alert system.

 

 

Understood!

 

When we have to deal with a "sudden" loss of air such as you did, it can be a bit of a "Heart in the throat" moment. Especially if there are curves involved.

 

Happy riding to you. :)

 

Dave

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Hey Eric-

My first one was the front tire on a Harley Softtail on PCH north of Neptunes. Pulled over and lited the frame on a rock, removed the tire and took off on my buddy's Harley into Oxnard for a replacement. Whole ordeal took an hour. No big deal.

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AdventurePoser

About four years ago, at 75 mph, I lost all pressure in my front tire due to a valve stem failure. I went from 38 lbs psi, to zero in about 2 seconds.

 

Not the most pleasing experience in my riding career. I kept a light and positive grip on the bars, gradually slowed down and coasted onto the freeway shoulder.

 

Now I've got about 260K miles and it's never happened again.

 

On my GSA I regularly deflate my tires when riding in sandy conditions. If you decide to do this on the RT, exercise caution.

 

 

Have fun.

 

Steve

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