From: tavares@danville (Jack Tavares)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Flat tire : What do you do ?
Date: 1 Sep 92 15:20:10 GMT
Reply-To: tavares@ctron.com
Distribution: usa

Dances With Bikers (blgardne@javelin.sim.es.com) wrote:
: peram@cs.tamu.edu (Suresh B Peram) writes:
: 
: >    If you get a flat in the middle of a city,
: >    you can call somebody to pick it up.  What would
: >    you do if you get a flat somewhere 100 miles from
: >    a city at midnight ?  
: 
: The same thing I'd do if I got a flat in the middle of the city.
: 
: Fix it.
: 
: If you've got tubeless tires, BMW's plug kit is nice. If you're running
: tubes, you'll need a patch kit, air source, and some tire irons that
: will fit in your toolkit.
: 
: Of course as long as you're carrying a flat repair kit, you'll never
                                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
: need it. :-)
  ^^^^^^^^
: -- 
: Blaine Gardner @ Evans & Sutherland        580 Arapeen Drive, SLC, Utah 84108
: blgardne@javelin.sim.es.com  uunet!javelin.sim.es.com!blgardne  BIX: blaine_g
: Dumper of Dirtbikes #46       My other motorcycle is a Quadracer.      FJ1200

Bbbbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzttttt!

That's what I thought.... UNTIL that fateful Saturday evening about 
2 weeks ago. My wife and I were doing our intrepid traveler bit from
Prince Edward Island (mother-in-law) to Wolfeboro NH (home). We were
in beautiful (.-)) downtown Bangor. It was about 6:30 PM. We pulled
over to debate whether we should push (another 3 to 4 hours ) to home
or just get a cheap motel and finish the ride on Sunday morning. Well,
a roofing nail made the decision for us. When we pulled over to discuss,
my wife ran over said nail and flattened her rear tire. She has tubed tires,
belt drive, no side-stand. AARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!

I have a tube patch kit, from my friendly BMW dealer. I even had the tire
tools that come with the BMW toolkit. (One of the best, IMHO). However
I have never changed a MC tire under any conditions, never mind, on the side
of the road, with out a sidestand etc etc.

There are no MC shops open in Bangor on Sat eve or Sunday.
No auto shop would touch it, and they wouldn't even let me use a jack.

Well, we got a hotel room for the night. The next morning, after realizing
that the elves had not come out in the night to alleviate our problem, i bought
a can of Fix A Flat(tm). That enabled us to get another 60 miles (at an excruciatingly
slow pace) closer to home. We stopped (in case someone thought we might have
some luck, it was, of course, pouring) When we were ready to head out again,
I inspected the tire and found that the seal was broken and the tire
was ready to come off the rim.

Why didn't I pack either my BMWRA or BMWMOA Blue book? I wont
take another trip without it!

I left my wife at the McDonalds, and jumped on my fiery steed, (OK
my staid steed) and drove home at a pace that any DODer would have 
approved of. I got stuck in construction traffic on 95 that was
aggravated by an accident. I of course lane-split through completely stopped 
traffic for about 4 or 5 miles. A total of 120 miles from Augusta to
Wolfeboro in 2 hours. Not bad considering all but 40 of those miles 
were on 35 to 45 mph roads.

Got the Pickup truck, and raced back. Talked my way out of
a speeding ticket in Portland and continued on my way. Put
the Savage (my wife's bike, not my wife) into the bed of the
truck, and turned for the LAST 120 mile trek home.


I guess that if the patch kit had been in my wife's
toolkit instead of mine, we might have been lucky.

At worst, I would have gotten the flat and 4 lugnuts
later the rear wheel would have been off, and I would
have had at least a chance at getting to the tube.

I guess I could carry a spare tube for each wheel,
but that would be 4 tubes and I would still be stuck
if my wife's bike rear tire went flat. 

As much as I like the appearance of spoked wheels,
I think my next bike will be tubeless. 


--
Jack Tavares    KotHO DoD# 0570 BMWMOA# 58278 AMA# 651191 BMWRA# 16087
83 R80ST	79 KZ LTD 400H (for sale) 
Sorry, but at DoD minimum speed it is impossible to speak. There is just 
too much wind noise.  At that speed I am spending all my concentration 
allowance on riding, and cannot afford anymore thought for words.
However, when I finish a ride and the bike is in the garage cooling down, 
the single word that comes to mind is:

    BEER.