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How many flat tires can you get? Or not.

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  • How many flat tires can you get? Or not.

    Was making a trip in the car to one of the local Radio Shack stores here in town yesterday an litteraly run over my worst nightmare.
    I was just turning into the turn lane in front of the complex and noticed what looked like a shovel full of cold mix asphalt scattered down the lane. Just as I reached the "asphalt" I realized it was about a twenty foot patch of 1-1/8" drywall screws.

    Damn!!! Right through the middle of the whole mess. I shot around the lot and got back on the road and stopped in front of the screws so no one else could get to them and put the flashers on.

    I managed to get the screws swept off the road with a burlap sack I had in the trunk. Found the "box" for the offending screws. One pound. I decided to wait for a few minutes to see how many tires were going to need air. I figured it would be easier to load the car on a slider if I was on the street than in a parking lot.

    Nothing. Not even a screw stuck sideways in the tred.

    Question: How can I pick up and puncture a rear tire on a motorcycle with a quarter inch drill bit on a clear piece of road and not get a single puncture from running over a box full of drywall screws in any one of four expensive radials on my car?

    I'm thanking God that I didn't but I can't help but wonder if I should be buying some lottery tickets?
    Drive careful out there....
    RIP Whiskers (Shop Boss) 25+yrs

    "It doesn't hurt until you find out no one is looking"

    Everything on hold...

  • #2
    Originally posted by latexeses View Post
    Question: How can I pick up and puncture a rear tire on a motorcycle with a quarter inch drill bit on a clear piece of road and not get a single puncture from running over a box full of drywall screws in any one of four expensive radials on my car?

    I'm thanking God that I didn't but I can't help but wonder if I should be buying some lottery tickets?
    Drive careful out there....
    If you can explain that, maybe can you tell me how I picked up a #2 square drive bit on a logging road, miles from civilization...

    Your luck sounds like mine; not good, but never quite as bad as it could be. I gave up on Lotto tickets years ago...

    '78E original owner
    Fast, Cheap, Reliable... Pick any two

    '78E original owner - resto project
    '78E ???? owner - Modder project FJ forks, 4-piston calipers F/R, 160/80-16 rear tire
    '82 XJ rebuild project
    '80SG restified, red SOLD
    '79F parts...
    '81H more parts...

    Other current bikes:
    '93 XL1200 Anniversary Sportster 85RWHP
    '86 XL883/1200 Chopper
    '82 XL1000 w/1450cc Buell, Baker 6-speed, in-progress project
    Cage: '13 Mustang GT/CS with a few 'custom' touches
    Yep, can't leave nuthin' alone...

    Comment


    • #3
      You know what they say, don't look a gift horse in the mouth
      United States Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, NY
      If I can do it at 18 yrs old, anyone can
      "You know something, You can't polish a turd"
      "What are you rebelling against", "Well, what do you got?"
      Acta Non Verba

      Comment


      • #4
        Tire

        Ugh.. I have about 25 miles on a brand new tire on my 79 Standard when to horror, I discovered a roofing nail right in the center of the tire. Now I am going to have to replace the tire. S!@t!!!
        Does anybody here trust a plugged tire? I know I don't! I suppose I could have put a tube in it but you may as well replace the tire because of the cost of labor. I went to the local Yahama shop here in Lafayette La and they wanted $92 dollars to mount and balance a tire. I laughed all the way out of the door!
        78 XS1100E Standard
        Coca Cola Red
        Hooker Headers

        http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/p...m/DSC00580.jpg

        1979 XS1100 Special
        http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/p...m/DSC00612.jpg

        1980 XS Standard
        http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/p...m/DSC01137.jpg

        2006 Roadstar Warrior
        http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/p...um/warrior.jpg

        Comment


        • #5
          Latexeses,

          That's definitely one of those times where it looks like in the beginning ya just had the worst luck of your life, and find out the worries were for not!

          Congrats on your 'fortunate' turn of events!

          That was an amazing close call!

          If ya find your also as lucky at 21, let's plan a Vegas ride soon...
          '82 XJ1100J Maxim (has been sold.)

          '79 F "Time Machine"... oh yeah, Baby.... (Sold back to Maximan)

          2011 Kaw Concours 14 ABS

          In the warden's words from Cool Hand Luke;
          "What we have here is a failure to communicate."

          Comment


          • #6
            Plug the hole with aone of those goooy gummy rubber fiber plugs that look like Oakum.

            then just Pop a tube inside the tire.

            Its a piece of cake doing a Bike Tire. You dont need to bring it to a Dealer t do something simple like that.

            If your out on a Road trip in the Middle of Bumfluck, Egipt no oos is gonna come to your rescue. Learn how to fix a flat.

            In your Bikes Original Tool kit is a tire Iron

            (If you dont have the kit I have a complete Genuine Yamahammer XS1100SG tool kit that has never been used. The back end of the Axcel wrenches double as Tie Irons. Just $50! plus $5 shipping. Send a check to Newengland

            P.O. Box 1585
            Saco, Maine 04072
            WickedGoodOutdoors@Maine.rr.com
            WickedGoodOutdoors.com)

            Capt Walt


            Comment


            • #7
              Plug the hole with aone of those goooy gummy rubber fiber plugs that look like Oakum.

              then just Pop a tube inside the tire.

              DO NOT put a plug AND a tube in the tire. One or the other.

              That being said, I've run thousands of miles with the plugs he describes in different tires. With a hole in it from just a roofing nail, there will be neglegible chord damage if any, and the size of the hole, even if the plug suddenly came out somehow, the tire will go down slow enough to where you can pull over... not a sudden catastrophic evacuation of air.


              Tod
              Try your hardest to be the kind of person your dog thinks you are.

              You can live to be 100, as long as you give up everything that would make you want to live to be 100!

              Current bikes:
              '06 Suzuki DR650
              *'82 XJ1100 with the 1179 kit. "Mad Maxim"
              '82 XJ1100 Completely stock fixer-upper
              '82 XJ1100 Bagger fixer-upper
              '82 XJ1100 Motor/frame and lots of boxes of parts
              '82 XJ1100 Parts bike
              '81 XS1100 Special
              '81 YZ250
              '80 XS850 Special
              '80 XR100
              *Crashed/Totalled, still own

              Comment


              • #8
                I've plugged many motorcycle tires with no problems. I like the leather plugs over those rubber ones. I use rubber cement on the plug if it's available. I've never had a plug fail on ANY tire I've repaired. (knock)
                2H7 (79) owned since '89
                3H3 owned since '06

                "If it ain't broke, modify it"

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by latexeses View Post
                  - - - - Question: How can I pick up and puncture a rear tire on a motorcycle with a quarter inch drill bit on a clear piece of road and not get a single puncture from running over a box full of drywall screws in any one of four expensive radials on my car? - - -
                  Hi late,
                  kudos for clearing up those screws rather than lurking with your video-camera.
                  You didn't get a flat because a flat on a car is only a nuisance rather than the catastrophe it could be on a bike.
                  You could limp home on your spare and you should have bought road hazard insurance with your expensive radials anyway.
                  Research Murphy's Law, Sod's Law and McPherson's Law of Dynamic Negatives as to why your bike hit a drill bit on an open road.
                  Fred Hill, S'toon
                  XS11SG with Spirit of America sidecar
                  "The Flying Pumpkin"

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Fred,
                    Very similar to?

                    The odds of a slice of buttered bread landing butter down is directly proportional the cost of the carpet.

                    When I realized what I was about to run over I puckered up so hard it is going to take me a week to get the wrinlkes out of the seat fabric. Too bad there wasn't picture of my face.

                    XJOK2PLAY,

                    I'm a lousy gambler. I just mail my money up there and save the time.
                    Last edited by latexeses; 02-24-2010, 04:33 PM.
                    RIP Whiskers (Shop Boss) 25+yrs

                    "It doesn't hurt until you find out no one is looking"

                    Everything on hold...

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Complete Set?

                      I wondered where that bit went.

                      Say...could you sharpen it for me before sending it back? That nick in the end really slows me down when I'm going through steel.

                      Works ok for wood tho if I go slow and careful like...

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        I'll look around for it. That nick didn't slow it down going through that tire! I never even felt it. Just that sickening feeling of the rear tire floating around on the road.

                        It is in a box of used drills in the shop. I hung on to it as a reason for not feeling invincable.

                        I always wondered what sob planted that bit!
                        RIP Whiskers (Shop Boss) 25+yrs

                        "It doesn't hurt until you find out no one is looking"

                        Everything on hold...

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by latexeses View Post
                          Found the "box" for the offending screws. One pound.
                          So, next time I'm up norf you'll have enough fasteners to put some drywall in the garage? <innocent look>

                          Question: How can I pick up and puncture a rear tire on a motorcycle with a quarter inch drill bit on a clear piece of road and not get a single puncture from running over a box full of drywall screws in any one of four expensive radials on my car?
                          The steel belted radial car tires were tough and you drove slowly over the drywall screws. The tires on your car were victorious, this time.

                          A quarter inch drill bit is sharper and harder than a drywall screw and you probably hit it at speed at just the wrong angle. That poor polyester belted bias ply tire on your bike never had a chance.

                          I'm thanking God that I didn't but I can't help but wonder if I should be buying some lottery tickets?
                          Heed Fred's advice and skip the lottery tickets, they're just a tax on people that are bad at math.

                          Get a new tire and carry a Pocket Tire Plugger to get you from the scene of the flat to somewhere you can replace a punctured tire if it happens again.

                          If you want to keep or reuse the old tire after you plug it remember that even if the manufacturer allows their tires to be repaired -- most reputable manufacturers do not -- it's a speed and load rated tire that will have to be derated.

                          It's your hide.

                          Drive careful out there....
                          Keep the shiny side up!


                          Scott
                          -- Scott
                          _____

                          2004 ST1300A: No name... yet
                          1982 XJ1100J: "Baby" SS Brakes, '850 FD, ACCT
                          1980 XS1100G: "Columbo" SS Brakes, '850 FD, ACCT
                          1979 XS1100SF: "Bush" W.I.P.
                          1979 XS1100F: parts
                          2018 Heritage Softail Classic 117 FLHCS SE: "Nanuk" It's DEAD, it's not just resting. It is an EX cycle.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Greetings 3Phase,

                            I hit those screws doing everything I could to get one in the tire. I was hustling up the road, (Its a busy road. hiway 12) hard on the breaks and starting to turn into the lot. Like I said, I wish I had a picture of my face.

                            The rear tire bike flat was on the Virago years ago when I was headed out of town for a blast up into the mountains for the day.


                            Take care.
                            RIP Whiskers (Shop Boss) 25+yrs

                            "It doesn't hurt until you find out no one is looking"

                            Everything on hold...

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by latexeses View Post
                              I hit those screws doing everything I could to get one in the tire.
                              Rodger! What kind of tires were they? If they can laugh at a heap of drywall screws in a fast deceleration I'd get a set of them.

                              I'm guessing after all this time you don't have that Virago tire hanging on a wall somewhere but get one of those tire repair kits. They're supposed to be better than the gummy strips and they don't use glue so there's nothing to keep 'fresh' in the kit. When you need to use the plug kit there won't be a dry, empty tube that used to contain glue.


                              Regards,

                              Scott
                              -- Scott
                              _____

                              2004 ST1300A: No name... yet
                              1982 XJ1100J: "Baby" SS Brakes, '850 FD, ACCT
                              1980 XS1100G: "Columbo" SS Brakes, '850 FD, ACCT
                              1979 XS1100SF: "Bush" W.I.P.
                              1979 XS1100F: parts
                              2018 Heritage Softail Classic 117 FLHCS SE: "Nanuk" It's DEAD, it's not just resting. It is an EX cycle.

                              Comment

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