who has had tire failures at speed?

[mason79]

any stories of your tires blowing out while riding?

who is riding on the oldest and crappyist tires?

[dpotter58]

Last year, highway 99 in PA, down the mountain into a valley curving to the right with the inside lane closed for construction at the bottom, behind a dump truck pulling a low boy with a back hoe and piece of yard pipe so I could not see the lane was closing. rear tire with less than 1,000 miles on it picked something up through the thick part of the tread and went flat before I knew what had happened. I thought the rear end shake was from the grooved concrete. There was a wide open hole with nothing in it. I have no idea what it was that went through the tire...

[DiverRay]

Mid 70's, riding a 750 Honda with a fairing. going through some twisties with a front tire I knew was bald, but I was near home. Hit a rock in the corner, and it went through the tire. I lost ALL air in about 1.5 seconds, and the handlebars started a "tank slap". I just pulled the clutch, put both feet down, and held on until it stopped. Came to rest 2' from a barbed wire fence.....
I now change tires if the even LOOK close to the wear bars.
Ray

[skids]

Lanny the Lizard road to Wichita for the 97 rally. His tire was so bald, you could see the air in it. He road it all the way home to Texas.

[gotaplay]

2 weeks ago I was riding down a local road and at about 50 miles an hour my front tire blew, at first I thought it was the road so I accelerated and realized my front tire was flat
I let off the throttle and let it slow down while trying to keep it on the road and then I noticed I was coming up to guard rails , there was a deep ditch along the roadway so I decided that was better than flipping over the rails so I dropped the wheels slightly off the pavement laid it on its side in the ditch , other than a small scratch on the engine cover and a grass stain on my new jeans ( other stain I won’t mention ) I came out ok
The tow truck driver kept repeating YOU DID GOOD!
The tires on the bike are both new ( challengers) with tubes , and after examination found there was a piece of metal inside the rim that worked its way into the tube and the rim was slightly out of round ( side to side ) I have bought a new rim but am having some
Trust issues with my front end, so it’s off to the shop we go $$$$

[Dragonrider]

I've lost several tires at speed...

The Valkyrie is very well behaved with a rear flat...quite controllable as long as you keep off the brakes. Simply take the hand off the gas and head for the shoulder.

Front tires...the bike continues to go whatever direction you were headed when it went flat. Not wise to try and change that much. Get on the rear brake and get stopped ASAP.

Since I went Darkside I've only had one rear flat in 70,000 miles and that actually got me home with 4 pounds of air in it.

Before that I'd torn up 5 rear tires.

Total I've lost 3 fronts in 90,000 miles, twice at speed in the same day (plugged, but two different holes/incidents!)

[webbcraft2150]

'78 Laverda 750SF, pulling 'bout a c-note, front end got "mushy", started to slow when it went completley flat, tank slapped to the shoulder. When I got stopped, one side of the the tire had actually come off the rim. Dealer fitted rim locks under "special" warranty.

[mason79]

Originally posted by Dragonrider
I've lost several tires at speed...

The Valkyrie is very well behaved with a rear flat...quite controllable as long as you keep off the brakes. Simply take the hand off the gas and head for the shoulder.

Front tires...the bike continues to go whatever direction you were headed when it went flat. Not wise to try and change that much. Get on the rear brake and get stopped ASAP.

Since I went Darkside I've only had one rear flat in 70,000 miles and that actually got me home with 4 pounds of air in it.

Before that I'd torn up 5 rear tires.

Total I've lost 3 fronts in 90,000 miles, twice at speed in the same day (plugged, but two different holes/incidents!)

how does the car tire take the turns? i like that idea, what fits the xs1100?

[trbig]

Mason, if you click on that link he has listed as "Darkside" it will answer all of your questions about handling. I would be interested to know anyone puting a car tire on their XS/XJ recently though.

Tod

[Jerry]

Geeze, my first bike was a Harley 45 (1945 version) and I ran 16 inch car tires on the rear. This was in 1968 or there abouts.

Two reasons. 1. In the boonies of Central Wisconsin at the time, bike tires and dealerships were almost unknown, but every little town had a tire shop and I could get car tires easily. 2. I was running on a lot of gravel and dirt roads in those days, car tire stability/performance was better than bike tires. (Up front was a Conti Twin, mostly because the nearest Honda shop carried Continental tires in stock.)

Putting car tires on bikes is nothing new; my riding buddy (rode a Harley 74) also ran a car tire on the rear wheel. Car tires were cheap, easy to get, and worked better on the roads we had than the more expensive "motorcycle" tires. Don't think I ran anything else until I sold the HD in about '72 and moved into the Honda world.

For the record, that 45 was a horrible bike, had been beat and neglected when I got it and I never did have the money to go through it and fix all the problems. Was glad to see it go.

[Dragonrider]

Originally posted by mason79

how does the car tire take the turns? i like that idea, what fits the xs1100?

The specials would be easier...they have the 16" rim...

Handling is described in my article. I go on and on (and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on) about it

Clearance is the key...that and the heavier the bike the more likely it is to be a candidate for this. I'm remembering the XS is well over 650 pounds so it probably would be one that could work.

Swing arm clearance (around the drive shaft) is pretty tight though...I expect you'd have to do some mods.

If I still had my Midnight (long, convoluted story) I'd be trying.