I always wondered what getting a flat tire on a motorcycle would be like...
... and now I know.
I imagined it often on the freeway, usually on a tight curve at about 80 mph. I imagined the tire going flat and my bike careening out of control, flipping over a few times, and bursting into a huge fireball while my body bounces from car to car like a pinball.
Or perhaps just the handlebars slapping side to side more and more violently until the front tire loses its shape and launches me straight up in the air like something out of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Reality was far less interesting.
I was heading home on a stretch of Franklin road that speeds up to 55mph. I was enjoying the warm weather (70, bitches) and the setting sun. I felt that despite it all, life was good.
This is usually when bad things happen.
In fact, I had a thought pop into my head. The more spiritual among you (myself included) may take it as someone telling me something. Others may say that I already knew something was amiss. Still others may chalk it up to coincidence. But it was a fairly clear voice in my head that said one more bad thing before things get better.
I laughed, and said aloud "That's okay. I can deal with it."
Precicely 30 seconds later (or maybe not, I wasn't timing with a stopwatch) I noticed a strangeness in the bike. Tex once told me when it gets really cold on the road, he had a feeling like if he tried to lean on the bike that he would fall off. This was the opposite feeling. The bike wanted to stay upright through the curve. Not wanting to like a bike is normally wont to do, no, this was like I had 2x4s propping up the front wheel. I had to REALLY force the bike over through the curve. I tried to look at the front tire, but there's too much bike in the way.
Pulling over, I found the bike was very unstable at low speeds and I had an idea of what was going on. I hopped off and yes, the tire was pretty flat. There was a gas station ahead about 100 feet, or I could have walked 4 miles home, gotten the trailer, come back for the bike and ... er ... no. I opt for the air, pay my .75 cents and hope the tire holds for a few miles.
While I was filling the tire I noticed a spot that looked like it might have had a nail in it at some point. If I threw the nail out of the tire, then, well, slow leak time.
Rest of the story is uneventful. The tire pressure held till I got home easily. That means I can get to the Honda dealer easily. Good news. And I needed new tires anyway.
Bad news is I just don't know where I'm going to get money for a new tire, but I am getting some overtime this month. Or perhaps it's time to stoke the flames of eBay again.
I should invest in a repair kit. If this would have happened 100 miles along the Nachez Trace with nothing but turkeys and deer for 100 miles ...
All I know is that a flat ain't nothing to fear anymore.
I imagined it often on the freeway, usually on a tight curve at about 80 mph. I imagined the tire going flat and my bike careening out of control, flipping over a few times, and bursting into a huge fireball while my body bounces from car to car like a pinball.
Or perhaps just the handlebars slapping side to side more and more violently until the front tire loses its shape and launches me straight up in the air like something out of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Reality was far less interesting.
I was heading home on a stretch of Franklin road that speeds up to 55mph. I was enjoying the warm weather (70, bitches) and the setting sun. I felt that despite it all, life was good.
This is usually when bad things happen.
In fact, I had a thought pop into my head. The more spiritual among you (myself included) may take it as someone telling me something. Others may say that I already knew something was amiss. Still others may chalk it up to coincidence. But it was a fairly clear voice in my head that said one more bad thing before things get better.
I laughed, and said aloud "That's okay. I can deal with it."
Precicely 30 seconds later (or maybe not, I wasn't timing with a stopwatch) I noticed a strangeness in the bike. Tex once told me when it gets really cold on the road, he had a feeling like if he tried to lean on the bike that he would fall off. This was the opposite feeling. The bike wanted to stay upright through the curve. Not wanting to like a bike is normally wont to do, no, this was like I had 2x4s propping up the front wheel. I had to REALLY force the bike over through the curve. I tried to look at the front tire, but there's too much bike in the way.
Pulling over, I found the bike was very unstable at low speeds and I had an idea of what was going on. I hopped off and yes, the tire was pretty flat. There was a gas station ahead about 100 feet, or I could have walked 4 miles home, gotten the trailer, come back for the bike and ... er ... no. I opt for the air, pay my .75 cents and hope the tire holds for a few miles.
While I was filling the tire I noticed a spot that looked like it might have had a nail in it at some point. If I threw the nail out of the tire, then, well, slow leak time.
Rest of the story is uneventful. The tire pressure held till I got home easily. That means I can get to the Honda dealer easily. Good news. And I needed new tires anyway.
Bad news is I just don't know where I'm going to get money for a new tire, but I am getting some overtime this month. Or perhaps it's time to stoke the flames of eBay again.
I should invest in a repair kit. If this would have happened 100 miles along the Nachez Trace with nothing but turkeys and deer for 100 miles ...
All I know is that a flat ain't nothing to fear anymore.