Flat tire question

Why don't we worry about flat tires while going 70 mph on the freeway?

 

We don't ?????

 

I am afraid to take the freeway or go faster than 65. I want to but I can't get it out of my mind. 20 years ago, I had a rear tire blow. Big accident.

 

Because - apart from hitting a brick - tyres tend to deflate slowly, at least slowly enough to stop the bike under control.
Tubeless tyres are supposed to be better than tubed tyres for this.

OR

there are so many other things to worry about?

PS, I had a 1978 RD 250 28 years ago!

 

When the OCD kicks in hard and heavy my wife tells me "don't sweat the small stuff". My comeback "there is no small stuff, it's all BIG!". I've thought about that flat more than once 8O ...

skillet

 

Those of us who know the age and origin of our tires and had them professionally mounted and high-speed balanced are free to worry about other things like that semi in the mirrors...

Another reason to be sure your equipment, all of it not just the tires, is in perfect operating order.

It's why we don't ride around on old tires.

 

There is a difference between worrying and being mindful of risk. If we constantly worried about all that can go wrong, we'd never ride. We'd probably never drive or fly either. Discipline is the key to managing risk; hoping it doesn't happen, but knowing what to do if it does.

 

The best way to manage risk is to do everything you can to minimize it; which is why it's important to have a well maintained bike and proper safety equipment. It's not only a matter of knowing what to do in an emergency, it's a matter of your equipment being up to the task as well.

 

When I park the Bike at the end of a day, ... I put it on the Center Stand.

Before I take-off the next time I have a ritual.
Check the Oil.
Feel the Tires.

If you have tires that lose air pressure ... it's because dirt and moisture have been forced down the inside of the rim by centrifugal force ... contaminating the surface of the Rim that needs to be Air Tight.

CONTAMINATED RIM TIRE BEAD SEAT:


HAND CLEANED TIRE BEAD SEAT: (ScotchBrite Medium)

 

L.O.L. :lol:

 

Wouldn't centrifugal force tend to throw that stuff outwards?

 

Centrifugal Force
Noun
Physics
An apparent force that acts outward on a body moving around a center, arising from the body's inertia.

Centripetal |senˈtripətl|
Adjective
Physics
Moving or tending to move toward a center.
The opposite of Centrifugal .

The debris is on the Sidewall of the tire and collects in the Seam where the Sidewall and Rim meet.
High-speed revolutions cause the forces in the debris OUTWARD from the Hub.
In between the Tire and Rim.

 

roll up your pantlegs, it's getting deep

 

I would respectfully sugest that the cause of detritus accumulating betwixt tire & rim, is neither centrifugal nor centripetal force, bur rather capillary action.

 

Maybe it's Osmosis.
We could ask Schooter?

He'll be an Engineer pretty soon.
Imagine. Being the guy who's in charge of driving the train!

 

There's another tire related worry :
At some high speed the valve core depresses due to centrifugal force.
This tends to let the air out.

We're supposed to have a metal cap with a rubber seal.
This kind of cap will hold the air.
Some people are using cheap plastic "bicycle" valve stem caps.
[or no cap at all!]

I bet. Who's guilty ??

 

Not I but thats because I found some cool skull shaped
caps...but I wasn't aware that the valve core could move
with just the force of turning.

Thanks for the tip!

 

And get to wear one of those hats like Casey Jones?

 

an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure....



They see me rollin'
Down the train tracks
look at me my train's goin thrity!


(sung to the chorus of chamillionaire's Ridin')

 

Got my steel valve covers...... Very important also switched to nitrogen air a few years back...

 

Riding is so like flying that we are simply willing to take the risk for the experience I guess.

 

Well that makes a bit of sense seaguy. It screwed John Denver, but, I guess I am will to be a bit more relaxed now. What is this about nitrogen in the tires? How does that help?

 

This is for you Dwatson "Our atmosphere is made up of approximately 78 per cent nitrogen and 21 per cent oxygen. All tires will lose pressure over time, as the oxygen makes its way through the polymer chains of the rubber in the tire. At the molecular level, nitrogen is slightly bigger than oxygen, and so nitrogen minimizes the loss.

Oxygen and moisture contribute to the degradation of rubber in tires. Nitrogen generators remove both oxygen and moisture. Therefore the "inside" rubber portion of the tire should degrade slower. The pressure of a tire filled with nitrogen is not affected as much from variations in ambient temperature or from heat caused by road friction and load. Nitrogen is currently used in aircraft and race car tires for these very reasons."

 

I got designer Yamaha Logo Valve Caps.

They have O-rings inside them.

They were $5.95 on Ebay ... for a set of 4.

I used epoxy to glue some small Hex Nuts into the two extra ones and use them for Odometer Trip Buttons on the two Bikes.

 

Centrifugal force would tend to push gunk and dirt on the tire(the bodies circling the center) outward from the hub(the center.) The dirt would tend to fly away from the tire if the centrifugal force on the dirt could overcome the adhesion of the dirt to the tire. Take a biblical slingshot, the rock stays in the sling until it is released. Upon release, it flies outwards, not inwards. It is a combination of gravity and capillary action that enables gunk to get into the bead area.

BTW,
I was 13 in the summer of '84. I wanted a trailbike. Dad had a '74 CL360 dressed as a CB that he was willing to trade. It had a BRAND NEW front tire and tube on it. The guy wasn't interested in the trade. On the way back home - dad driving, me on back - the front tire collapsed suddenly at 55mph. Dad tried to keep the bike up to prevent it from messing up my legs. It had a huge engine protector/crashbar on it and he could have riden it down and likely not been injured badly. The bike was trying to flop side to side, dad was stomping down each time trying to keep the bike upright. My foot slipped off the footpeg and when the bike flopped the other way, I was suddenly momentarily standing on the road. Then momentum carried me over and I balled up and rolled. I had a clutch lever for Dad's other bike in my hand. I was instinctually using it to try to stop me. As I rolled, I saw dad stretched out like superman flying -skidding down the road on his stomach - holding the handlebars - still trying to keep the bike out of oncoming traffic - and he somehow kept the bike in our lane. Interposed with this view of my dad, as I rolled the other way, I saw the tractor trailer behind me - luckily far enough back to stop. Both of us come to a stop about the same time. I am sitting in the middle of the road. Dad jumps up and starts running to me. I stand. The ambulance is there in about 3 minutes - amazing for a volunteer dept. In the Ambulance - as we are headed to the hospital - Dad asks, "You Still want a bike??" I reply instantly - "Yes" All in all - I had a scrape on my wrist. The clutch lever I had been holding in my hand was ground about 1/3 away. Dad - lost the top layers of skin on both hands where the bike had torn loose of him at the end and his hands went onto the pavement. He had abrasions on his hips. He had one of those big belt buckles that was a Honda name with a chain running around the perimeter. It had ground to a flat piece of metal. He lost skin on his stomach. All in all, he had it worse than me by far.

A week later, we had the tire taken off the rim. The tube would hold air without leaking. No puncture could be found in the tire or tube. The ONLY thing found was a tiny little piece of twig. That could have went in there after collapse when the bike was tossed into the ditch on the side of the road. The dealer replaced tube and tire. We replaced the minor damage to the bike. That ended up being my play toy bike. I never had it legally on the road - many times illegally, (I was 14, 15)

So, tire issues are on my mind every time I get on a bike.

 

Don't know about others (have done something like this once or twice ), seems like time kinda went into slow motion and you can remember every little detail...

skillet

 

Yes,getting a flat is on the mind from time to time.
But the traffic gets so heavy around here that cagers re-
quire full attention.
Open road gives some time for relaxation.
As long as your equip is in good shape, worrying about what
"could "happen is a waste of time.