[1 big skeeter]

About a week ago, there was a thread on this board titled "Fear of blowout" - http://gl1800riders.com/forums/showthread.php?344210-fear-of-blowout.

One of the responders RonK advised he had experienced a rear tire blow out while riding his new-to-him, Level 1 '06 Goldwing with less than 15K miles back to Colorado.

Yesterday Buckskin and I did some work on RonK's Wing and got to see the tire and rim in question first hand. Here are a couple of pictures....

Buck and I were "HOLY MACKEREL!!!!"

RonK states he checked the tire's pressure and visually checked it during the ride.

The explosion resulted in the tire splitting into the 2 sidewalls and the tread.

It was a pleasure to meet you yesterday Ron!

Best Regards.

 

[speckfisher]

WOW......That's as scary as it gets..

Thanks for the post.....amazing, so glad he came out okay on that raw deal. I have never seen a tire blow out that way before......has to be a factory defective tire......geezz.

 

[ronab]

Did he change over to a newer safer tire? I read that thread but can't remember what tire he now uses.

 

[1 big skeeter]

Did he change over to a newer safer tire? I read that thread but can't remember what tire he now uses.

Yes Sir!!

He now has a Micheline Primacy etc on the rear and a BattleAx on the front!

Best Regards.

 

[TravelinLite]

Dang! I had a high speed blowout on a motorcycle tire, and while it chewed the tire up, it didn't do that. Ended up totaling that bike.

 

[ronab]

I just reread the blowout thread and see that he did change to a ct-- I kinda thought he did!!

 

[2WheelNut]

Did he change over to a newer safer tire? I read that thread but can't remember what tire he now uses.

Certainly not against the other tire but if this separated because of a blowout "explosion" it would seem that they tire was defective and I'm guessing defects aren't limited to this brand. (either that or he was running WAY too much pressure in it)

Said another way....if a tire is defective and just going to come apart all at once, I'm not sure if it matters if it's a run-flat or not.

Having said that....I tend to believe the "explosion" on this one was more from the tire separating and not a massive loss of pressure. I wasn't there so I could definitely be wrong but what I think is that he had a leak that occurred sometime after he checked it and didn't realize it and ended up riding it with very low pressure and it eventually built enough heat in the flexing sidewalls to fail and come apart. If my theory is correct, then a RF tire really would have helped here. Although my theory is not what is described as what happened.

I still say if you are going to use a RF, you need to have TPMS or you could go thousands of miles on a tire with no pressure and never know it.

Regardless....I'm glad he's ok....that would have been very scary to ride though.

 

[ALEXB]

So did you patch it?

 

[2WheelNut]

So did you patch it?

Well played sir....:bow:

 

[Wingwinder]

Had same experience.

I had a similar experience with the same tire you show.Checked tire pressure before we left that morning. Two hours later tread separated and lost air.Went to CT after that. Wingwinder.

 

[Basher052]

So did you patch it?

I dont care who you are, thats funny right there. :thumbup:

Glad the OP is ok. That is the stuff that nightmares are made of.

 

[JoeB27]

Certainly not against the other tire but if this separated because of a blowout "explosion" it would seem that they tire was defective and I'm guessing defects aren't limited to this brand. (either that or he was running WAY too much pressure in it)

Said another way....if a tire is defective and just going to come apart all at once, I'm not sure if it matters if it's a run-flat or not.

Having said that....I tend to believe the "explosion" on this one was more from the tire separating and not a massive loss of pressure. I wasn't there so I could definitely be wrong but what I think is that he had a leak that occurred sometime after he checked it and didn't realize it and ended up riding it with very low pressure and it eventually built enough heat in the flexing sidewalls to fail and come apart. If my theory is correct, then a RF tire really would have helped here. Although my theory is not what is described as what happened.

I still say if you are going to use a RF, you need to have TPMS or you could go thousands of miles on a tire with no pressure and never know it.

Regardless....I'm glad he's ok....that would have been very scary to ride though.

Not if you check your tire pressures daily as you should......or ride way farther in a day than I ever will.

 

[SilvrT]

I still say if you are going to use a RF, you need to have TPMS or you could go thousands of miles on a tire with no pressure and never know it.

A question just came to mind from what you say ... if running with no air on a run flat tire, would you not realize it was low on air in the twisties?

 

[roadwarrior]

Zero Pressure Michelin

Starting with my 1st ZP tire I run a 1" unibit into it and ride 10-15 miles just before changing it. I have done this to 3 tires in total and when they are flat they make a decent amount of noise. I do it to each tire to keep the sound as fresh as possible (have CRS) in my mind. The first one was a Khumo (not a fan) but the other two where Michelins.

Certainly not against the other tire but if this separated because of a blowout "explosion" it would seem that they tire was defective and I'm guessing defects aren't limited to this brand. (either that or he was running WAY too much pressure in it)

Said another way....if a tire is defective and just going to come apart all at once, I'm not sure if it matters if it's a run-flat or not.

Having said that....I tend to believe the "explosion" on this one was more from the tire separating and not a massive loss of pressure. I wasn't there so I could definitely be wrong but what I think is that he had a leak that occurred sometime after he checked it and didn't realize it and ended up riding it with very low pressure and it eventually built enough heat in the flexing sidewalls to fail and come apart. If my theory is correct, then a RF tire really would have helped here. Although my theory is not what is described as what happened.

I still say if you are going to use a RF, you need to have TPMS or you could go thousands of miles on a tire with no pressure and never know it.

Regardless....I'm glad he's ok....that would have been very scary to ride though.

 

[cfinn1]

I still say if you are going to use a RF, you need to have TPMS or you could go thousands of miles on a tire with no pressure and never know it.

I had a value stem failure with my RF. I had TPMS which gave me the immediate warning that I was quickly loosing pressure but I will say that it was OBVIOUS that I was a tire pressure issue on the bike. It was very noticable in the ride with the rear end being squirley. Yes, I believe in TPMS but I really don't think you would go thousands of miles without knowing there is a problem.

 

[MisterK]

:shock:

 

[66Cobra]

Patch?

No patch, just a new tube and some tie wraps.

So did you patch it?

 

[2WheelNut]

Not if you check your tire pressures daily as you should......or ride way farther in a day than I ever will.

A question just came to mind from what you say ... if running with no air on a run flat tire, would you not realize it was low on air in the twisties?

Starting with my 1st ZP tire I run a 1" unibit into it and ride 10-15 miles just before changing it. I have done this to 3 tires in total and when they are flat they make a decent amount of noise. I do it to each tire to keep the sound as fresh as possible (have CRS) in my mind. The first one was a Khumo (not a fan) but the other two where Michelins.

I had a value stem failure with my RF. I had TPMS which gave me the immediate warning that I was quickly loosing pressure but I will say that it was OBVIOUS that I was a tire pressure issue on the bike. It was very noticable in the ride with the rear end being squirley. Yes, I believe in TPMS but I really don't think you would go thousands of miles without knowing there is a problem.

I don't know....I've never ridden a RF that was flat. I just remember a couple of posts where guys went a long distance without realizing it was flat so I assumed you couldn't tell. I'd have to search for the thread but one guy said he went from Nashville to Dallas with no pressure and didn't realize it.

A few of you with actual experience on the RF in these posts seem to say you can definitely tell.....and that's a good thing.

As far as checking my pressure daily....no way I'm going to do that. I make it a point to never agree with Storm but in this case he may have stumbled on a truth. If you check your pressure every day you ride, you're probably more likely to have a blowout from a fatigue torn valve stem than a tire puncture or failure. I check my pressure every couple of weeks or every couple thousand miles, whenever comes first. On a MC tire....I can feel it if it's low...sounds like you can tell on a RF as well.

 

[Rocky]

Starting with my 1st ZP tire I run a 1" unibit into it and ride 10-15 miles just before changing it. I have done this to 3 tires in total and when they are flat they make a decent amount of noise. I do it to each tire to keep the sound as fresh as possible (have CRS) in my mind. The first one was a Khumo (not a fan) but the other two where Michelins.

These pictures are a direct result of NO air pressure in the tire before it's sidewalls decided they had enough from excessive heat and split from the carcass as 2WN suspected.

I have seen this before years ago from another member. Many thought it was photo shopped,but it was not. It too was a Metz. 4:

I been running a Run Flat for over 6 years now. I did something along the lines of what Roadwarrior says.

I was trashed when I made a thread about running a Run Flat with no air in it to see what a low RF feels like. (Early days of Darksiding)

I let 5 psi out of my rear tire just to see what a Low PSI Run Flat felt like. I only had to take out 10 pounds to feel a mushy rear end. I even pulled the valve core out when the tire was used up to feel what the handling was like too. I had to know!

When I did the same test for the front. The Steering felt Very Heavy. and I only had to let out 15 of the normal 40 psi on it to know I had to pull over NOW!.

This taught me what Low Psi feels like front or rear on my bike. I know my bike very well!!

Most wouldn't recognize this Low Psi Sensation. So to them I say--- "Get a TPMS".

 

[trialsman]

Yet another visual reminder that the tires most run on the rear of their 1800s are not as safe as most believe.

Like Rocky said, some will know immediately that something is wrong.... but many may not. That's why I tell those who are less experienced to get a TPMS.