So it's yet another beautiful spring day here in sunny Florida...and I am tired of driving my truck 120+ miles to the job site in Kissimme....so I decide tonight I'll take Angelina out and stretch her legs a bit.
I wiped her down..installed my Ventura rack for the first time...packed up the laptop and other gear...checked the oil level and chain pretty quick...geared up and off I went.
The first 50~60 miles was pretty tedious to say the least, having to deal with the tail end of rush hour traffic.
After a while things begin to thin out a bit but I am still stuck in the middle of this pack of cagers like indians circling the fort...ready to pounce me. Then as I look ahead and I find an open area, I go for it....I have it all to myself. Since it has been a while since I have done any riding solo...I give her a little throttle and now I am just over a buck-thirty.....then I back off and hold it about 80mph for maybe a few hundred yards just before....
as I start to change lanes to settle in the slow lane to cruise for a while...I get this wishy wash fish tailing effect as I cross the lane dividing paint.
Although this is the first time it has EVER happend in my 15+ years of riding...I already know what the problem is, I just can't initially tell if it's in the front or rear!? This makes it difficult to know where to put your body weight during deceleration from 80 to 0.
As it tuns out, leaning forward was the right choice and just let the back end do what it wanted....no point in fighting it...all I had to do was make it across one more lane of traffic and then off into the shoulder.
I managed to make it all the way over...in fact it's a damn good thing I had just escaped from the steel trap those cagers had me in and I was able to put some distance between them and myself...because it allowed me enuf time to control the bike and nurse it over the the side of the road without having to navigate through all those cars...I surely feel that I would be dead right now if I stayed there.
Now that I am stopped, I look to the front...all is well...I look to the rear...not so good! Now for the fun part of trying to get the bike stable with at flat rear tire, when the kick stand won't go down or out far enough to lean it over. As traffic is whizzing by (and absolutely nobody stopped...even tho my flashers were on)...I noticed that the semi trucks were nearly blowing my helmet off the mirror and the bike over on it's side...so I roll her another 15 feet off the road into the grass....I have to dig a hole in the dirt about 4 inches deep so I can get the kickstand down. Once the bike was secure on her own...I made the call to the wife, told her the wheres and whats....that she needed to grab the spare rim/wheel stand and the right tool set.
After an hour sitting in the grass watching the stars (the night turned out to be a clear as the day) and having little to do besides perp the bike for a wheel change...she finally arrives. BTW...the bike tool kit really does work! Ready for the next issue? I have a flat tire....and a stand with spool lifts....errr. Since the swingarm is too low now, I cannot reach the spoolies to make the lift....I need to raise the wheel just an few inches!!!
So after lookin around some more...I discover to new in the package raincoats, both folded nice and tight. I stacked one on top of the other and wheeled the rear tire up there! Whalla! there just 'just' enough room to jam the rear stand under there and then pull the bike rearward up onto the stand (remember that I am still in the grass...so the wheels are pretty useless at this point).
So..bike is up my wife's car now provides light by which to work...I examine the tire carefully....Nothing! no rips/tears or cuts! Since I was on my way to work..I figured 'it can wait'. So I pull the axel and as I place the tire on the ground I see the valve stem is a little crooked! Then I pressed on it...I hear "psssssttt"...I'll be damed if the valve stem didn't give out on me for some reason.
Fast forwarding a bit...old tire is out...cush drives are swapped...carrier is swapped....then there I am there on the ground almost done...and as I start to slide the axel back through the swingarm...not one, but two! of those "road warrior" help vehicles arrive! lol Where the heck were they for the past 1.5 hours??? Anyways...there was little they could do for me other than hold a few flashlights and comment how glad they were they did know how to do a tire change on a bike...argh!
10 minutes later...I am geared back up and hitting the road for the rest of my trip.
My little advice...check your valve stems!...apparently the can come apart as easily as anything else...it just happens.
This little even could have been much worse if I hadn't gotten away from the cagers...or it I hadn't of slowed down when I did...or if I was riding with my wife (as I usually do). I am also glad this happened THIS week instead of next, when I will be at the Bash...trying to thrash the remainder of this tire!
And to think I just about placed my spare set of rims up for sale last week! That would have been horrific!
B.C.
I wiped her down..installed my Ventura rack for the first time...packed up the laptop and other gear...checked the oil level and chain pretty quick...geared up and off I went.
The first 50~60 miles was pretty tedious to say the least, having to deal with the tail end of rush hour traffic.
After a while things begin to thin out a bit but I am still stuck in the middle of this pack of cagers like indians circling the fort...ready to pounce me. Then as I look ahead and I find an open area, I go for it....I have it all to myself. Since it has been a while since I have done any riding solo...I give her a little throttle and now I am just over a buck-thirty.....then I back off and hold it about 80mph for maybe a few hundred yards just before....
as I start to change lanes to settle in the slow lane to cruise for a while...I get this wishy wash fish tailing effect as I cross the lane dividing paint.
Although this is the first time it has EVER happend in my 15+ years of riding...I already know what the problem is, I just can't initially tell if it's in the front or rear!? This makes it difficult to know where to put your body weight during deceleration from 80 to 0.
As it tuns out, leaning forward was the right choice and just let the back end do what it wanted....no point in fighting it...all I had to do was make it across one more lane of traffic and then off into the shoulder.
I managed to make it all the way over...in fact it's a damn good thing I had just escaped from the steel trap those cagers had me in and I was able to put some distance between them and myself...because it allowed me enuf time to control the bike and nurse it over the the side of the road without having to navigate through all those cars...I surely feel that I would be dead right now if I stayed there.
Now that I am stopped, I look to the front...all is well...I look to the rear...not so good! Now for the fun part of trying to get the bike stable with at flat rear tire, when the kick stand won't go down or out far enough to lean it over. As traffic is whizzing by (and absolutely nobody stopped...even tho my flashers were on)...I noticed that the semi trucks were nearly blowing my helmet off the mirror and the bike over on it's side...so I roll her another 15 feet off the road into the grass....I have to dig a hole in the dirt about 4 inches deep so I can get the kickstand down. Once the bike was secure on her own...I made the call to the wife, told her the wheres and whats....that she needed to grab the spare rim/wheel stand and the right tool set.
After an hour sitting in the grass watching the stars (the night turned out to be a clear as the day) and having little to do besides perp the bike for a wheel change...she finally arrives. BTW...the bike tool kit really does work! Ready for the next issue? I have a flat tire....and a stand with spool lifts....errr. Since the swingarm is too low now, I cannot reach the spoolies to make the lift....I need to raise the wheel just an few inches!!!
So after lookin around some more...I discover to new in the package raincoats, both folded nice and tight. I stacked one on top of the other and wheeled the rear tire up there! Whalla! there just 'just' enough room to jam the rear stand under there and then pull the bike rearward up onto the stand (remember that I am still in the grass...so the wheels are pretty useless at this point).
So..bike is up my wife's car now provides light by which to work...I examine the tire carefully....Nothing! no rips/tears or cuts! Since I was on my way to work..I figured 'it can wait'. So I pull the axel and as I place the tire on the ground I see the valve stem is a little crooked! Then I pressed on it...I hear "psssssttt"...I'll be damed if the valve stem didn't give out on me for some reason.
Fast forwarding a bit...old tire is out...cush drives are swapped...carrier is swapped....then there I am there on the ground almost done...and as I start to slide the axel back through the swingarm...not one, but two! of those "road warrior" help vehicles arrive! lol Where the heck were they for the past 1.5 hours??? Anyways...there was little they could do for me other than hold a few flashlights and comment how glad they were they did know how to do a tire change on a bike...argh!
10 minutes later...I am geared back up and hitting the road for the rest of my trip.
My little advice...check your valve stems!...apparently the can come apart as easily as anything else...it just happens.
This little even could have been much worse if I hadn't gotten away from the cagers...or it I hadn't of slowed down when I did...or if I was riding with my wife (as I usually do). I am also glad this happened THIS week instead of next, when I will be at the Bash...trying to thrash the remainder of this tire!
And to think I just about placed my spare set of rims up for sale last week! That would have been horrific!
B.C.
