Commuter Sumbitch!

[scott P]

Originally Posted by Boon Booni

Thinking the tire was low,maybe 10psi or less. Probably from a leaking valve stem. Tire migrate around the rim until it finally tore the valve stem completely off.

I would concur..............I had a dyna bead get stuck in the stem and cause a slow leak.

[WormShanks]

Originally Posted by scott P

I would concur..............I had a dyna bead get stuck in the stem and cause a slow leak.

Those cursed beads! I've had the same thing happen with my front tire and I was even using those special filter valves. I was fortunate that I didn't go down. Dump the beads.

[Dirtbiker]

Originally Posted by VACommuter

So Wednesday last week I had another event where I "departed flight". 0300-ish I'm hauling ass on my normal morning commute. Doing around 70mph indicated in the middle lane of I95N heading to work in Arlington VA. I start to get the loose rear end feeling and by the time I realize what it is I'm starting to fishtail. I close the throttle and start to drift left into the left lane and shoulder as there were tractor trailers in the right lane. I just entered the shoulder and tapped the brakes to bleed of more speed when the rear end made one more huge cycle to the right and then the left when she promptly went down. It happened so quick. I remember thinking oh shit, and then thinking I got to get to the shoulder and slow down. At some point I was laying over the bike as it was sliding and when all motion stopped the bike was about 10-15 feet infront of me in the shoulder on it's left side still running. I crawled to the jersey barrier and pulled myself up to gather my wits. Walked over to the bike and sut her down. Pulled her to the middle of the shoulder and tossed her up on the center stand. I was amazed that I seemed unscathed. Traffic is still hauling ass by at speed. I dig out my phone and then spend a few frustrating minutes dealing with Progressive. Nobody stopped to help but someone thought it was dramatic enough to call the calvary. Fire engine, ambulance, and two state trooper cruisers show up. First cruiser on the scene promptly gets a flat and has to get a service truck out. I tell EMS I'm fine, sign and they depart. Progressive cant confirm my policy so Trooper gets me a tow truck in a few minutes. Now I'm starting to limp a bit. Bike gets loaded on a flat bed and we head home. Left foot is throbbing and hurts like the dickens. Get home and get bike in the garage. Take off my gear and notice that I'm leaving little bloody footprints on the floor. Head to Stafford Hospital ER and they confirm open fracture of the great toe. Antibiotics and narcotics and crutches and I'm home for a few days. Only injury beside the toe is a small mark on the top of my wrist. I'm guessing I hit the bark buster sometime during my "launch". I always ride maximum ATGATT and had extra layers on due to the 30 degree weather that morning. Obviously I got a flat rear tire. Brand new tires front and rear I mounted last week. Test ride around the hood and checked the pressure over several days before this commute in. I have successfully mounted tires in the past. I suspected some sort of catastrophic failure due to road debris. Especially since the first trooper on the scene also got a flat. Cursory examination of the tire shows nothing that I can see. I'll have to pull the wheel to be sure though.

Here are the pics.


Seems that this ER shot should have a toe tag dangling. Huge antibiuotic shot in the thigh also hurt like hell. I had the curtesy of almost ripping the toe nail off so they didn't need to drill to relieve the pressure.


Broke the big toe bone at both ends. Typical compression type fracture according to ER doc. Saw orthopedic surgeon two days later and he reconfirmed everything the ER doc said. Nothing to do but buddy tape it and wear the boot.



The culprit. This is my 2003 KLR 650 that is my dedicated commuter bike.



Front of AFX-37 Helmet. Chin vent gone.


Sun visor cracked. Scala Rider stayed attached.


Right side of Bilt Jacket took some rash at the lower pocker area and elbow down to a little bit of the armor.






Had on Gerbing electric gloves. Not a mark on them. I think my Hippo Hands kept my hands in the brush guards for the worst of the slide.

Hey, glad it was only the toe. I need to upgrade on footware for myself! Alot of bikers in this area, New Braunfels, Texas, wear sneakers, but for the most part I see cowboy or work boots, being worn.

Always, go with the gear. Get better, and be safe.

[Tim McKittrick]

Originally Posted by VACommuter

Well I finally got the wheel off and dismounted the tire. I was hoping for absolution and that I would discover massive damage from road debris. However, that is not the case. Tire is slightly mishapen from flatenning at speed but there is not a mark on it. Beads look good and interior seems fine. The obvious culprit is the valve stem that was completely yet neatly torn off the tube. Rest of the tube looks great and I could not discern any additional holes or punctures. My 2 ounces of dynabeads are still happily rolling around inside the stemless tube. Soooooo, my lesson here as the man earlier states is to use new tubes everytime I mount new tires. I made special pains to make sure the external valve stem nut was not tight against the rim as I heard that can sometimes lead to shearing if the tire slips on the rim. I think I'll try to remount the tire with a new tube and see what that looks like. The tire might be deformed or out of round. Toe color is more normal with less swelling, pain and throbbing. Still bleeding at the nail but seems to be getting better. Course of antibiotics complete and a big bottle of percocet left over for a "rainy day". Any other words of wisdom, possible hypotheses or general abuse?

VAC

I had a similar failure with a tubed race slick on my XR650R Supermoto when I was using it at the track- the rear tire suddenly went flat at speed and I drifted wildly through s few corners before successfully stopping the bike. Once back at the pits I found the stem had torn free of the tube and the tire had spun on the rim.

I was also using Dynabeads, and I discovered a single bead to be lodged up under the Schrader valve when I fished all of the bits out of the tire. I suspect the bead got under the valve stem and caused the tire to gradually bleed pressure, and once sufficient pressure was lost the torque on the wheel was enough to spin the tire and tear the valve stem off of the tube, leading to an instant flat.

I thought at the time that I may have caused the failure by adjusting the tire pressure with the valve stem at the bottom 6 o'clock position, and that in so doing may have blown a bead into the core of the schrader valve. However, I would think that this would have caused a persistent and audible leak, and I would hope that that's the sort of thong I would notice. So now I'm not certain as to the mechanism by which the bead got up under the valve core- but I do believe that this is what lead to the tire going flat.

There had been endless discussion about the pros and cons of Dynabeads- and I'm not trying to add fuel to that fire. This is just a failure that happened to me, and it looks very similar to the one you experienced.

[troidus]

Originally Posted by Tim McKittrick

I thought at the time that I may have caused the failure by adjusting the tire pressure with the valve stem at the bottom 6 o'clock position, and that in so doing may have blown a bead into the core of the schrader valve. However, I would think that this would have caused a persistent and audible leak, and I would hope that that's the sort of thong I would notice. So now I'm not certain as to the mechanism by which the bead got up under the valve core- but I do believe that this is what lead to the tire going flat.

Do not discount chance during inflation as the mechanism. When I worked nights for QuikTrip, I once made a money drop into the safe, and it bounced just right and tripped the door open switch (normally operable only by a key possessed by the armored car company), leaving a couple of thousand dollars just sitting there in the open. I couldn't believe what happened, so I investigated the mechanism while the safe was open (and I had to yank the just-dropped envelope out of the back of the keyswitch, anyway). Turns out that the inside of the keyswitch wasn't shrouded and the contacts were exposed. I closed it up and pushed the Door button to re-lock the safe, then told my manager about the incident the next day.

[themosjohn]

I drive an18 wheeler for a living and cant think of many places worse than that to go down. glad you made it. Is progressive doing a good job getting you fixed up? if I had to guess, you're gonna end up with a little extra farkle money! interested to hear if afx will replace the helmet as mentioned earlier. keep us posted. john