Forum

[Anders F. R.]

I had my second flat motorcycle tyre last Friday. Rear tyre, fortunately. It was no big drama even if I was riding in about 80 km/h. The bike began weaving slightly with the rear end. I started braking and stopped at once, as I knew what had happened. Still, it was a little difficult to control the bike the last few metres, when the tyre had partially loosened from the rim. It kind of wanted to go sideways. .-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Last time it happened was 10 years ago and also on the rear tyre. Both the tyre and inner tube was ripped by a sharp object and the air was lost instantly. I even heard the bang! Speed was about 50-60 km/h, and I sort of kept control until I stopped. .-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

So, two flat rear tyres but fortunately no injury. What if it had been the front tyre, and worst of all in a bend! I am pretty shure I couldn't have managed to stop the bike with (full) control. It could have been a most uncomfortable experience. .-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Has anyone experienced a flat front tyre at speed? What happened? How did it end? .-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Regards, Anders F. R.

[Paul M H]

Had a front tyre go on my push bike about 40 years ago when I was racing down kings head hill with the cycling club that was bad enough. I ended up skidding off the bike into a bush sustaining grazed knees & elbows and bruises everywhere you could imagine. Lucky in those days there was little traffic on the roads would hate to do that now even worse on a motorbike.

[SFC1000]

The joys of tubed tyres, bloody dangerous on a motorbike.

[Bullet thrasher]

Hi
Touch wood, been lucky on motorcycles. Like Paul I had a pushbike drama. I was flying down a hill on my mountain bike, riding the bumps and my front wheel hit a speed bump and blew out. In effect for a nano second there was no weight on the tyre as soon as the weight hit it the rim hit the road and I was off. I broke my nose and sustained heavy damage all over. Some people where calling an ambulance but I insisted they didn't (you can be lying there in a pool of blood and what you feel most is embarrassed). Picked my bike up and carried it home. I'm not into having my road rash scrubbed, I live with the bits of road under my skin. So stupid that the only way we have of dealing with idiot drivers is speed bumps. Before any of the finger waggers but in, yes I was going too fast and I only have myself to blame but the chances of me killing anyone other than myself are pretty slim. Stay safe

[Les H]

Hi Anders, I reckon you'll not get many answers from anybody who has had that happen as they are most likely to be dead...not so much from the crash itself that would follow but more likely to be killed by another vehicle coming the otherway or a vehicle behind. Before my school friends and I were old enough to ride a motorbike on the the road...we often debated the consequences of getting a front tyre puncture...it terrified us, but we had to face up to the peril and just ride regardless of the danger....it still terrifies me today...especially when riding on motorways. Certainly bikes that have tubeless tyres are so much safer in this regard. On some of my bikes I have put the the anti puncture fluids into the tube...GOOP is one such product...seems pretty good.

[Winkie]

I had a front puncture many years ago. Fortunately it happened just as I was slowing for traffic lights and so, whilst I and the Matchless somewhat ungracefully fell over, I suffered no damage! The accepted wisdom about punctures was that the front wheel would disturb road debris such as nails and leave this in an ideal position to penetrate the rear tyre. Probably a load of tosh but it makes me feel safer to believe it!

[wetdog]

"anti puncture fluids " freind used this in the front wheel of his bonney and to this day says it resulted in a tank slapper and a big off , i have had a front tyre puncture on a guzzi at about 20 mph the bike went straight acroos the road in the opposite direction to the bars , it was like the forks had snapped , any faster and 100% i would have been off scary experience bit like hitting diesel

[stinkwheel]

It's one of those odd things. You'd THINK you'd crash instantly but having had many, many rear punctures and a couple of front ones, you always seen to be able to get it back and stopped without actually coming off..... I can't recall speaking directly to anyone who fell off when they got a puncture although I know a couple of people who then dropped the bike when they tried to put it onto the sidestand with a flat tyre..... Same goes for catastrophic rear wheel seizures (eg gearbox or chain related), most people seem to stay with it until they're down to walking pace.

[Riggers]

In the 'good old days' of tubed type tyres I've suffered quite a few rear wheel puntures - both gradual and blow-out. The worst was on a Triumph Tiger 100 (500cc) in the A1. What made it worse was having a heavy weight pillion passenger on board. The bikes tend to start weaving gently at first, but very rapidly degenerate in to tank-slapping weave which, in my case, left me using all three lanes of the A1. As has been said I too managed to get to a safe stop, but the old ticker was going some! I've had just two front wheel slow puntures, and surprisingly the tyre was almost flat before I even noticed. i think the real danger point is when the bead of the tyre parts company with the rim. In the 70s I worked for Dunlop, and the general concensus was that front tyres encounter nails and screws laid flat on the road. The front tyre then spins the object backwards whereupon the rear tyre duely cops for it.

[neddy]

Yes, years ago on Honda CX500, with pillion, straight line-upright about 70-80mph,bike all of asudden felt heavy with no steering, for some reason swung bars from lock to lock while braking and pulled up safetly did not know what the hell it was untill checked bike over, counted myself extreamly lucky that day.