Modern Vespa

A3 5ish this evening...

1st though ... Fuck

Didn't have any more thoughts and t b.h do not know how I pulled the bike across two lanes onto the hard shoulder with the back end sliding all over the place on a dark busy fast rd...


I feel v.lucky..


On the plus side nice man from the r.a.c plugged the tyre in about 10 mins and told me he would follow me all the way home and to ride at 40 mph max..


Anyone had a similar experience?

Hey yea-I've had two flats on my rear tire, but never going 70 nor on a road that was as busy as you describe. But sure had the same feeling when I heard that "pop" and started feeling the rear of the bike going South on me. I was probably doing close to 50 mph. Not fun.

Luckily, it was in the middle of a nice day and I had one of those messy string tire repair kits in my glovebox and in about 20 minutes, I was on my way. I did end up replacing that tire because it was close to the end of it's serviceable life.

The other time, I wasn't going as fast and the leak was slow and not dangerous to ride on before I noticed it. I repaired in the same way and probably put another 2500 miles on it without incident.

You should feel lucky, but you did exactly what you should have.

Lesson - carry your own tyre plugging kit and mini compressor. Glad you got it to the side, not a nice experience, especially from the outside lane of the A3 at rush hour!.

Never had a blowout on an mc or scooter. Sounds like you did a real good job handling the situation. From what I've read, and from experience with auto tires, a good plug job should be OK indefinitely. Of course it would effect my judgment on replacing the tire if it was near the end anyway.

I had my rear tire explosively blow out at 45mph. Fortunately I was able to slow down and get to the shoulder. Damn scary noise, though!

Vegasgeorge I'm sure the plug would be good for a while but for peace if mind I'm gonna change it over...however...


My local shop only has savva in stock....
Wait a few days and order a Pirelli?.....


Currently enjoying a large single malt...


Don't mind admitting I was very shaken for a good few mins after...

After a rapid deflation of a tyre at 70 mph... I would have had a rapid inflation of the contents of my trousers. I'm glad everything worked out for you.

Had it happen on Cannonball doing 80mph. I had just crested a small hill on a long, straight road in East Texas and was headed downhill, pushing my bike for maximum top speed. All of a sudden, the rear end of the bike stepped sideways. First thought was: did I remember to tighten the swingarm properly the last time I put the engine back in?

Took a bit of coaxing of the bike over the next quarter mile to bring it under control. I was convinced I was going to go down at every single moment of that quarter mile, even when I was slowly pulling to the side of the road. The bike's rear wheel was all over the place to the very end.

For your use, order in a Michelin Power Pure. It'll grip as well as the Pirelli in our road conditions, and will last twice as long. Plus it should be slightly cheaper.

Don't use Savas at speed on our winter roads...

I heard a similar story a few months ago...

It made me go ahead and change my tires early for the upcoming MP3 Gathering. I really don't want to experience this, but I guess its going to happen eventually. I guess you tighten your butt and hope for the best.

I am hoping changing the tires before you see tread bars can be a preventative step, but I am sure if you hit something not to much you can do about it.

I have a friend on GA400 that recently found someones lost screw driver.
His new tires did not matter much...

Keith,
Marietta, GA

I had a huge blowout a about 40mph on my first scooter and that was interesting enough. Fortunately it was the rear rather than the front so I slithered to a halt then had to push the bloody thing home.

When that happens your ass makes a bunch of button holes in the seat.

Ouch, well done for surviving. I suppose those that didn't would find it difficult to post a reply.

You,ve got me thinking (worried). I'm relatively new to scootering so assuming it's my turn and I manage to tame the beast, besides carrying a clean pair of pants with me what's your recommended compressor/gue to carry around with me?

Will I need to fit a 12v socket for a compressor?

Yeah, has anyone had this happen on the front?

I had it happen on the back, and it was a bit scary, but manageable (since I'm still alive). The idea of having things go pear-shaped with the front tire...don't think I want to think about it..

You are lucky.....obviously some skill too, but a lot can go wrong in a short time.

I just had a flat after my first month of riding, but it was on a country road at slow speed. Still, makes you pucker a bit. Glad for the easy lesson.

Shredded rear tire on the Scarabeo 500 on my way back from Washington DC last April at 75-80 mph. Like Jess it took a bit to get it to the side of the road, that fishtail flop isn't much fun. I only wish a plug could have got me back on the road. Saturday afternoon 70 miles from the nearest town with a shop isn't exactly fun. 3 hours for AAA to arrive. Sounds like your help arrived faster.

I had a real blowout on my GT 200 going 65 MPH (real speed). I heard a big bang. I was out in the sticks, so I thought someone was shooting. The I noticed the scooter getting real squirrelly. I was not coming up to any curves and there was no traffic, so I just coasted to a stop without using the brakes.

The I realized that, no one is going to find me here because I could not tell anyone about my exact location, so I rode about two miles on the flat to an intersection, so I could tell Vespa where I was. There I called Vespa, and they took me home for free. Wait was 45 minutes.

BTW riding on the flat was easy, as long as you kept it below 20 MPH. Rim never touched the pavement and was unhurt. Tire had a big hole, and was worn, so I did not care about it.

I always wonder however, what would happen if the front tire did the same thing!

Kudos to all who kept the flat rubber on the road.

No accounts of front wheel blowouts though. No one left to tell the tale?

I had purchased a vehicle that had a tire repaired with a plug. After 12 months the plug started to loose air rapidly. My plan was to get my moneys worth out the tires and run them till the wear indicators showed. Never made it to the indicators when i replaced them.

Lesson learned; don't expect to push the plugged tire to its max life, it may not make it. YMMV

Now on a vehicle with 2 wheels I would be more vigilant. I am no expert but my opinion is that a motorcycle/scooter tire has unique stresses. I don't know how long I would want to push it if at all.

well it seems a few of us have some experience of this situation and if you ride in all conditions for long enough i suppose almost every situation will impose itself at some point.


one of the positives is how much really useful knowledge you pick up each time something happens' i have learnt so much from my "offs" even though neither were my fault i think my riding style changed enough to minimize a repeat episode...and i now know exactly how a rear tyre flat at speed feels like as it took me a second or two to work out and take action, if it happens again I will know straight away whats happening and that can only increase my chances of a safe outcome...

fingers crossed it doesn't though!

as my mate and fellow biker said "thank god it wasn't the front"


jimc thanks for the tyre advice ,particularly valuable as you know the conditions and roads i'm using, will order a power pure....any advice on a good front as i might as well do both as i'm at it...i normally buy matched pairs but any suggestions would be helpful..

also plug kit and compressor? my knowledge of these would fit precisely on the back of a postage stamp...


many thanks everyone for all the advice and accounts...as usual this forum has a wealth of experience and knowledge...


props to the R.A.C for not only getting there in 40 mins but also following me all the way home to make sure the tyre held....

for anyone with local knowledge the tyre blew on the 3 lane stretch on the large left hand curve between hook and esher, so the guy followed me a good 15 miles home...

and finally.....

kudos to all that have managed to keep the shiny side up in this situation..

Loads of sticky-string plug kits (by far the best IMHO) on the market - here's one that looks compact:
http://www.xblok.co.uk/www.xblok.co.uk/info.php?p=3

I use a Slime 40020 mini-compressor, which doesn't appear readily available from a UK supplier, but can be bought in from the US:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Slime-40020-Tire-Top-Off-Compressor-Inflator-With-LED-Light-/400295354813?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d337661bd#shId

I've only had to use these a couple of times in anger for myself, but I've done many more road-side repairs for others with them.

Glad you made it to the side of the road without incident. Others same to you. I had my rear go flat on my way back up the coast. Wasn't going 70 but around 40. It just felt like i hit an oil slick because the rear tire was slipping. Pulled over and it was flat. Haven't a clue what i hit. A friend was following me and he put in 3 plugs. Tire got changed out but i rode it home first. Worse thing was having my brake cable snap as i was coming into a corner trying to stop. Rode the rest of the way down the island and my friend wondered why i was keeping a lot of distance between me and him. Nothing like a brake cable snap to make your heart rate go up.

Does anyone have a view on the mushroom plug type kits vs string ones?

They work fine *if* you can get them inserted properly and well seated. I find the sticky string ones much easier to use.

Among three 4-wheel vehicles and four scooters, I've used Stop & Go mushroom plugs maybe a half-dozen times over the past 5 years. They've always worked for me.

For a simple, neat puncture on a cage, I consider them a permanent repair (I have probably 50,000 miles one on my van). I'm much more wary on a PTW and just consider them a temporary fix until the tire can be replaced (although I've never had one fail).

Success is dependent on making sure the mushroom cap is inserted the whole way through the tire, and also on making sure that the cap is pulled firmly against the inside of the tire, which takes more of a pull than one might think.

During my first (training) installation, I pulled too hard and had the plug back out of the tire. If you have enough spares, that is not a problem. Otherwise, pull until you feel the end of the movement, pull a bit more and stop it there. The air pressure will then do its job in sealing it, if the inside texture of the tire will allow this. Some tires may not reliably allow this, so keep checking pressure very frequently (like in hourly at first, then daily).

it happened to me a few years ago. not fun: Adventure on the A2 - rear tyre goes pop at 70mph

in my case it was a dodgy valve stem. i'm lucky i made it from the outside lane to the hard shoulder in one piece. if had happened five minutes earlier than it did, there would have been three solid lanes of traffic between me and safety

I have on both of my bikes...
A must have to keep a small "Slime" under your seat.
I have used mine many times, not for me...
But to help someone else who was going Flat...

Keith,
Marietta, GA

Based on "Fuzzy's" MP3/400 Experience...
He is well known to wear tires down faster then the norm.
I continue to like the City Grips over the Power Pure.
They did not last as long as the City Grips.

Picture not related to above comments, but I keep it handy from a prior post on MV showing how well City Grips hold up.

Keith,
Marietta, GA

or roach clip or other connectors to drain your battery with...
my comment, midway down.
What a difference a different tire [edit: pressure] makes
sticky plugs can fail.
try cotton rag hems soaked in slime.. got me home from the wilds of the gulf coast.
hth

Thanks for the mushroom comments, gents. I've had a kit for ages but thankfully never had to use it. Cheers

Thanks also for the advice Keith et al
I'll research sockets, slime etc.

Be savvy about how you install such a socket. I had a dongle wired up to my bike for the trickle charger to charge the batteries in the winter. When I had a flat, I had the genius idea of using the same dongle to run a pump...well...all it did was add a blown fuse to the list of crap going wrong that day. Sooo...You'll want it wired up direct to battery, as opposed to wiring it up after a fuse. But after you wire it up, you get the bonus that you can run your trickle charger through there too.

btw, keep in mind, a scooter tire holds about as much air as a mountain bike tire. Those CO2 cartridges are well-sized for the application. And a hand pump, while not quite comfortable to use is still manageable. A few ways to skin the cat.

WRONG!

You need a fuse - albeit a 15A or 20A one inline. Without a fuse any short across the connection will fry some cable, possibly causing a fire.

Would have been interesting to know what brand and mileage the blown tires were, to see if there was a particular brand that was prone to blow-outs.

Mine was whatever came on the 2009 Scarabeo 500 in the US and it blew out at 5,200 miles with plenty of thread left. I was however on the last day of a 12 day trip with lots of high speed miles (assuming you consider 65-80 high speed). I'm now got Michelin City Grips on it.

ARTH try looking at Ride On as well. IMHO it's better than slime. I now have it in both my tires. Good luck.

With the Slime compressor, you don't need a 12 volt socket, it has both alligator clips and a socket included....Just attach it to the battery, and turn on.

I always used the strips....I fixed a scooter that had a 2 inch slit, to get it home... it took two strips, but it held air.......
Check you local auto or big box stores in the auto department for it...