Blown Out Tire?

 

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/06/01/2_on_motorcycle_seriously_hurt_on_i_495/


2 on motorcycle seriously hurt on I-495

June 1, 2010

WESTFORD
Two people were seriously injured in a motorcycle accident on Interstate
495 yesterday, a State Police spokesman said. The accident occurred in
the southbound lanes near Exit 32 at about 6:15 p.m. John Lengiewicz,
48, of Wakefield, who was driving a 1999 Harley-Davidson, and his
passenger, Christine Bullis, 52, of Tewksbury, were airlifted to The
Lahey Clinic in Burlington, said Sergeant Michael Popovics, the
spokesman. The cause of the crash is under investigation, but “it
appears they might have had a blown-out tire,’’ Popovics said.


----------------------------------------------------------------------

In my decade plus of riding nearly 63K miles, I've encountered just one
flat tire but never a blow-out on my bike--going through many sets of
tires without any incidence.  However, I did experienced a blow-out with
my car while driving 75+ MPH on the highway just a few weeks ago though.
  [Blow-out caused by a defective value stem installed with new tires
sold through Costco in the mid-2000s.]  That was quite an experience
with heavy traffic and 18-wheelers zooming by all around me.  I was able
to safely maneuver over to the breakdown lane from the high-speed lane.
  I imagined that it would have been a totally different outcome had the
blow-out occurred with the bike.  Just wondering if anyone has any
experience with blow-outs on a bike.

 


<snip>



I was always under the impression that a blow-out involved sudden and
catastrophic failure of the tyre, which is rare indeed. Sudden
deflation is arre enough with tubed tyres.

I've had the usual run of punctures over the decades - something like
one every three or four years. Probably less frequently than that,
actually.

Nearest to a blow-out was, oh, nearly 30 years ago on a single-cam
Honda CB750. A spoke broke in the rear wheel, went into the tyre, and
ripped a huge gash in the tube. At 60mph. Deflation was as instant as
you'll ever get. The bike went *everywhere*. My friend, following,
said he watched me with the bars on full opposite lock, as the Honda
went sideways up the road, smoke pouring from the tyre. Amazingly, it
stayed upright, although I *nearly* lost it in the last 2mph of
slowing down.

Not an experience I'd like to repeat. Of course, tubed tyres deflate
far faster than tubeless, but this wentjust like *that*

<fx: snaps fingers>

 

TOG@Toil wrote:

Wanna bet?  You may recall from the thread in ukrm that these tubeless
jobbies went down more or less instantly at 70mph and provided me with an an
"interesting" experience while I brought the bike to a halt.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25300337@N08/sets/72157622493431772/

--
Tony
'04 Ducati ST3, '08 DL650GT,
97 TW200, '87 semi-rat LS650, OMF#24

 



Oh, yeah, I remember that. :-0

Well, if you insist on effectively removing the rim....

OK, I'll amend that to "in the event of a puncture".


--
BMW K1100LT  Ducati 750SS  Honda CB400F  Triumph Street Triple
Suzuki TS250ER GN250  Damn, back to six bikes!
Try Googling before asking a damn silly question.
chateau dot murray at idnet dot com

 



Don't worry too much, unless you're running some floppy balloon tire
on the rear.

At the risk of being challenged by Neil (Miss Prissy Pants) Murray, I
will state that
modern *sport* and *sport touring* tires are designed to "run flat"
within motorcycle tire industry terminology, which means that they
will *remain on the rim* and the *carcass is stiff enough to support
the weight of the machine* while the rider maneuvers to the side.

Miss Priss wants to apply the "run flat" characteristics of *car
tires* to motorcycle tires.

Miss Priss thinks that "run flat" means that one could continue to
ride for 50 miles with no air in the tire.

Unfortunately for Miss Priss, motorcycle tire engineers don't pay much
attention to fruit juice journalists...

The rear tire of a motorcycle is supporting 50~60% *plus* of the
motorcycle's weight, while any one car tire is usually supporting only
25~30% of the vehicle weight, and has a far easier task when running
"flat."

I had a rapid deflation in front of an 18-wheeler while riding on the
freeway, but was able to maneuver to the side of the road.

Riding to a safe side street to park resulted in the tire bead
breaking loose and curling up in the drop well of the rim.

Getting the beads out of the drop well so I could install a new tube
was a hard job using manual tire irons.

I had a stiff carcass Dunlop mounted on the rear, but the sudden
deflation of a limber carcass baloon-type tire might have had fatal
results.