Planning for the "what-if"

All,

 As I've posted elsewhere, I'm touring up to Cape Cod from Virginia in July. Part of planning involves contingencies. In a car, if I get a flat-tire, I've done the change enough times to be comfortable.  I don't give the "what-if" any thought, so long as I know I have a viable spare in the trunk. I've repaired tires on bicycles out in the field - it's pretty easy to remove a wheel, remove the tire, patch the tube and reinstall.

 Not so with a bike.  And I'm kind of clueless here.  I can imagine myself 50 miles from nearest bike shop and stuck on the side of the road. If I get a flat, what do I do (aside from maintaining control of the bike and pulling over safely)?  

Vince.  

Unlike car tires, motorcycle tires have a very rigid structure.

For a cruiser, most front tires will not go flat. They are so much stronger than necessary that even uninflated, they can be ridden on for hundreds of miles as long as you keep it down to 40 or 45 mph. Most people can't even see that their front tire is low until it gets below 10 psi.

I have taken that concept a little farther by buying rear tires designed to hold up heavier bikes than the one I own. For example, the Continental Milestone I put on my VN800 could support not only me and the bike, but also a hundred pounds of cargo, without going flat if it got punctured. Likewise, the new tire I just put on the back of my Sabre is designed for a much heavier bike so I can just ride home on it even if it is completely deflated, because it will not go flat. It will just get a little soft.

You might not be able to do that with a Road King or GoldWing, but you can do it with most bikes.

regards,
Joe  

sloowpoke, thanks for the interesting comments! I was unaware that bike tires are more rigid than car tires.  

I took the same question to the local bike dealer and he recommended that I carry a repair kit.  He said that if I take a nail in the sidewall, I'm screwed. But if the puncture is in the tread and the object is still embedded, then I'd be able to use the tool to repair the puncture.

I suppose that if the problem isn't repairable, I'd be able to call a flat-bed tow truck. My insurance covers that.

Thanks, Vince.  

I'd also advise membership in the American Motorcycle Association. They provide a towing service like AAA(which won't touch your bike). I had my bike towed about 20 mi. when I snapped a drive belt(free). Check with them, the probably have levels of service, I've got basic at the moment.  

He must sell some really strange motorcycle tires, where the sidewalls can actually get close to the pavement :-)

I quit carrying the extra stuff to work on tires, back in the mid 80's. The one time I got a puncture on a trip, I just rode the bike to the nearest town and got a plug kit and a room for the night. After plugging the tire I got a good night's sleep, then reinflated it before hitting the road the next morning. The 1984 GoldWings were a lot lighter than they are today.

The VN800 rear tire was a magnet for screws and nails. I rode it home three times, with a puncture, totalling about 100 miles riding on it deflated, but not flat. That bike used tubes, so the tire had to come off so the tube could be patched.

I've had a grand total of two flat tires on bikes in 35 years. The first was on a Honda Hawk back in 1978, coming down a long curve in the mountains. I had to ride the bike about a mile, with the back end skittering around under me every time the tire rolled off the rim far enough for the rim to be on the pavement. I just knew that tire was going to come completely off the rim and wrap up and jam the rear wheel before I could get to level ground and stop, but it never did. The second was in 1982, riding a bike too heavy for the tire to support when it deflated. That one was in the city and the tube was shredded just getting the bike out of traffic, but the bead never broke loose so the rim wasn't damaged.

regards,
Joe  

BTW.
On the prevention side, my bike is a 2003 with 25k on it (got it used last year w/ 20k). I shipped it in to have driving lights installed, and they noticed dry rot on the valve stems. Radial tires, no tubes... still almost as much since they had to pull both tires, break the bead, etc.
The normal can of fix-a-flat wouldn't help, nor would a patch kit.

Until today, I'd never even have thought about this one.  

Yeah, there was some media talk about a year or so ago, about a major manufacturer of valve stems having a manufacturing problem that resulted in a huge number of valve stems deteriorating early and having to be replaced. IIRC, the manufacturer was paying for them to be replaced.

regards,
Joe  

BTW, as a humorous aside, my niece saw the sidewall close to the pavement comment, and said "where else does it go?". She rides a sport bike.

In my case, I think the valve stems were original... 6 years is quite a while for any rubber part exposed to the elements.