Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Busted Rim Rant

Haven't been this PO'd in a while , today , riding with 2 other bikes , we're running 55 mph and the two in front failed to see the neccesity of warning me about a huge chunk of split firewood in the road . It hit this thing and almost wiped out , front tire caught it and rear came up off the road , hit so hard I hurt my back .
Now there's a flat spot on the rim , two bent spokes and a crushed oil filter . I JUST put on a BRAND NEW Metzler last week . There may be internal damage to the tire , so would it be prudent to replace it even though it appears to be OK ?

Moral : You are responsible for the guy behind you if there's a danger in the road . Point , flash brake lights , wave , scream , whatever , I coulda gotten killed .

Man, you gotta find some better friends to ride with! Glad you're okay! rotton luck!

Check the tire it may still be good.....Angelis

If you run your hand inside the tire and it isn't deformed it's probably going to be okay. What rotten luck, you get props for staying upright and not wiping out!
In my neck of the woods the lead rider points at everything: dead squirrels, pot holes or debris. Spank 'em.

If I had a front hit with broken spokes and a flat spot that tire would be in the dumpster too.

100 bucks in rubber or your life. Its a no brainer to me. I had a front blow out once many years ago. Took 5 seconds to stop and keep it straight from 80 mph and 10 minutes for my heart to slow down. You need to be deadly serious with front rubber. That tire would never be near my bike again.

So, you were too close to them to see it, thats a shame. Probably too close for them to warn then. At least you kept the shiny side up.

Hey bro, glad you live to tell the tale. You really can't depend on anyone else on the road. Most people don't even think about anyone else when on the road. Talk to those guys and maybe they will think about it and next time something like that comes up just maybe they'll act resposibly. What was that Oldroadie said, "spank em!" Unfortunatley it all boils down to covering your own butt. Take care. That must have been huge peice of wood.

A hit that hard I wouldn't take the chance with the tire. It could look perfectly fine but the reinforcing threads between the rubber layers could be split and you'd never know.

I have a front tire for sale in the Classifieds, but it's a tubeless Speedy tire - don't know if that works with the tubed spoked wheel.

On another note - when my wife jumped the curb on our Speedy back in '06, it put a flat spot on the rim as well. I got a new rim, put the existing tire on it and the tire was OK for another 12k miles or more. In hind-sight, maybe I should have put a new tire on to be safe, but ultimately the tire was fine.

I had just bought the new tire to replace that original OEM tire, but then I was rear-ended before I even put it on. The store won't let me return it without a hefty restocking fee since it was special order.

OK , so the jury's in - trash the tire . OK , done .
I've got a no deductible arrangement on this one so
I'm gonna do the turnkey option , I never had a good
feeling about the tire , now it's reinforced .
I WAS way back , the thing just blended into the
road and shadows , my pal said later "didn't you see me swerve" , well I swerve a lot , that means nothing , yer s'posed
to POINT at the thing , not just SWERVE .

Bummer , hafta cover yer own . Thanks ladies and gentlemen of the jury .

Wheel is toast if it deformed enough to bend spokes I also wouldn't chance that tire, probably broke or seperated some cords in there at the very least.

I'll 2nd finding better friends to ride with, we always point at a road hazard if seen in time to do so, might not if my hands are full avoiding it myself.

Glad you came through ok. I'd replace that tire.

P.S. Your friends need a lesson in rider safety.