High Speed Rear Tire Deflate

[Scoop47501]

I have about 150,000 miles on motorcycles but have not had this happen before so I want to share.
Posting this to help others that have not experienced this yet.
While on a tip from Indiana to North Carolina I had a puncture in my rear Shinko 705 rear tire while south bound from Owensboro to Bowling Green.
Not knowing it at the time I experienced a vibration at 70 mph . Though it was the road so to check I changed to the fast lane to see if it was the road. Same feel so back to the right lane.
Then it got dramatically worse. Front turn signals were shaking and I realized the rear was going down. By the time I got it slowed down both beads broke loose from the rim and I could not steer at all. Bike drifted to the left lane and at the very end I thought I was going down for sure as the shaking became violent.
Held it upright and stopped on the 24" left median.
Got off and the rear tire was smoking.
After traffic cleared I was able to limp across to the right lane.
I could see through both beads between them an the rim so a patch and repair was out of the question.
If you feel something that just aint right Pull Over and check things out.
I was able to get it picked up for repair with the help of my friend who was along with me.
Thanks to Star Motorcycle and Rv in Bowling Green for picking up my bike after hours and getting me back on the road by 10:30 the next morning.
Regards
Scooper

 

[Dogdaze]

Thanks and lucky too, could have turned out much worse.

 

[gv550]

I'm glad you got stopped without incident.
I've had several flats over 40 years and after my last one a year ago I decided to install Tire Pressure Monitoring, there are several systems available and anything is an improvement over what Scoop experienced.

 

[OldRider]

I make my living selling MC tires and I've mounted a small truck load of Shinkos. Shinkos don't "pop" out on the rim like most other tires do and are very easy to break down on the rim. This is nothing more than just my opinion, but if you had been riding on any other brand of tire, the odds of the tire staying on the rim would have been much greater. There's a reason why Shinkos sell for less than half what most other tires sell for. I know there's a lot of riders out there that ran shinkos never had a problem, but there's no way I'm putting one on my bike. ATGATT and a $60 tire doesn't make any sense to me. JMHO.

 

[Cycledude]

Had a somewhat similar experience in the early 90’s , learned a very good lesson, since then anytime a tire doesn’t feel right to me i pullover to check it out, yes I’ve pulled over a bunch of times when there was absolutely nothing wrong but that’s much better than loosing control .

 

[airmed]

Cyclops tire monitoring system. Besides the alarm on it, it has become a normal part of my scan to always check the front and rear tire pressure.
Thanks for sharing your story.

 

[WJBertrand]

Had almost the exact same experience with my Honda ST1100 out in the middle of nowhere. I started feeling a heavy vibration on throttle application and my first fear was a failing universal joint. The vibration got worse and then the bike started getting squirrely. At that point I knew it was a tire problem. Luckily in my case the beads remained on the rim it was just down to plugging and re-inflating. I had red gummy worm plugs and some CO2 cartridges on board.

I noticed that the previous day I'd been getting poorer fuel mileage than usual which returned to normal as soon as I fixed the tire. Also because it was raining the tire was spared any heat damage. In my experience a tire can run low for a surprisingly long time before symptoms become obvious. I run a TPMS system now and on my previous ST1300. The system saved me some heartache 2-3 times on my ST1300. So far no flats on my Tenere. With a TPMS system you would have been alerted to the low pressure way before the issue became catastrophic.

 

[Edbo1960]

I've had a couple flats on my FJR (both rears), steering got slow and was able to pull over both times. I now put Ride On sealant in the tires that will quickly seal a puncture. I'm suppose to pick up my "new" 2014 Tenere ES this weekend that has a TPS, I don't think I can use the Ride On with the TPS.

Look forward to more "chats" with all of you!

 

[Beemermcr]

2004, 2 up, mine was a blowout at 55mph. Back wheel fishtailed right, got it up, then fishtailed left - 5 times before I let it go into the ditch to avoid oncoming traffic. Wife landed on me, was fine; I had 6 ribs and a collarbone broken, bike totaled and still pucker when I feel a bump in the rear. You came out well!!

 

[EricV]

Very basic rules of thumb on warnings that a tire is low pressure. Rear will lightly weave at highway speeds. Steering gets heavy.

Front, steering starts feeling like a truck and bar input is much greater to initiate leans/turns.

Part of the issue is centrifugal force causes the tire to want to spin to the outside of the rim, making it seem like nothing serious is happening. By the time it gets really noticeable, bad stuff has already happened to the carcass and it's much more scary.

 

[scott123007]

I have to agree with OldRider. I mount my own tires. Was running OEM Battle Wings. Like them except in the rain. They were not bad, just got use to better. Tried some Pilots they were not the GT ones, (fitment limitations). Did not like how it wonders at speed. Also thought the sidewalls were way to flimsy. Went back to Oem Battle Wings for a 8k trip out west. As fait would have it my friends Pilots needed to repaired. The wings never missed a beat. 4 bikes and the Super Tenere was the only bike not to have a problem. We probably lost 3 days to bike issues.

What does that have to do with agreeing with OldRider?

 

[gv550]

A couple years ago I got an offer to buy a pair of Shinko 705s for $99 with free shipping from Pinwall Cycle, so I grabbed them for my KLR. When I mounted them I remember thinking how flimsy the sidewalls were and how easy they slid onto the bead, and although they performed well enough I never felt comfortable riding on those 'cheap' tires. Fortunately, I never had a flat and I later traded the bike with those tires for the S10. I did have a rear flat with the KLR running Mefo Explorer tires (also stiff sidewalls) and had to ride with no air for a couple miles (torn valve stem) and the tire stayed on the bead.
I'm riding on Mitas Dakar tires now, they are much more difficult to mount due to the stiff sidewalls but if they are anything like the Mefo Explorer, they are almost a run-flat tire.

 

[fredz43]

In the last 2 years, I had one friend die after a crash that was due to rear tire deflating to the point of loss of control. This was observed by the rider behind him. Later that year, a close friend was riding 2 up on his 2012 S10 and he had a sudden loss of pressure of the rear tire to the point that he had a crash that resulted in life-altering injury to his wife, injury to him and a totalled S10. After that, I bought the TPMS system that was featured by a vendor on this site and mounted the display on the crossbar of my 2014 S10. It will change color and flash if either tire gets below my selected set point. I believe the manufacturer is Cyclops and it is the type where you must remove the tire to install the monitor, which is the same type as featured in most cars today. It is reassuring to see the display when I start the bike and it shows if I have proper pressure and I have a better chance of seeing a problem before it gets to the point of loss of control. Couldn't hurt and it might help.

 

[Sierra1]

My opinion is not so much the tire's fault, but inconsistent pressure monitoring. It doesn't take but a couple of minutes to check tire pressures. Tires lose air sitting in the garage. Some tires lose air faster than others. I've seen as much as 2lbs a week.

 

[OldRider]

We really need more facts from the OP. Did the tire have a nail or something in it? Did the tire itself fail? Was it just running too low and heat got to it? I'm going to blame it coming off the rim so easily because it was a Shinko, but why did the air escape?

 

[fredz43]

In the other case where my friend and his wife went down on their S10, he thought it was a blowout, but when he got out of the hospital and examined the bike in the salvage yard, it had a puncture. I don't recall if it was a screw or nail, I'll have to ask him.

 

[WJBertrand]

The point I always try to make and what I believe the key benefit of a TPMS system is that it can provide a warning when you sustain a puncture enroute. One can check their tire pressures religiously before every single ride but you cannot predict whether or not you will suffer a puncture 5 minutes after you leave. The SmarTire system I had on my ST1300 alerted me to a low rear tire in the middle of a 6-lane high speed LA rush hour freeway (405). I was running 70 MPH in the carpool lane. Not only was I able to safely merge across six lanes of freeway and exit, I was also able to find a service station with an air hose where I plugged and re-inflated my tire, before the pressure got critically low or there were any other control issues.

 

[EricV]

<snip>After that, I bought the TPMS system that was featured by a vendor on this site and mounted the display on the crossbar of my 2014 S10. It will change color and flash if either tire gets below my selected set point. I believe the manufacturer is Cyclops and it is the type where you must remove the tire to install the monitor, which is the same type as featured in most cars today. It is reassuring to see the display when I start the bike and it shows if I have proper pressure and I have a better chance of seeing a problem before it gets to the point of loss of control. Couldn't hurt and it might help.

Fredz - Question about the Cyclops TPMS - Does it accurately show pressure when you key on? Or do you have to start rolling before you get an accurate reading?

Thanks.

 

[fredz43]

Hi Eric. It shows pressure with key on. I had another system where the sensors were in the cap of the tire stem and they wouldn't show pressure until you were rolling. With those, if you then see that you are low, you have to turn around and then go back to the air compressor, plus a few other things I didn't like with that system, such as a bit more hassle when filling to correct pressure and having to use another guage when doing that. With this system, I make sure that I have the correct pressure before I leave the garage. If not, I can turn the key on, add air while I check the display and I am ready to go. A bit more $, but I like it much better than the other type that I tried. These work just like the sensors in our 2 cars, come on with the ignition.

 

[EricV]

Thanks M8.