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Message started by NHLycan on 08/09/15 at 08:40:32

Title: Rear tire blow out
Post by NHLycan on 08/09/15 at 08:40:32

Funny Story.

Like a lot of the folks on this forum, I do most of my own maintenance work.
One of the jobs I can't do is mounting and balancing a tire. Not set up for it.

Any way, in June I swing down to the shop to get my inspection sticker and they say, "Hey your rear tire passes, but barely." I'd just slid across a sewer grate on the way there, so I say to myself "what the hell" and ask them to replace it.

10 days later or so I get the bike back, cause the tire was out of stock, which would have been nice to know before, but whatever, I'm a reasonable man.

I get the bike and take a 45 mile trip out to hear some music on a nice new road. That night, on the way home, I get off the exit to take the back roads the last few miles and the rear tire deflates all at once on me and I nearly wipe out. 10:30 a night and I get the joy of pushing my bike 2 miles home. Less fun than it sounds.

The next morning I take a good look at the tire. No nails or anything but the yellow dot is not 180 to the stem. Which is weird. And the fine fellows have 3.5 oz of lead opposite the stem. Which is a crazy amount.

I swing it down to the shop and ask "WTF?"

"Oh yeah we meant to tell you there something weird about your rim. It took a lot of weight and blah blah."

So we go in the back and I watch the put a new tube in, The old one had the stem torn out and two good lacerations across the top. Maybe from the long push home which took it off the bead, I don't know.

In goes the new tube and on balancing it this time, 3/4 oz of lead. Reasonable. The guy has no idea what he did wrong the first time and is mystified so I chalk it up to a funky tube combined with an idiot, thank him for his time and leave.

Yesterday I take the bike out for a spin; 45 miles out and on the way home, it blows the tube again, which is scary as hell at 65mph in heavy traffic.

100 dollars for the trailering home I have a drink to steady my nerves and start looking for nails. Nope.

Stems torn loose from the tube. Again.

And of course everybody's closed today.  

The new tire is a Dunlop K555 140/80- 15 M/C.

Friends, neighbors, fellow citizens of SuzukiSavage.com, lend me your brains.

What's going on? Are they trying to kill me? Is this the wrong tire for my bike? Do you think they're installing the wrong tube? How do you screw this up so badly? WHY ME?

Title: Re: Rear tire blow out
Post by verslagen1 on 08/09/15 at 09:03:15

it could be a defective tire
but check out what lube he's using
looks to me that the tire is spinning on the rim at speed
ripping out the stem
if it's the lube, he owes you.

Title: Re: Rear tire blow out
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 08/09/15 at 09:03:48

I rode a relatively new Dunlop with a nail in it almost forty miles. A can of fix a flat lasted minutes, but I discovered that, at speed, and staying as straight as possible, I could make fifty or so MPH. I bought at least three maybe four cans, pumped green slime in, filled with fix a flat, but the tube only had about a one inch tear. When I got home, stopped, put the stAnd down and sighed a sigh of relief, the tube gave up and tire went flat and gunk ooozed out. I'm really happy that it didn't just blow out like yours.
Imagine if you had that happen in a long, high speed sweeper.
Try to find rubber inner tubes. I think a lot of them are pvc. They tear if punctured. I always stood there and watched tire mounting. I'm a chatty guy, and strike up a conversation and just hang out with them. And I watch.
Make sure rotation and dot are right, make sure the tube isn't mistreated..

Yes, you've had a real eye opener. Coulda been a permanent eye closer.
The question is, why did it do that?
Did anyone inspect the rim and the tube protector?

Title: Re: Rear tire blow out
Post by FerousBastard on 08/09/15 at 11:03:40


6C7F6869767B7D7F742B1A0 wrote:
it could be a defective tire
but check out what lube he's using
looks to me that the tire is spinning on the rim at speed
ripping out the stem
if it's the lube, he owes you.


I'd second this. A ripped out stem usually either indicates a faulty tube, two in a row not likely, debris in tire or the guy got over enthusiastic with the lube. A mildly tuned Savage can slip its clutch hence it needs a solid connection between rim and tire.

Title: Re: Rear tire blow out
Post by Serowbot on 08/09/15 at 11:51:49

Also, have them check the inside tire surface for flaws... (it could be that the stem is tearing off, after you go flat)...

Two flats with no puncture?,... I'd ask for new tire...

Title: Re: Rear tire blow out
Post by oldNslow on 08/09/15 at 13:04:47


Quote:
but the yellow dot is not 180 to the stem.


I know this doesn't help much now, but for the future, the dot on the tire goes next to the valve stem not opposite it. If your tire guy doesn't know this and  actually installed the tire with the dot 180 degrees from the stem, I'd be very suspicious of the rest of his work.  

Title: Re: Rear tire blow out
Post by Dave on 08/09/15 at 18:28:51

The dot on the tire is at the "lightest" part of the tire.  With tubeless rims you can put the wheel with the valve stem installed in the balancing jig, and determine what part of the wheel is the heaviest.....and then put the tire dot at that location.  That way the least amount of balancing weight can be used.

With a tubed tire you can't do that, and you have to assume the heaviest part of the rim will be where the valve stem is located.  If you find you need a lot of weight.....then break the tire loose and rotate it 180 degrees and see that happens.  You can also rotate it at 90 degree increments and see what position needs the least amount of weight.

How old is the tire they mounted?  I had an old tire that kept spinning on the rim and tearing out valve stems....as the rubber had gotten hard and would not longer grip the rim and the tire would spin and rip out the valve stem.  A fresher tire and the problem went away.  The last 4 digits of the tire code are.....the first 2 digits are  the week the tire was made, and the next two are the year.  (Example 4114 would be the 41st week of 2014).

Title: Re: Rear tire blow out
Post by Serowbot on 08/09/15 at 18:42:38

Another tip...
The nut on the valve stem is for installation only... it should be loosened up about halfway up the stem for riding... (this is so the tire can slip a little without ripping the stem)...
(a lot of tire installers leave them tightened down... this is wrong)...

Might be the whole problem... :-/...

Title: Re: Rear tire blow out
Post by Kris01 on 08/09/15 at 20:37:54

I'll have to check mine. Thanks for the tip Serowbot!

Title: Re: Rear tire blow out
Post by Sonny on 08/09/15 at 22:19:54

Does anyone have an informed opinion on using talcum powder as a tire dismounting / mounting / bead seating lubricant, instead of soapy water?

You already use some talcum in there to help the tube settle into place.

I've seen it done on some how-to YouTubes and it got me thinking: excess soapy water left inside a mounted tire is likely to stay there for a long time, promoting rust inside the rim. I have found rust inside my Savage rims.

But, does talcum left in the bead/rim contact point cause lasting slipperiness that could contribute to the kind of valve stem damage discussed on this thread?

Naturally, I'd prefer actual experience to speculation about this... :^/

Title: Re: Rear tire blow out
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 08/09/15 at 22:58:40


Naturally, I'd prefer actual experience to speculation about this... :^/


Dude, this is an internet forum....

Title: Re: Rear tire blow out
Post by Sonny on 08/09/15 at 23:10:49


76696F6875724373437B69652E1C0 wrote:
Dude, this is an internet forum....


Heh-heh...

I'm sure the World's Greatest Expert will be chiming in any minute now, and he'll have a PhD. in Talcum Physics... and then we'll have to do a background check on that on Google, and then sit and stare at the baby powder bottle for a day or two, thinking about it...  ::)

Title: Re: Rear tire blow out
Post by KennyG on 08/09/15 at 23:17:29

Sonny,

In 1959 crossing the bridge from Wrightsville to Columbia, PA I picked up a nail in the one tire on my brand new AJS Scrambler. My brother was with me and we managed to push the bike to Columbia and found a gas station open on Sunday. We were able to get the tire apart with the little tire irons that came in the tool kit, and the gas station attendant hot patched the tube. We could not get the bead back over the rim. We went to a convenience store and bought a box of corn starch and used the corn starch as a lubricant to get the tire back on the rim. Pumped the tire up and rode to Lancaster.

In all my years of changing motorcycle tires I never used soapy water. I always used corn starch or talcum powder.

Kenny G

Title: Re: Rear tire blow out
Post by gizzo on 08/10/15 at 00:02:41


0C2229043526342F470 wrote:
Sonny,

In 1959 crossing the bridge from Wrightsville to Columbia, PA, I was wearing an onion on my belt because that was the style of the time, I picked up a nail in the one tire on my brand new AJS Scrambler. My brother was with me and we managed to push the bike to Columbia and found a gas station open on Sunday. We were able to get the tire apart with the little tire irons that came in the tool kit, and the gas station attendant hot patched the tube. We could not get the bead back over the rim. We went to a convenience store and bought a box of corn starch and used the corn starch as a lubricant to get the tire back on the rim. Pumped the tire up and rode to Lancaster.

In all my years of changing motorcycle tires I never used soapy water. I always used corn starch or talcum powder.

Kenny G


No way Kenny! Brake fluid or coconut oil, because that's the way I was taught so it must be right  :P.

Title: Re: Rear tire blow out
Post by Sonny on 08/10/15 at 00:15:11


614F4469584B59422A0 wrote:
In all my years of changing motorcycle tires I never used soapy water. I always used corn starch or talcum powder.

Kenny G


Thanks for this.

Title: Re: Rear tire blow out
Post by Dave on 08/10/15 at 03:53:12

I have tried soapy water, WD40, Armorall, etc.

I bought a bottle of Ruglyde recently....it works much better than the other stuff I have tried, and it claims in helps prevent rim slipping once the bead is set.

A gallon will last a lifetime as it takes very little....buy a bottle and split it up into pint/quart bottles with your friends.

http://www.autoparts2020.com/rsdev/part_detail.jsp?PART_HDR_ID=21945

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