punctures

[thrang]

I've not had a puncture in about ten years, and now not three days into my relationship with the Bimbo's replacement, I've got a nail in the rear tire! Funny how these things work out isn't it?

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

sorry for your poor luck.  

[Bob_Roller]

So far in my riding 'career', I've had 2 flat tires, and both were with tires that were just about worn to the wear bars, so it wasn't worth just replacing the tube. I'm pretty anal about tires, I check pressures at least once a week and look over the tread area to see if any cuts or other damage has occured, and every couple of weeks, I spray a soap solution on them to check for leakage.

[Ed Miller]

With the kind of miles you've mentioned elsewhere, I'm just jealous of your good luck,

I've had many flats (4 or 5?) over the past 20 some odd years, but none so far on the R65, all on the Triumph.  I don't know why, as both bikes use similar tires.  That's maybe in a hundred thousand miles total, nothing like what you've accomplished.

[msbuck]

Well, I had 5 flats in the same year    ...all on the R65.  We always check the tires as well, and my husband was always riding with me.  He has a mudflap on his front fender and I don't.  We suspect that the mudflap is the difference.  I had 2 flats on the same trip!  The shop didn't replace the tire, only the tube (although I had picked out a tire for them to mount).  They were trying to save me a nickel and it cost me on the way home!  The old tire rubbed through the new tube and left me on the side of the road 90 miles from home.  At least we could ride two-up back to the house and get the trailer.  

I'm now in the market for a front mudflap for my bike...  

[Justin B.]

Hell, I had 5 flats on the AlCan Highway when I rode up to Alaska!  That's a real fun thing to do, on the side of the road, in the mud, with it raining...  

[SCJJR65]

The only flat I've ever had came on a summer Saturday afternoon when I was still in college and was taking this girl out on a "first date" on the bike.  Everything was going well, the sun was shining, the countryside was lovely, warm and gentle breeze blowing.  Then the flat.  And did I have any sort of puncture kit with me?  Hell no.  As I recall, that little incident took about three hours out of our date.  Never went out with that girl again, come to think of it.  
(In my defense, that was back in 1976, when I was young and stupid.)  

[Jon_P]

i have only had one flat. it was in the rear tire and i was riding two up with my wife (now ex) doing around 100mph. the tire came off the rim! all i felt was a wobble and then it sank. the guy how changed the tire said i was lucky because it didnt have a tire keeper on the rim. he said i should have dumped the bike? he said i was lucky.

after that i check my tires every week like Bob along with looking over the rest of the bike. found a brake line that was rubbing on my front wheel last year, it was wet and not leaking when i pulled the lever but close to rubbing all the way through.

[thrang]

I am another of the tire obsessed, and am very strict about checking the pressures and getting them replaced before they are worn to the legal limit, which is probably why I've been lucky when it comes to avoiding punctures.

[suecanada]

Would a piece of inner tube serve as a mudflap for Aïda's front fender? I am presently cutting up some more of my "Crazy Carpet" plastic sheeting for a front mudflap, fenda-extender, for the F650. Crazy carpet plastic is shining on one side and matte finished on the other and is pretty thin but not as wobbly as inner tubing would be. Tough as nails too!! I could mail you a piece of crazy carpet Aïda if you want. I have black so you can have any colour you want as long as it's black. [smiley=ROTFLMAO.gif]

[Justin B.]

Sounds like a Henry Ford disciple!  

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Would a piece of inner tube serve as a mudflap for Aïda's front fender? I am presently cutting up some more of my "Crazy Carpet" plastic sheeting for a front mudflap, fenda-extender, for the F650. Crazy carpet plastic is shining on one side and matte finished on the other and is pretty thin but not as wobbly as inner tubing would be. Tough as nails too!! I could mail you a piece of crazy carpet Aïda if you want. I have black so you can have any colour you want as long as it's black. [smiley=ROTFLMAO.gif]

I might take you up on that, Sue!  I have been looking for a front extension since this talk started.

I have a rear that I bought back when I was a kid, but never installed.  In a box, somewhere...

[msbuck]

Black is my color, anyway.    Thanks, but I think Graham has found an old rear mudflap that he is in the process of chopping up to make a narrower flap for the front.  We'll see how that goes.  Send it to Rob and then both of you can give us a progress report on how well it works/doesn't work!  (Crazy carpet, huh?    never heard of that stuff!)

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

(Crazy carpet, huh?    never heard of that stuff!)

I think it is one of those Canadian things.

Like Jack-In-The-Box in California.

[NC Steve]

Isn't 'Krazy Karpet", with a "K", the same stuff Sue built her bike "turntable" out of?
Kinda rings a bell.
Some strange, exotic, mysterious Canadian substance as I recall... :-?