ROMEOS

I received a call on Friday morning from Bob Diehl wanting to know if I would like to meet for Lunch at Sommerset Hall Café in Dover, KS. Most of you are aware that this Café is now nationally known for it’s coconut cream pie made by 88 year old Norma Grubb, when it became one of four Good Morning America’s finalists for the best pie in America and then won the contest last November. So, if you want a piece of Norma’s coconut cream pie, you have to get their early.

Dover provides a great opportunity to get on my GS and ride the Flint Hill dirt roads from Manhattan. So I picked a great route of dirt and gravel through the Flint Hills. Since Bob lives in Spring Hill, KS, we agreed to meet at Sommerset Hall around noon. Fortunately for Bob, we arrived early enough for him to get a piece of coconut cream pie. After a great lunch, we parted ways and I rode over to Eskridge to pick up more great dirt roads back to Manhattan. Some of these roads are nothing more than dirt trails. Great fun on a GS! However, with dual sport tires and 640 lbs of motorcycle, you have to know your limitations. Some of the roads had some very challenging sections. Riding west, I rode through Alma and continued northwest towards Pilsbury Crossing River crossing, on my way back to Manhattan.

That’s when the fun started. On newly graveled Tabor Valley Road, my rear end started getting loose at about 50 mph. I pulled over to the side of the road and realized my rear tire was flat. Gee…just what I needed. The rear tire on my GS is a Pirelli Scorpion with only a few thousand miles. This tire was already plugged once. Normally, I discard any plugged tires. However, in three months, I will need to mount a new set of tires for my 8500 mile trip to Alaska in June. So, I figured I would use this plugged tire until June to save the Alaska tires.

So, no problems here; I will simply plug the tire and inflate with my electric tire pump. But I then recalled I put a tube in the rear when I mounted this tire, since the tire was plugged. I didn't need to do this since it had a good plug. However, it seems like a good idea at the time just in case the plug failed. It was a bad idea!! My only option was to remove the rear tire, break the bead with the side stand, and remove the tube. Using the side stand to break the bead while your bike is on its center stand with NO rear tire can be dangerous, especially on such a large bike. However, I used a strap to secure the center stand down, by securing it to the front fork. Still, a feat best attempted with a buddy.

There was no visual external damage to the tire. So I removed the tube and carefully felt around the inside the tire. Inside the tire was about three inches of wire that had punctured through the thickest part of the tire. There was a very tiny entrance hole from the outside that most likely would have been a very slow leak if it wasn’t for the tube. Once the tube was punctured, air apparently leaked past the valve stem. So I plugged the tire with a tar snake, installed a steel reusable valve stem, and set the bead with a CO2 cartridge. Once the was bead set, I used my electric air pump to inflate the tire and remounted the tire.

So, what were the lessons learned from the day? The first was never use a tube in a tubeless tire and rim, when not absolutely necessary. Without a tube, I could have plugged the tire, inflated, and been on my way. I also have my doubts the very small puncture would have lost air as quickly without the tube. The second lesson was always being prepared to fix a flat with the tools on the bike. This should include a tube just in case you can't plug the tire, a removable valve stem if using a tube, a tube repair kit if you need to patch the tube, a tubeless tire repair kit, CO2 to set the bead and a pump of some kind to inflate the tire.

With two plugs, the tire is now going into the trash. I ordered another tire for the rear and will mount the Metzler Tourance rear tomorrow. The second rear tire will be strapped onto my bike for my 8500 mile, 20 day trip to Alaska in June. Even with the flat, it was a great day of riding. It was also good practice fixing a tire in less than ideal conditions.

Thanks for posting that story Ken. Very informative about how to work around a serious problem. JLB

It's been a few years since I've experienced a flat tire in the dirt. The last time was on the Dempster Highway in the Northern Yukon in 2007 with Bob Diehl. We were approximately 50 miles south of the Arctic Circle on a road that was about six inches deep in mud, during a cold wet rain. The area was full of large grizzly bears and Bob had a piece of shale puncture a 1/2 wide cut in the tire. Fortunately, we were able to use two tar snakes to fill the puncture until we arrived at Eagle Plains where we were able to actually fix it properly.

Here's some photos from the Dempster Highway. Do you see the grizzly bear blocking the road in the third photo? The Dempster Highway is 450 miles of dirt / gravel one way with only a couple small gas stops and is located in Northern Yukon / Northwest Territories. You definitely need to know how to repair a tire before riding this road. On this road, it's a good idea to carry a spare tire.

Ken, you're killing me...

Come on Jerry. You only live once. I know from personal experience that you can't hear your wife chewing your backside for 4,000 miles. She'll get over it.