Not a Happy Sight.....

[fish]

Out in the sticks and heading home on a nice warm sunny day.....and picked up a 1.5" wide sliver of steel in my back tire.
Sudden not-real-loud howling noise, pulled off the road and found a quickly deflating Dunlop - And a hole too big for my C02 bottles and patch kit in my tire....4000 miles - with plenty of tread left - looked nearly new to me.

Cell phoned to local tow boys ...and off we went to my dealer - where of course they do not stock our goofy size tire.
After much discussion, and a time-out to use my cell phone to find the "Tire Size Calculator", I went with the Bridgestone Hoop B02 150/70-13 that they had in stock. No tire came up on their computer search - then I mentioned HONDA for parts - and came back with a much delayed time to obtain the Dunlop.
"OK, I want out of Dunlops - too rare in Ohio."
Two good points about the Bridgestone - it has a very recent production date and is made in "Japan" !(Didn't know anything was made in Japan any longer, 'cept a few million cars.)
My findings:



You do NOT want to know what this flat tire cost (towing, tire, labor)....but 12 hours after starting out I was riding home on a Bridgestone.
No idea where I picked up this chunk of metal.....but it had to be close to where I pulled off the road.
The oil-dry on the flat bed was from a bike he picked up the night before - rider hit by a car that blew a stop sign on a 50MPH country road. I went through that same intersection this morning. Fish

[pja2536]

Out in the sticks and heading home on a nice warm sunny day and picked up a ...

Fish,

Been there and done that. I belong to a motorists club which includes free towing, although I have to fork out AUD120 for motorcycle coverage on the spot; still MUCH cheaper than the towing costs.

Why does Honda use such a silly unique tyre size. I liked at both Pirelli and Sava and chose the Pirelli Diablo. Both were 140/60 13. Both suppliers and my dealer warned against going to a wider tyre for clearance reasons and suggested that the lower profile 140/60 would be a better bet. See details below:

and

I'm not that happy with the Pirellis; they seem to feel "odd" and "tramline" - I'm told that's because they have a more "Vee" profile than the standard Dunlops. They don't look like it. I am going to try Sava's at the next tyre change.

It would be interesting to hear your practical experiences.

Regards,
Peter

[AKforza]

Fish sorry to hear of your troubles. I've had two rear flats but repairable and nothing like what you went thru. I have considered your situation and ordered a spare rear to have on hand as the size is hard to come by. I like the Dunlop's but can not find them anywhere but the dealer. Honda has the part number # Dunlop 61p. I now have a back up and hopefully we will see more options from manufactures in the future. Glad your back on two wheels keep the rubber side down!

[gn2]

I am going to try Sava's at the next tyre change.

If you can track down Michelin City Grips they would be a far better bet.

[Steph]

Holy crap! Glad you were able to navigate off the road on a flat without a mishap! Nice of the tow truck driver to share the scary story. Good to know so you can be on guard at that intersection.

[iceman]

Bad luck to get a flat as bad as that, glad your ok. Actually, bad luck to get a flat on most roads unless broken glass or sharp metal is about.

[fish]

Out in the sticks and heading home on a nice warm sunny day and picked up a ...

Fish,

Been there and done that. I belong to a motorists club which includes free towing, although I have to fork out AUD120 for motorcycle coverage on the spot; still MUCH cheaper than the towing costs.

It would be interesting to hear your practical experiences.

Regards,
Peter

Hello Peter,
The two dealer techs assured me there would be no problem with clearance before I bought their tire.
When I picked up the scoot I asked again.... tech told me he took it for a test ride and found no probs.
I crawled around with a flash light and my camera looking things over after my ride this morning. Nothing rubbing the tire. The closest point seems to be with the left shock: I could put my finger tip in there with the Dunlop (I showed them) and still can with the Bridgestone.
Rode another 45 miles this morning before rain sent me home.
I am a senior citizen, and I ride a scooter wearing hi-viz gear **- James May is "Capt. Slow" - I am his Lieutenant.
So I found no issues with the handling of this tire, wet or dry.
Other TT riders might. (The senior tire/parts tech told me that "if I like to put a knee down freq. in corners" I might "notice a difference in this tire". I quoted the above **, and said if I'm putting a knee down "it's because I've just hit a deer".)

I will certainly report any issues I find with this size Bridgestone tire. So far.....so good.
Fish
The new Bridgestone 150/70-13. Unless I mss something here - I've added less than 1/4 inch to each side of the tire..and about that to the height of the tire inside the scooter.

[you you]

Ah well, just a puncture at the end of the day. Life goes on...

[speedandstyle]

Although expensive - glad to hear it didn't cause an accident and inflict serious damage to you or your scoot.

[pja2536]

I am going to try Sava's at the next tyre change.

If you can track down Michelin City Grips they would be a far better bet.

Agreed! But Michelin DON'T sell scooter tyres in Australia. Bugger!!!

Regards,
Peter

[pja2536]

Hello Peter,
The two dealer techs assured me there would be no problem with clearance before I bought their tire.
When I picked up the scoot I asked again...

Thanks for the feedback. I'll look at using 150's next time. The difference in actual v indicated speed is much closer.

I to am an "older" rider. Planning a three to four day tour through central outback New South Wales for mid-April.

Regards,
Peter

[Forza 300]

Sorry to hear of your tire problem , I have put a michelin city grip on the rear of the forza 150/70-13 and have only have had good experiences with it, better ride, more accurate speedo ,4 kph off compared to original tire 140/70-13 was off by 6 kph, as for grip same or better but will not know until it warms up here as its been cold 2-8 degrees Celsius, the old tire got loose on me a couple of times in a corner with my wife on the back it kicked out a foot or so then re griped it scared her at the moment , but I was ok as I use to ride on off road motorcycles and this happened frequent on the dirt roads so it didn't scare me but I kept thinking what caused it ,I think it was a bit of loose dirt on the asphalt . So I rode easy until we got to a street light so I could inspect the tire for oil or antifreeze on it ,as I was riding to the cottage in low light conditions. I wasn't going to fast in the corner just normal speed .
Oh and I'm getting old I don't get my knees down in the corners anymore , my wife didn't like my previous motorcycles honda St 1300 she said I accelerate to fast and stop too fast , I told her it had a 130 hp engine and was easy to accelerate and the brakes were so good with two large disc on the front and one large disc on the rear it could stop in 100 feet from 100 kph !

Don

[Steph]

@Forza 300 - Poor wife