| Author | Message | ||
     Reepicheep |
My work window overlooks I-75, and I just saw the second tractor truck tire for the day go. Could be coincidence, but I'm sure the heat is a factor (96 degrees in Ohio today). If you are commuting home today (like I am), minimize time however possible in the "no zone" beside trucks, and watch for swerving cars way ahead that may be dodging great big strips of truck rubber. When they go, they make a big "bang" I can hear from behind a window about 1/4 mile away, and tire pieces are probably 30 feet high and still climbing by the time I look over. I would NOT want to be beside a truck when one goes... | ||
| 86129squids |
Yeah- look out for them "alligators" fo sho... Apparently a biker was killed by a falling tree in yesterday's storm... RIP fella... Looking forward to some less extreme weather... someday. | ||
| Hughlysses |
No kidding about the road gators. They're all over lately. Speaking of storms, you guys see the photos Killboy posted on Facebook yesterday? Big storm on the Dragon, whole road shut down due to numerous trees down. Apparently they got them cleaned up over night. | ||
| Geforce |
I actually have been right next to a flat bed trailer semi on my 1125r as the outer rear axle tire blew. Needless to say, I went into an immediate react to contact drill as the explosion and tire fragmentation pelted my gear and new Buell. My best friend was on his FireBolt right behind me and spent the next few minutes trying to catch up to me. Had to pull over later and calm down up the road. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
We don't use twins on trailers much anymore over here, mostly big singles. They make a nice thump when they go. We don't get too many road gators here as heavy trucks are fitted with mandatory speed limiters. Anything over 12t gross, is limited to 90kph (that's 56mph for those who've not gone metric). I'd never seen so many lumps of tread on the road as I saw on the slab through Kentucky. | ||
| Boogiman1981 |
Rolling road blocks not a good plan. Blow outs do increase with higher road temps. Steer clear be vigilant and stay alive. | ||
| Gixxer86g |
I ran a nice chunk over a few days ago. Thankfully, it was laying flat. I wasn't tailgating, I just glanced in my mirror for a split second, then it was there! | ||
| Xb1200rick |
I was on 75 the other day and could swear I was smelling the burnt rubber smell like being at the drag strip. sped up to get ahead of the truck I was beside . He had a tire blow just a few minutes later. | ||
| Ducbsa |
I had pulled out from behind a semi and a rear tire let go when I was beside it. Pretty scary! | ||
| Kyrocket |
I was passing one going the opposite direction on the 64/75 split when it blew. Scared the crap out of me, sounded like a shotgun going off. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Big storm on the Dragon, whole road shut down due to numerous trees down. That would suck. | ||
| Pwnzor |
For what it's worth, my company runs fresh rubber on all our trucks. We say NO to re-craps. | ||
| Fltwistygirl |
Timely post, saw one drop rubber right in front of me on I 35 yesterday. It would run a few seconds and drop more chunks of rubber. I kept waiting for the big gator but I exited before that happened. Fortunately, I was in my truck not on the bike. Ok: question for the truck drivers here. If this happens to you while driving your rig, are you usually aware of it? Is it safe to run on 17 wheels instead of 18? | ||
| Boogiman1981 |
Pwnzor that's def a good thing. Recaps properly maintained don't seem to fail more. Problem is the cheapskates that tend to use them don't seem to care much for their rigs so as a rule due to lower standards and mistreatment they do fail more | ||
| Oldfartnbuell |
Twistygirl, Yes ever since they started using tubeless tires it is safe to run if you only have one flat. When we were using tube type tires if you had a flat and kept going the tube would finally wad up into a little ball and cause so much heat and friction in the tire it would catch on fire. Have seen many such cases in the old days! You still want to change that flat at your first opportunity. Tonto | ||
| Pwnzor |
The really big problem with recaps is the disreputable tire repair companies you encounter when out on the road, away from your home area. The age of the carcass is everything, you can vulcanize and glue all you want... but if that carcass is too old and dried out, it's only going to stick for so long. You may notice a lot of the 'gators you see laying on the road... the tread often looks new! We eliminate this problem by purchasing only new tires for our trucks. They can run upwards of $450 each, but in the end it's worth it. They last SO much longer than even the best recaps, to us it's worth it. We do, on the rare occasion allow a recap to be installed, but when the truck returns home we replace it with a new tire. There have been times when a dealer wants to charge $750 for a new tire.... forget that. | ||
| Boliver |
Good point and good post reepicheep. Thanks very much for the reminder. | ||
| Ohsoslow |
pwnzor, do you work for a fleet that keeps their trucks for a long time? (Message edited by ohsoslow on July 09, 2012) | ||
| S21125r |
Those gators give me the heebies... I tangled with one a few summers ago and lost. I had the front preload a little soft to help cope with the rough Michigan freeways, so as soon I spotted a 6 footer laying broad side in my lane a few car lengths up I grabbed a handful of brake as I was pretty sure hitting one at 80 MPH was going to be a whole lot worse than hitting one at 50 MPH. But... I didn't factor in that the front end squatted and the 1125R's stock muffler scooped up the gator like a cow catcher and firmly lodged it between itself and front tire. Rashed up bike, body, gear, yada. So if any of you have an unavoidable encounter with a gator, try a handful of throttle instead and let me know if that works any better than my approach :-) | ||
| Pwnzor |
We own all our trucks. | ||
| Ohsoslow |
Right, how many miles do you keep them? or just run them till they wont go anymore? | ||
| Firemanjim |
Agree with Reep--think heat plays big factor. Was just in Texas and have never seen so much blown tire debris anywhere before.Was smokin hot there. | ||
| Fast1075 |
We not only dodge "road gators" in the summer it is very common in my part of Florida to dodge real 'gators  . |
