What Happened?

[TheCajun1957]

Last Sunday, my girlfriend and I were out for a nice ride on a 4 lane highway. I saw an 18 wheeler on the right side of the road with its hood up. I looked in my left rearview mirror to make sure I was clear slowed down to 60 and started to move over to the left to give the trucker some space. When I looked back straight ahead I saw a 4 inch fuel hose in the middle of the road. I ran over the end of the hose with my right tire. The hose had cast aluminum connectors and someone else must have run over it before I got there. A piece of the connector put a hole the size of my thumb in the side of the tire. I did not apply brakes, I wanted to gauge how the bike would handle and adjust accordingly. To my surprise the bike handled pretty much like normal. Don't know if the nanny kicked in or what happened but I was slowing down and I did have my foot on the brake but I didn't think it was enough to slow down the bike. Was able to stop on the right shoulder. Next thing I new the people behind us had stopped and check to see if we were ok. Right tire was flat, the piece of connector was stuck in the top right inner fender and the cap was missing. WELL! we called a daughter and while waiting for her to get there, we had numerous people stop and see if we were ok. One gentlemen even went to the store down the road and brought back 2, 1 liter bottles of water for us and refused money. Daughter took me to the house and picked up the trailer, and we got the bike home.

I took off the rims and went to Broadway Powersports in Tylor, replaced both tires ($94 each) and $78 to install. ordered inner fender well $37 and the cap $4.99.

Went home and reinstalled the rims and took it for a test ride. Everything was fine!!!! I don't think it upset my laser alignment!!!

Now I am waiting for the parts and will install them.

I honestly think if I had been on a 2 wheeler, we would have had it a lot worse, maybe even not walking away. I am really proud of my Spyder RTL, it took care of us.

[SpyderAnn01]

Glad you got it all fixed and back on the road without too much trouble. Be thankful that it was your front tire and not the rear. I hit a big chunk of metal and it flattened the rear tire, steering was horrible and I was only going 25 mph. Can't imagine what it would have been like at 60.

[4 MARIE]

I have asked on this forum more than once, about ryders that had Sudden Loss of Air Pressure (SLAP).
Lot's of us have had a blower on a two wheeler, but very few related a story about one on their Spyder.
I thank you for the telling.

[DGoebel]

These incidents make me curious if something like Lamont's Ameriseal would have stopped or slowed the tire's air loss.
Does anyone have any specific instances of Ameriseal or the like actually saving a control loss due to tire deflation incidents?

[Arion]

These incidents make me curious if something like Lamont's Ameriseal would have stopped or slowed the tire's air loss.
Does anyone have any specific instances of Ameriseal or the like actually saving a control loss due to tire deflation incidents?

Even though the products Lamont sells are first class, I doubt if the sealant would do much for a hole the OP said he could stick his thumb through. Then again, if the sealant could, I would be VERY impressed!

[Chupaca]

You did a great job handling the situation. glad things were not worse but I would have the alignment checked out. If all is good most good outfits will not charge you. Hope the rest of the part come in soon and you are all back to normal....

[PrairieSpyder]

You handled the situation with grace and aplomb (I don't get to use that word much). Isn't it nice to know there are many nice folks out there who want to help?

[Bob Denman]

If something bad is going to happen: it's nice to hear that it happened "this good"!
"Grace and aplomb": I'll also use Patti's word of the day!

[irvin48]

just thank God He was in the seat next to you .

[TheCajun1957]

I replaced the inner fender. Found out that in a hard stop the left side is going into a dive and at the same time pulling to the right, seems the rear tire is trying to pull to the right also. I took the spyder home and lifted the front. Spun both tires with no brake drag. The right brake was about twice as hot as the left one. Any Ideas what could be wrong?

[Fatcycledaddy]

Did you torque all the lug nuts to the same 70 to 80 ftlbs? I did the same thing after clipping the hoves of a deer. Hit the brakes and it pulled all over the place. Read on here that this will happen if you don't torque them all the same. I torqued them and all is now good.
.

[UtahPete]

Glad you got it all fixed and back on the road without too much trouble. Be thankful that it was your front tire and not the rear. I hit a big chunk of metal and it flattened the rear tire, steering was horrible and I was only going 25 mph. Can't imagine what it would have been like at 60.

Whether 2-wheeler, 3-wheeler or 4-wheeler, hope that if you get a flat it's on a steering wheel, so you have some control over it.

[Peter Aawen]

I replaced the inner fender. Found out that in a hard stop the left side is going into a dive and at the same time pulling to the right, seems the rear tire is trying to pull to the right also. I took the spyder home and lifted the front. Spun both tires with no brake drag. The right brake was about twice as hot as the left one. Any Ideas what could be wrong?

If it's not the torque thing or something similar, it could be that the hose hit or subsequent tire failure has taken out or moved the ABS sensor or the notched disc that the sensor uses to determine wheel speed..... I'd guess that the RH Brake (that's the side that the tire blew on, isn't it?) is doing most of the braking work atm, but that all the weight going forwards & momentum dragging it around the braking rhs is actually trying to toss you over the LH front wheel & causing the dive, despite that wheel not contributing much to the braking effort atm!!

Regardless of the why or what, your brakes aren't working properly, & there's a good chance the ABS is compromised, so you need to be very careful checking what it's doing &/or get it checked by a good dealer or reputable brake specialist ASAP!! Any brake mob who have a rep for doing good work with brakes & Bosch ABS should be able to help!

Good Luck.

Ps: another thought, you haven't had a tire fitter put replacement Kendas or some other directional tires on either rim backwards have you?? Make sure both tires are rolling the correct way if they are directional.

[TheCajun1957]

I had just installed the rims and didn't torque the lugs, bought a torque wrench and set all lugs to 75ftp. They were way over torqued. I took the bike for a spin, I braked several times and each time I braked harder. Bike braked evenly and dipped evenly, all though there seems to be a very slight rocking to each side. I bought a thermal temp laser sensor gun. $30 at O'Rileys. The right brake seems to be running about 15 to 20 degrees hotter then the left. Rode around for a bit and used brakes as normal. Left side was running 99 to 105 and right side was running 110 to 124. Braking is ALOT better then before, but guess I need to take it in to be checked out. Hope Broadway Powersports in Tyler is up to the task. Brake disk could be warped, front end alignment could be out.

Oh and the tires have been installed correctly and rotating in the proper direction.

[TheCajun1957]

Took my spyder to Dirty Deeds Powersports in Longview. Right rim was bent, the real problem that caused the bike to pull to the right during hard braking is the left caliper was not working correctly. BRP warranted the caliper and the labor. Still had to buy a SET of rims, BRP only sells them in pairs.

Though I would let yall know the final outcome.

[pegasus1300]

Thank you we always like to know what the solution was.