Someone watching over me....

[Eric Sheley <eric@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Well, judging from the number of messages in my box between Friday and 
today (over 500!), it must not be good riding weather in most parts...... 
This weekend was beautiful here - I even spent several hours today out with 
my daughter watching her tear up the dirt trails (watch out Jeremy..) .....

But to the real reason of my post. I had been out riding either Wednesday 
or Thursday night - this whole week just was a blur....  about 20 miles 
from home as I was coming around a corner - I hit something in the road - 
hard... So hard in fact, that for a moment I actually feared that I might 
be going down. I stopped and checked out the tire under a street light, but 
couldn't see anything. I hiked back to see what it was, but the road was 
clear - whatever it was, it had been thrown clear after I hit it.

So, skip forward to Saturday - temps slated to reach 88-90F (31C) with 
bright, sunny skies....... riding time ;-) During my pre check, I 
remembered the hit, so I checked the pressures - both front and rear right 
on the money. I had got my gear together, got my jacket and was just about 
to head out, when I decided to give the front tire another look (I know, 
call me paranoid..)

Anyway, what I found shocked me. I saw what appeared to be a jagged cut 
about 1 inch in length near the center of the tire. I got the flashlight 
out and opened up the cut a little - it looked deep. New tire time. 
(Actually jim schroeder had shipped me his old ones when he switched, so it 
was more 'swap time').

Thanks to whoever suggested the hooks in the ceiling versus a front end 
stand. My wife walked out after I had removed the tire, took one look at 
the bike hanging from the ceiling, shook her head and muttered "I don't 
even want to know....."

After getting the tire changed, I was able to examine the cut a little more 
thoroughly. The cut measured in at 31mm (about 1.25 inches) in length. I 
grabbed a file to measure the depth - a whopping 9mm! As I was measuring 
the depth I happened to feel the underside of the cut and could feel the 
file moving. I pressed the file lightly and felt it break through and hit 
my finger.

About 1 mm of rubber was all that was keeping air in the tire...... I lost 
a rear at speed, but never a front and never in a corner.... someone was 
obviously watching over me.

- - Eric


     *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *
      The ST/RS Mailing list is sponsored by Jack Lilley Ltd.
          http://www.TriumphNet.com/st/lilley for more info
   http://www.TriumphNet.com/st for ST, RS and Mailing List info

=-=-=-= Next Message =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=