rashad
Registered
Please talk me out of selling my bike after what happened...or rather what almost happened today... It sounds silly but it honestly could happen at any time and that is what scares me..
I have a fiance' and three kids waiting for me at home.. and I was an inch away from eating pavement at high speed today...
Be careful out there guys... there are many things beyond our control: drunk/old drivers, soccer moms, cell phone toting morons, but to me the scariest of them is the things you cannot predict or see until its too late.... A FLAT TIRE.
I was cruising down my favorite stretch of straight highway, had just passed some cars and had a nice space cushion around me... crisp 75 degrees, sunny, it was heaven. I eased up to around 130mph or similar cruising speed (away from traffic obviously). I got off the throttle as the highway curved ever so slightly, and prepared to slow down to 80...that's when I felt it...
"Whoa. What was that?" It felt almost as if my front tire twitched, like it hit a small rock or even the beginning of a speed wobble... I got on the gas and it smoothed out... It was only as I began to slow again that I knew something felt....wrong.
I put on my signal and began slowing down with just air as the brake, cars began to catch up so I lightly touched the rear brake thinking it may be the front tire... WRONG. My ass end began steering the bike and my remaining LIFE into the guard rail.
I shifted all of my body weight INTO traffic against my instincts, keeping the bike from riding the downward slope of the road's shoulder. I somehow managed to slow down on the gravel shoulder with very little braking and "flintstoned" my ass into some semblance of a halt.
The pic is of me pushing the rear tire to the rim. That tire looks bad in the pic for some reason but it was actually in good shape. Not at the wear bars yet even in the middle and Ive been taking it to the strip a few times. I havent even bothered to check it out or even find the puncture yet.. I just dont have the time or money right now to worry about it.
My friend drove by and saw me and she came back to pick me up and I went home and grabbed my car. I met my good buddy Eric at the scene and we loaded her up onto his toyhauler. She sits in my fiance's garage now....
The whole experience really shook me up. I know all of you have touched 130mph at one point.. Ok even 80 mph... If that had been my front tire, which assuming I ran over an object with the rear, It was only half and inch away from my front tire... I would have been dead or seriously injured...and there wouldnt be a damn thing I could do about it. The scariest part was how well the busa rode at 100+ with a flat for at least a mile.... It was glass smooth and had a slight wobble... nothing major... that was misleading enough to make me speed up a bit thinking it was a speed wobble...
Anyways here is a pic.. im still a little mixed up over it... and to top it off I just found out my buddy was life-flighted to the hospital after he went into a ditch due to a tire issuelease:
I have a fiance' and three kids waiting for me at home.. and I was an inch away from eating pavement at high speed today...
Be careful out there guys... there are many things beyond our control: drunk/old drivers, soccer moms, cell phone toting morons, but to me the scariest of them is the things you cannot predict or see until its too late.... A FLAT TIRE.
I was cruising down my favorite stretch of straight highway, had just passed some cars and had a nice space cushion around me... crisp 75 degrees, sunny, it was heaven. I eased up to around 130mph or similar cruising speed (away from traffic obviously). I got off the throttle as the highway curved ever so slightly, and prepared to slow down to 80...that's when I felt it...
"Whoa. What was that?" It felt almost as if my front tire twitched, like it hit a small rock or even the beginning of a speed wobble... I got on the gas and it smoothed out... It was only as I began to slow again that I knew something felt....wrong.
I put on my signal and began slowing down with just air as the brake, cars began to catch up so I lightly touched the rear brake thinking it may be the front tire... WRONG. My ass end began steering the bike and my remaining LIFE into the guard rail.
I shifted all of my body weight INTO traffic against my instincts, keeping the bike from riding the downward slope of the road's shoulder. I somehow managed to slow down on the gravel shoulder with very little braking and "flintstoned" my ass into some semblance of a halt.
The pic is of me pushing the rear tire to the rim. That tire looks bad in the pic for some reason but it was actually in good shape. Not at the wear bars yet even in the middle and Ive been taking it to the strip a few times. I havent even bothered to check it out or even find the puncture yet.. I just dont have the time or money right now to worry about it.
My friend drove by and saw me and she came back to pick me up and I went home and grabbed my car. I met my good buddy Eric at the scene and we loaded her up onto his toyhauler. She sits in my fiance's garage now....
The whole experience really shook me up. I know all of you have touched 130mph at one point.. Ok even 80 mph... If that had been my front tire, which assuming I ran over an object with the rear, It was only half and inch away from my front tire... I would have been dead or seriously injured...and there wouldnt be a damn thing I could do about it. The scariest part was how well the busa rode at 100+ with a flat for at least a mile.... It was glass smooth and had a slight wobble... nothing major... that was misleading enough to make me speed up a bit thinking it was a speed wobble...
Anyways here is a pic.. im still a little mixed up over it... and to top it off I just found out my buddy was life-flighted to the hospital after he went into a ditch due to a tire issuelease: