Triumph Nailed

Riding in to work last week I picked up this stowaway. I heard a noise when I hit it, then after riding a few hundred feet, came to a stop sign. When I pulled out from the sign, the back end felt slightly mushy and I started hearing a ticking noise as I began moving faster. I changed road position, thinking it was the road as the stretch I pulled onto was under construction, but in the course of turning I noticed the back end was very mushy, and it dawned on me what was going on. My first flat tire on a vehicle.

Pulling off towards the side of the road as far as I could, I looked back and saw this nail sticking out of my tire. Unfortunately I was at a bad spot where there wasn't a berm to park in. After assessing the situation I decided to move the bike at a few MPH up a driveway to a storage facility where I could safely park and wait for help.

Waiting a while in occasional rain, contemplating how it had been a while since I had time to just relax and watch the rain, I was able to arrange a ride home then come back for the bike with my trailer. Loading proved to be a challenge on a wooden tilt bed trailer; my rear wheel skidded off when I tried to go up. However, there was a location with a pile of stone where I was able to load with some strategic parking and riding. Looking for a way to unload the bike off the tilt bed safely, I ended up buying a patch kit, cutting the nail out with bolt cutters, patching the tire, then inflating it. With sidewall damage like this, there was no permanent fix for the tire, but this was enough to get the bike in my shop and remove the rear wheel.

YCH examined the wheel when I brought it in and determined the damage was cosmetic. With a new tire, the bike is back on the road in time for the Triumph rally in Oley and I have a new experience to add to my motorcycling repertoire.