Finally, finally, finally made it out for a ride today, and I learned the hard way how important it is to keep the bolts on your bike snug & tight. Desmostro and I ripped up Lucas Valley Rd, cruised through Nicasio, and started riding Wilson Hill Rd towards Chileno Valley. I was looking forward to finally riding Desmostro's 848, and was burning it a bit up the hill. After cresting the hill, I noticed that the back of the bike was moving around a bit. After a few more turns, I knew my rear tire was flat...not here...not in the middle of nowhere, with no cell coverage! Damn.
I pulled over and looked down. The left sidewall of my rear tire was a smoking mess of rubber. My first thought: this thing better not be on fire (a la someguy's experience). Luckily, there weren't any flames. So I got off the bike as Desmostro was catching up, and figured out what had happened. As I deduced it, things happened this way:
1) At some point on Wilson Hill Rd, my taillight assembly, including the tail chop kit (Cookie1, in case you're wondering) fell off. No rattling loose, no warning, it just fell off. Both bolts somehow came off within a short time of each other, since I know the thing was tight when I left home.
2) The license plate part of the assembly came loose and went flying. It was nowhere to be found, and Desmostro's efforts to find it by riding his 848 up and down the same route proved fruitless. So if you're out in Marin and happen to find a motor cycle plate that says DESMO Q, please pick it up and PM me
There's a beer or three in it for ya.
3) Being a taillight assembly, there were ample wires to keep the thing from simply flying off. So the entire assembly, including the light, lens cover, and the somewhat sharp brackets, hung there....right on the side of my fairly new Pirelli rear tire. And yes, the wires were definitely long enough for it to reach.
4) Metal + rubber = friction. We learned that in science class. And today we proved it in an experiment.
The tail chop kit bracket cut a groove in the sidewall, and the tire went flat.
It's a good thing I felt the tire failing. A couple more turns and I'd be writing about a crash. But I still don't understand how the damn thing could have come loose so quickly and catastrophically. I'll be using blue locktite on stuff like that from now on. I'm hoping that the rim isn't thrashed. We'll see what Desmotosport has to say about that this week.
So from what I can tell, the repair bill's going to have a few items:
- One Pirelli Diablo rear tire...$200
- One tail chop kit (I think I'll go with the ProItalia kit this time)...$90
- One clear tail light lens...$30
- One replacement personalized license plate...$???
- (POSSIBLE) One S4R rim....$ugh
- (POSSIBLE) One ClearAlternatives Integrator Board...$100
No pictures just yet. I'm too disheartened to snap any. But I'll try to snap a few before I take the rim in.
And a HUGE thanks to Desmostro for helping me out. I wouldn't have made it out of there without your help.
And massive props to Bike Guy Motorcycle Tow (415.823.3550). Stephen was quick to come pick me up in the middle of nowhere, and found the place even though he'd never been there before.
