Rapid tire wear and/or under inflation are critical on bikes. Can any of you elaborate on how or what led you up to a blow out. 
I pay casual attention to the air pressure and tread wear on my truck and car, but the bike needs a weary eye when it comes to tires. 
In my younger days I worked for GoodYear on tires small to large.
This is my first experience with a blowout on a tubeless m/c tire and I'm somewhat bewildered on this one...
The day before the "blowout", I checked the tires and each was +- a pound and a half low (digital gauge), which considering the lower ambient temperatures in the mountains (coming from Fla) I felt was good / normal,,,
'Aired up the 5k mile Michelin Commander IIs (that had the recommended amount of Ride-On Sealant installed) to the 38F, 42R that I usually run... Both tires looked fine, much less cupping than the OE HD Dunlops at comparable mileage...
Riding a basically counter clockwise loop, Moonshiner 28, Fontana Dam, Deal's Gap, The Dragon, Tellico Plains, Cherohala Skyway, Robbinsville and back toward Murphy, NC... Nearing Murphy on HWY 129 (4 lane) cruising around 65 mph, while changing lanes we both noticed a subtle shake when crossing the centerline, nothing really alarming, then <5 seconds later we both smelled burning rubber, I immediately slowed and pulled over to the side of the road, when around 20 mph or so it was evident that the tire was riding on the rim. It seemed to be an instantaneous loss of pressure, no noises, bumps or anything that would alert us to the instant loss of air pressure... Just moments earlier I had her leaned over hitting bumps in the road at 15-20 over the posted limit, the Bike was faultless...
We were lucky that the flat happened when & where it did, 2-3 miles from the house, good cell coverage, if we were heeled over in the twisties, it could have been a different story...
Looking at the tire; a single nail hole (no nail) centrally located in the tread, 'thought it would be a good candidate for a plug until we discovered some slits about an inch or so long, inside the tread grooves, near the outside edges...
Over the years I have had 3-4 nails / screws in rear motorcycle tires,,, all were discovered with the nails still in the tires, barely low on air, plugged the tire and rode out the remaining service life, no issues. I never had a nail come out on its own?? As far as the slits,,, I'm thinking that the tire split on its own while riding on the rim (100yds at most) with all that load on it?? I don't really know?? 'Never saw one like this before,,, this is my first instant deflate on a street (tubeless) tire, have had two other instant deflates (F&R) on tube dirt bike tires...On the dirt bikes, the greatest loss of control was when the rear blew...
Surprisingly there was no damage at all to the Rear Wheel.
I don't know if the Ride-On Sealant played any part in the way this issue played out??
Author
Topic: Dragon (Read 7043 times)