Inflation can be a good thing, especially when it comes to tyres. Best not screw it up
I was involved in a really nasty collision as a result of my tyre
blowing out. My tyre, I knew, was running at low pressure. It is a
street-fightered GSX-R and I run the rear tyre pressure low(about 25
psi) because it makes wheelieing a bit easier. Not an excuse I want to
give the police, but there you go.
Anyway, I had been out on the bike and I been involved in a few
stand-up wheelies and generally hooning around. On my journey home I
used the motorway for about 18 miles, travelling at between 90 and
100mph, when my back tyre just disintegrated. I was lucky not lose my
right leg as I bounced off the central reservation. A car behind me,
trying to avoid me, skidded and crashed into a car in lane two.
The police are taking me to court for dangerous driving based on my
tyre blowout alone. They don’t seem worried about the speed, even though
the police examiner puts it at between 80 and 100mph when the tyre blew
out.
The drivers who crashed into each other are both suing me, and I
can’t blame them, but should I be suing the tyre manufacturer and
pleading not guilty to the dangerous driving because the pressures
weren’t that low?
Anon
Oh dear. You are in a lot of trouble. The police forensic report (and
the well known tyre expert’s report) all say the same thing. Your tyre
had been consistently run well below the operating pressure. The tyre
was throughout its life run at less than 30psi.
This has structurally weakened the tyre so that on this prolonged use
at speed it has heated up and ‘delaminated’ and the shredded tyre has
told the police a great deal. You had also stressed the structure of the
tyre by the hard acceleration needed to wheelie.
Most of the tyre has been retrieved from the motorway and a ‘foreign
object piercing’ has been ruled out. The reason the police are not
pressing on the speed is because they can’t say exactly where you parted
company with your bike.
The calculation is based on pedestrian throw, where if the police
know where you were launched from, and where you stopped they can be
pretty accurate with your speed. They don’t know for sure where you were
ejected in the 20 metres or so of central reservation you remodelled
with your bike. You are really lucky to have both your legs. You can
expect a big bill from the Highways Agency for repair of the central
reservation for your insurers to pick up.
The tyre expert is known to be absolutely straight and independent of
the police – he will be believed. Taking any vehicle on the road with
seriously under pressure tyres, which then leads to a blow out, is
dangerous driving. The police are not daft. You have a tricked up,
street-fightered Gixxer running on under pressure tyres.
The vehicle examiner points out your bike is beautifully maintained
by a skilled engineer and apart from the tyres the bike is in pristine
condition. He points out the aftermarket adaptations and points out some
of the adaptations are typically seen in stunt bikes. I suspect the
Police may have had their eye on you for a little while because they
have really gone to town on investigating your collision.
No one was hurt apart from you and, all things considered, you have
got off quite lightly with your injuries. Usually the police only go to
this level if someone is in a body bag. However, their evidence is that
you knowingly ran your bike on under pressure tyres. I suspect the
dangerous driving charge will stick, and you’ll be catching the bus for
at least a year and then taking your bike and car test again. But it
will be the new bike test, but with a longer examination.
Probably best to check your tyres in future. And I hope your insurers
know about all the mods on your bike otherwise they’ll be after you for
their outlay. And as to suing the tyre manufacturer, forget it. Any
tyre consistently run significantly under pressure will do this – it’s a
surprise it didn’t happen sooner.
Andrew Dalton
If i have offended anyone by posting the above, then i apologise, but one of those cars could have contained me, my wife and daughter.
Nuff said...........
One thing that truly amazes me is why do a few mindless riders feel the need to do wheelies especially on the highway or pulling away at the lights. It makes me shudder to think what damage they could do not just to themselves but to some innocent bystander. Rant over
gawd that has got me worried now coz my tyre pressures were really low which i found out ... bt i dunno how long i had been riding them low ....
then again i dont do wheelies or ride like a bt now im worried this might happen to me on a darn motorway....... i wish it had said how long he had been riding and stuff on low pressure tyres...
I never cease to be amazed at the stunts some people pull...
Seriously... someone who's spent what would seem a fair bit on their bike + most probably knows a fair bit about riding (with some bad habits, fair enough) can make such a twattish mistake as this!!
Like others have said, when non-biking folk see this type of behaviour on the road, they assume that we're all into riding like this and causing mayhem.
Idiots like this (and there are one or two I've seen this way) don't do anything for our biking community, and this is the reason why we have the government and EU bureaucrats finding any excuse to get us off the road for good.
In anything, you can have a million people do good things they don't get any acknowledgment, but when one idiot does something like this everyone notices.
It's the idiots lucky day, as I'm sure had it killed someone in the process of massaging his ego to the world, he would be looking at jail time!
Total tosser! Deserves everything he gets. Wouldn't want to be paying his insurance premium next time around!
@ xSuzix....I wouldn't worry unduly about an isolated incidence of low tyre pressures......it's not like you're likely to pop wheelies or drive at 100mph so your tyres aren't being over-stressed. Check them regularly and and you'll be fine.
OJ you obviously haven't seen Suzi ride!!! lol only joking suz xx
He deserves all he gets. He chose to ride his bike like that so its his responsibility when it all goes wrong. I can't believe he tried to push the blame on to the tyre company.
Much as I dislike persecuting someone for living their life differently to mine . This guy is not a knob or a twat . On the face of it he sounds like a skilled rider . His biking problem stems from ''ignorance of the machinery'', a common problem witn modern 'bikers'. Those solid looking tyres on motor vehicles are anything but. Oxygen molecules continually migrate through the 'gaps' in the larger molecules of the rubber compound. Your tyres are constantly losing a tiny bit of pressure , every second of every day . A variance of 2psi will affect the handling especially so at highspeed. Check your tyres often , check them cold . A one mile ride will alter the pressure. Use one good gauge , check them at home before setting off. Dusty x
But Dusty, he freely admits to riding with his tyres permannently under inflated to maximise his wheelie ability, that and that alone makes him a knob. His skill at stunt riding is his choice but are you advocating that it is done on a public highway? Where he could cause an accident involving possibly the death of a child. I take my hat off to a stunt rider who entertains me and others with his riding skills, but not on the road.
agree with Dusty - its a bit too easy to call him a twat and an idiot! but of course all those who criticised never do anything on their bike even slightly outside the law do they? :(
think more a case of "there but for the grace of god (or fate if ya like) go I"
my only criticism of him is its shame he didn't take responsibility for his actions. if you make personal choices best be prepared to stand by them when it goes tits up!
well my personal opinion is that yes we all do things outside the law but would you do something that would risk the lives of others as well as yourself ?? cos i know i wouldnt and that alone makes him a dickhead in my eyes.the fact is the more idiotic crap that people do the more shit the rest of us get.nobody says be boring but dont risk other peoples lives in the process.im sure if the people in those cars had been related to you then you would be more likely to slag him off.what if his actions had killed your son,daughter,wife,husband,mother or father.on public roads it is completely fookin irrisponsible.DO IT OFF THE ROADS SOMEWHERE WHERE YOU CANT HURT OTHERS.DOESNT TAKE A SKILLED RIDER TO POP A WHEELIE EVEN I CAN DO ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!
No matter how skilled you are at riding, there is no excuse for breaking the law, especially if it potentially endangers others. You are legally required to keep your tyres in good condition, which includes running at the correct pressures for the bike.
He is a twat.
pmsl OMNF hahahaha ... hey dont judge my riding by your standards ... wheelying all down the darn A1 ... i dunno hahahaha
yeah i agree with Debs (aka ZZRbabe) and others... its great seeing guys pullin wheelies bt not when there is other lives at risk... same goes for any manoever really on a road with other people using it if its a selfish stupid risky one....
save ya stunts for somewhere where peeps have either come to watch out of choice
or where no other peeps are at any risk of gettin hurt....
if ther is no one else on the road fair enufski.... bt also ffs purposely riding with low pressure tyres he must have known theis was risky if he is that "savy" about bikes.... what a numpty and i hope others learn by his mistakes and tank gawd the peeps in cars are ok...
jus a shame coz like ohters said it makes all us bikers wear a "twat" badge...
Looking for and finding wrong in others while ignoring the wrong in ourselves is bigotry . Judge not , lest ye be judged . The last bloke that said that got nailed to a piece of wood . Sadly , people haven't changed much in 2000 years . Dusty x
Ok let's look at this from a different angle. You're riding down the road with a couple of good friends, suddenly a boy racer decides he is going to start drifting his car on the public road. He's been doing it for years, so in his opinion he is in control. Suddenly one of his tyres blows and two of your friends get caught in the subsequent wipeout. They don't die and suffer nothing more than bruising, but their bikes are totalled. What is your reaction and opinion now? Maybe he is not doing anything illegal at the time but has by his own admission been drifting his car on the roads all day and they give out at tht moment. Lastly, I wonder who isn't going to botch and moan when their insurance premiums go through the roof because of knobheads like him in question.
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