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A short while ago my dealership had a "tire day" where tires and tubes were half-price. I wanted to get in on that so I bought two tires and two tubes and was happy to shell out the $139.95 thinking I had gotten a great deal.
Today, I am not so sure. Left the house a bit early to get the rear tire replaced while the weather was not as hot as it would be later in the day.
The mechanic had a dickens of a time getting the axle out as it had gathered a lot of road dust and some rust. He said whomever assembeled the bike could have treated the axle to a bit of grease.
I started home remembering that I need to break-in the rear tire so I kept cornering at very slight angles and tried to be as smooth on the controls as possible. I got about 10 miles from his place when I felt a very strong wobble coming from the rear end. Remembering what I had read I held the bars a bit tighter and slowly steered to the shoulder. Well off the road on the shoulder I discovered the tire was flat. I thought the mechanic had pinched the tube. So I called him and 20 minutes later he arrived. While awaiting his arrival, I managed to find a bit of shade and thinking chiggers would be preferable to sun stroke I stood in the shade. A very nice gentleman saw my predicament and stopped to offer help. I waited in his air conditioned car until the mechanic arrived.
He looked at the tire and pronounced it flat then we loaded the bike on his trailer, strapped it down.
He took the tire and tube apart and the tube was not pinched, but had dry rotted. There was a big hole right at a seam.
Lessoned learned. I will inflate all tubes slightly before putting them onto my bike just to insure they will hold air. Especially those that are old stock. This just may prevent me from being stuck on the side of the road in 101 degree heat. Thought I would pass this on.
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Old is better than the alternative
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