First puncture !!!
The anticipation for the coming weekend ride is running high. I have planned to visit my friend Daman for more times than I care to remember. Then I just stopped planning ahead to visit him, except yesterday when I told him I would like to visit him today. He had plans, so I postponed it to Saturday, tomorrow. It is a beautiful ride to Nashua, NH, 250 miles one way. Also it would be my first multi-day ride in the USA.
And then it had to happen. Damn Murphy’s laws, they seem to be happening to me all the time.
The day went well today and in the evening I felt the rear tire of my connie is feeling a little soft so I went to check the pressure. When the digital meter indicated the existing pressure was 25psi when I just inflated it two days back to 42, my internal alarm started ringing very loudly. Put the bike on center stand after a massive effort (the effort rises exponentially with falling tire pressure !!!) and started rotating the rear tire. The horror came the moment a shiny, small head of a nail showed up. A chill went down my spine. At 5:30pm, the Kawasaki dealer was closed and I didnt know about any tire shop who would do it. The weekend ride was probably off, but more importantly if the tire failed, I coudnt move this behemoth beast an inch !!! A Royal Enfield would feel like a bicycle compared to this, I was convinced by then.
Wise sense told me that this bike came with 18psi of pressure, so the nail must have been there when the bike arrived. And since I could ride for two days, I could probably manage just to ride to the nearest tire shop or maybe the dealer tomorrow morning. Started riding at 30, trying to be cool and think about the tire shops nearby. Lost my way going to the village gas station, but their workshop was closed by then. Got direction to another gas station. Luck turned to be in favor of me now. Got the tire plugged and saw the size of the nail - TWO goddamned inches !!!
Thanked the mechanic profusely for the help. The $10 spent on this is worth every penny of it, now that I know how to plug a tire !!!
Before this tire incident today, I accidentally opened up the fork spring cover and found out how to put a better spring and oil myself.
A lot of learning in one day and I am loving the bike more and more with every passing day.
November 25th, 2005 at 1:50 am
what kinda tyre is that. Phew… You can ride around with a 2 inch nail?