So, I wanted to share this with you guys, cause it makes me glad to be a biker/motorcycle enthusiast/whatever...
The wife and I met my sister and her new husband on their Ultra classic in Eureka Springs for a riding vacation. We came in on 62, and actually followed them about 15 miles before realizing it was actually 'them'..HA!, how funny is that? We spent the next 3 days dodging rain, and running the majority of awesome roads the area has to offer. The ones that really made an impression on me were hwy 7, 21, and 23. What a great ride, pretty much never a dull moment if you like twisties. Even with rain all around us, we only had to break out the rain gear for about 30 minutes. And that was riding about 250 miles/day.
We parted ways saturday morning, and the wife and I decided to run around Mark Twain national forest just to check it out. Cool ride, just not 'as' cool. After that we jumped on hwy 37, to head toward home. So we turn onto 37 at cassville, where the wife notices tire remnants on the road from presumably a semi. We get up to about 70 and all the sudden the wind really picks up.
At this point I'm thinking, "Wait...that doesn't feel like the wind...." So I slow down a little, and then it makes sense. Flat tire! Great...a 1/3 of the way home, and my gamble to not buy a flat tire kit, even though I had one in my hand a week prior, bites me in the rear. Now we're sitting on the hwy, a really busy hwy for being pretty much out in the middle of nowhere I might add, and about 3 feet off the road with maybe another 2 feet of shoulder left. There's a drive way about 100 yards ahead, which would make it a lot less nerve wracking to be working on a bike. I jump back on, and tell the wife to walk behind me while I idle up to the drive way. Just as I figured....I didn't get 5 feet, and the tire goes ahead and de-beads the rest of the way. Crap! Figures! We sit there while I figure out our options, and this new white explorer pulls up with a mid 50's lady driving it. She's more than willing to help, and actually goes to wal-mart to buy us a plug kit. It must not have been her first rodeo, cause she told me she would try to get the orange plugs. Those of you intimately familiar with plugging tires, know what that means, LOL! The orange ones are the good ones, for those not 'fortunate' enough to have experience. While waiting, a guy in a green chevy truck pulls up and asks if we wanted him to go get his trailer, so we could fix the tire at his garage. I politely declined since we had parts coming. So she comes back, with the kit AND a can of fix-a-flat. I plug the tire, and start filling it with the fix-a-flat. Of course that ain't gonna work, cause the beads are off of the rim. So she gives me a ride to the nearest gas station about 5 miles away, so I can get some air. Why gas stations think that paying $1.50 for 2 minutes of air is fair is beyond me. I try to get air in the tire. Doesn't work, cause the valve stem is still in it so it won't fill fast enough. Crap! There's 2 dudes sitting there on their Harleys, so I ask them if they happen to have a valve stem remover type cap on one of their wheels. Turns out one does, and he lets me use it. So I start filling the tire with the stem removed and as soon as the beads pop back on, the air compressor stops. Nice! So I dig around in my pocket for more quarters, and can only find one since this stupid thing already robbed me of a $1.50. The lady pulls out a bunch of quarters which apparently was her car wash stash to get me going again. Finally the tire has 38 psi in it again, and we head back to install it. Told her I was pretty sure I had it from there, and she left, and WOULD NOT let me pay her for anything. She even made the wife take a cold powerade that I refused repeatedly!
While putting the wheel back on the bike, a Street Glide pulls up behind me. Told him I thought I had it all under control, other than not having a knife to cut the plug flush. He didn't have one either, but come to find out, he lived around our home town in the 60's. Hell of a nice guy. So then ANOTHER guy on a softail pulls up behind that guy. Guess he was headed to work, but DID have a knife for me to use. The two fellers left, and I was re-installing all the luggage, when a third guy and his ole lady came pulling up asking if we needed help. At this point, I'm feeling really proud to be on two wheels.
Coming from mainly a Harley back ground, and working at a Harley dealership for 10 years, I've heard all sorts of comments from one spectrum to the other concerning 'metric' bikes. I think people squawk and talk a big game, but when it comes down to it, the majority WILL give you the shirt off their back to get you going when you're down and out.
I don't know..this story is a little long winded, but its an experience that'll stick with me for a long time, and thought I should share for the hope that YOU stop and help a fellow rider!
Frank
The wife and I met my sister and her new husband on their Ultra classic in Eureka Springs for a riding vacation. We came in on 62, and actually followed them about 15 miles before realizing it was actually 'them'..HA!, how funny is that? We spent the next 3 days dodging rain, and running the majority of awesome roads the area has to offer. The ones that really made an impression on me were hwy 7, 21, and 23. What a great ride, pretty much never a dull moment if you like twisties. Even with rain all around us, we only had to break out the rain gear for about 30 minutes. And that was riding about 250 miles/day.
We parted ways saturday morning, and the wife and I decided to run around Mark Twain national forest just to check it out. Cool ride, just not 'as' cool. After that we jumped on hwy 37, to head toward home. So we turn onto 37 at cassville, where the wife notices tire remnants on the road from presumably a semi. We get up to about 70 and all the sudden the wind really picks up.
At this point I'm thinking, "Wait...that doesn't feel like the wind...." So I slow down a little, and then it makes sense. Flat tire! Great...a 1/3 of the way home, and my gamble to not buy a flat tire kit, even though I had one in my hand a week prior, bites me in the rear. Now we're sitting on the hwy, a really busy hwy for being pretty much out in the middle of nowhere I might add, and about 3 feet off the road with maybe another 2 feet of shoulder left. There's a drive way about 100 yards ahead, which would make it a lot less nerve wracking to be working on a bike. I jump back on, and tell the wife to walk behind me while I idle up to the drive way. Just as I figured....I didn't get 5 feet, and the tire goes ahead and de-beads the rest of the way. Crap! Figures! We sit there while I figure out our options, and this new white explorer pulls up with a mid 50's lady driving it. She's more than willing to help, and actually goes to wal-mart to buy us a plug kit. It must not have been her first rodeo, cause she told me she would try to get the orange plugs. Those of you intimately familiar with plugging tires, know what that means, LOL! The orange ones are the good ones, for those not 'fortunate' enough to have experience. While waiting, a guy in a green chevy truck pulls up and asks if we wanted him to go get his trailer, so we could fix the tire at his garage. I politely declined since we had parts coming. So she comes back, with the kit AND a can of fix-a-flat. I plug the tire, and start filling it with the fix-a-flat. Of course that ain't gonna work, cause the beads are off of the rim. So she gives me a ride to the nearest gas station about 5 miles away, so I can get some air. Why gas stations think that paying $1.50 for 2 minutes of air is fair is beyond me. I try to get air in the tire. Doesn't work, cause the valve stem is still in it so it won't fill fast enough. Crap! There's 2 dudes sitting there on their Harleys, so I ask them if they happen to have a valve stem remover type cap on one of their wheels. Turns out one does, and he lets me use it. So I start filling the tire with the stem removed and as soon as the beads pop back on, the air compressor stops. Nice! So I dig around in my pocket for more quarters, and can only find one since this stupid thing already robbed me of a $1.50. The lady pulls out a bunch of quarters which apparently was her car wash stash to get me going again. Finally the tire has 38 psi in it again, and we head back to install it. Told her I was pretty sure I had it from there, and she left, and WOULD NOT let me pay her for anything. She even made the wife take a cold powerade that I refused repeatedly!
While putting the wheel back on the bike, a Street Glide pulls up behind me. Told him I thought I had it all under control, other than not having a knife to cut the plug flush. He didn't have one either, but come to find out, he lived around our home town in the 60's. Hell of a nice guy. So then ANOTHER guy on a softail pulls up behind that guy. Guess he was headed to work, but DID have a knife for me to use. The two fellers left, and I was re-installing all the luggage, when a third guy and his ole lady came pulling up asking if we needed help. At this point, I'm feeling really proud to be on two wheels.
Coming from mainly a Harley back ground, and working at a Harley dealership for 10 years, I've heard all sorts of comments from one spectrum to the other concerning 'metric' bikes. I think people squawk and talk a big game, but when it comes down to it, the majority WILL give you the shirt off their back to get you going when you're down and out.
I don't know..this story is a little long winded, but its an experience that'll stick with me for a long time, and thought I should share for the hope that YOU stop and help a fellow rider!
Frank
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