Defective Tire-Conti Road Attacks

Joined
Jan 9, 2009
Messages
14
Location
El Paso, Texas
Bike
ST1300
I was coming home from ABQ on Saturday doing 80 down I25 when the front end developed a strange vibration. I stopped the bike and discovered three large blisters equi distant around the tire. Well, since there was nothing close I rode the bike 50 miles to a friends house in Las Cruces along the side of the interstate at 25-30 mph. Thread wear was within limits and I think the tire had about 8000 miles. Have contacted Continental more for their information then anything else. Am putting this out for information and may post more once we have a chance to look at the inside of the tire. Am thinking major cord failure and really glad I did not have a blow out at 80 mph.
 

Byron

Moderator
Joined
Mar 3, 2006
Messages
2,312
Location
KY
STOC #
6091
Like you said, glad something worse didn't happen. Would love to hear what you find out about the defect.
 
Joined
Feb 16, 2007
Messages
289
Location
Olympia, WA
Bike
2003 ST1300
Glad you made it safe, but next time, change the horseshoe a bit earlier. 8,000 miles on a Conti RA is the extreme most you could safely expect. I changed mine at 6,000, not because of tread life but it had cupping issues. How long had the tire been on the bike, and was the year of production fairly recent?
 
OP
OP
Joined
Jan 9, 2009
Messages
14
Location
El Paso, Texas
Bike
ST1300
Well, I am not sure that 8000 on those tires is that much. The thread was still within limits and I had them inspected by one of the local bike shops about 400 miles before it happened.

I see lots of variation on mileage for any given tire. I know this is apples and oranges but I usually get over 12000 miles on a rear torrance on my GS but others report much less. It appears to me that mileage varies with operator use and riding conditions.

I got the bike last December with 24000 miles on it so I don't know exactly how many miles or the year of the tire. A friend rides a large variety of bikes (including a just sold ST1300) and he has never seen damage like we are looking at.

I had replacement tires on order for over a month at the local bike shop. Well, I just cancelled that order and have tires coming from SW Moto by the end of the week. Will report back once we get the front tire off the ST.
 
Joined
May 20, 2005
Messages
196
Location
Corona, CA
Bike
2005 ST13
How does a tire with no problems until 8,000 miles qualify as a (manufacturing) defect?
Tire (cord, belt) failure, yes. Defective tire, probably not.
 
Joined
Aug 2, 2008
Messages
547
Location
Natchez, MS
Bike
'07 ST1300
good job paying attention to abnormalities and checking it out.....

may have saved your life, yeah, a blow out at 80 would not be without some lost hide at least huh.....

what kind of tire was that and how many miles on it, may I ask?
 
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