Where did you ride today?

Nowhere, Drove to the moto tire store. Last night as I was inspecting the NT1100 for todays ride into the foothills I found this, 11 pounds of pressure and tiny screw tip imbedded in the rear tire. So do I plug it or replace the tire. Tire had 4200 miles on it and it was approaching the wear bars after a year of riding. Honda factory for some reason has outfitted some NT1100 with a inexpensive sport tire (Dunlap Sportmax GPR 300) instead a sport-touring tire. Soft / sticky, single compound. Front tire has lots of tread left. I decided to replace the rear with a new sport touring tire. Probably a Dunlop Rosdsmart III or IV. I don't ride in the rain much any more and we don't get much rain here in Colorado, also I am too old to ride overly aggressive. I need to slow down and smell the roses as there is not much time left at almost 77 years old. So the RS IIIs will do just fine price wise compared to the RS IVs. And we won't even talk about the Michelin Pilot tire cost. So no riding today and if I cannot get the rear wheel reinstalled by COB today then there will be no riding tomorrow either.

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Had the RS 3's on my St1100 good tire in the rain, handled well , reasonable mileage for what I paid for them , front tire developed uneven wear pattern. Went with Bridgestone's have 6000 kilometers on them and they are wearing even , cost twice as much as the Dunlops but I think they are worth it.
Did get out for a ride last night to Crescent Beach and White Rock Beach and Delta Port. About 100 kilometers. Was a beautiful evening.
 
Rode a total of 71 miles yesterday. Some of that was to the American Legion Riders meeting. This was on the way home after that meeting.
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Then I had an appointment with the Iowa DOT to replace my trailer tag with the personalized one I ordered when I bought the trailer. Rode another 71 miles today to go get that. Found LOTS of roads with road construction. Had it all... road closed with a detour... down to one lane on another road that was a divided 4 lane... one lane with a flagman on a 2 lane country road (and of course I got there just in time to stop and wait for traffic to clear coming the other way)... etc. I'm sure I found half the road construction in the state on this ride. I guess that makes 142 miles in two days.
 
Nowhere, Drove to the moto tire store. Last night as I was inspecting the NT1100 for todays ride into the foothills I found this, 11 pounds of pressure and tiny screw tip imbedded in the rear tire. So do I plug it or replace the tire. Tire had 4200 miles on it and it was approaching the wear bars after a year of riding. Honda factory for some reason has outfitted some NT1100 with a inexpensive sport tire (Dunlap Sportmax GPR 300) instead a sport-touring tire. Soft / sticky, single compound. Front tire has lots of tread left. I decided to replace the rear with a new sport touring tire. Probably a Dunlop Rosdsmart III or IV. I don't ride in the rain much any more and we don't get much rain here in Colorado, also I am too old to ride overly aggressive. I need to slow down and smell the roses as there is not much time left at almost 77 years old. So the RS IIIs will do just fine price wise compared to the RS IVs. And we won't even talk about the Michelin Pilot tire cost. So no riding today and if I cannot get the rear wheel reinstalled by COB today then there will be no riding tomorrow either.

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despite the smokey sky's and my burning eyes i went out to check the Might ST 1300 over for Saturday's ride out to Muskegon, Mi. the rear tire was low on air so i hooked up the compressor and set it to 42psi then all of a sudden i started hearing a hissing sound like the hose wasn't connected to the valve stem properly. all of a sudden poof, the metal portion fly's out of the rubber valve stem20260716_172240.jpg20260716_172246.jpg20260716_172555.jpg20260716_172604.jpg
 
Bunny trail question that just occurred to me. We have some great minds here on the forum that might have an answer, I hope.

If I put nitrogen in my tire, it becomes lighter and I get better tire wear and gas mileage. Would it make a difference putting all that smoky air in it? :unsure:

Chris
 
Of course it will make a difference. Regular air is heavier than nitrogen and smokey air is heavier than regular air so the tire wear and more so handling will suffer. I would not recommend riding it with smokey air in the tires.
 
despite the smokey sky's and my burning eyes i went out to check the Might ST 1300 over for Saturday's ride out to Muskegon, Mi. the rear tire was low on air so i hooked up the compressor and set it to 42psi then all of a sudden i started hearing a hissing sound like the hose wasn't connected to the valve stem properly. all of a sudden poof, the metal portion fly's out of the rubber valve stem
I would consider that a good day. Much better to have it happen at home than at 60 MPH.

Was it very old. That is unusual if the age of the valve was the normal life of a tire.
 
I would consider that a good day. Much better to have it happen at home than at 60 MPH.

Was it very old. That is unusual if the age of the valve was the normal life of a tire.
i was going through Gaylord, MI last year doing 85 and got a flat, had to have the tire replaced but i don't know if they replaced the valve stem, i think want some 90 degree metal ones but don't know where to get them from
 
Since we're reporting on the ride we couldn't take due to maintenance issues...

I WAS going to go for a ride today. Started up the bike and as I typically do while still in the garage I toggle the hi/lo beams to verify they work.
They didn't. Low beam was fine but no high beam. My Vulcan S uses a single common H4 bulb. The dealer has them in stock. My wife was half way in the direction of the dealer anyway so I called her to ask her to pick it up for me at the dealer parts counter.
She was just leaving a friends house where she was swimming in their backyard pool so just had her swim suit on. She almost didn't want to go but then said she would. So maybe I'll get to ride tomorrow.
 
Did get out on the bike today. Short trip. Dragged the trailer to do a Walmart pickup. Only 5.2 miles this trip but I intend to ride much more later today... if I don't wear myself out mowing the lawn. The gal who brought out the groceries commented that it was really neat. Then her manager came out to talk to me about the bike and the trailer. He has a BMW and is planning a trip to the Dakotas with a buddy wanted to know where I bought it and how it handled behind the bike.
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Just rode the Foot Hills for a few hours to scrub in the new rear tire I put on the NT11 this past week. Left the house at 0600 hrs and was back home by 0930 hours before it gets too hot in the City. Go early and avoid the rush, how ever one needs to be on the alert for the Deer. Lots of Does with their off-spring trailing behind. Great to ride early on a Sunday as there is no traffic to deal with until about 10 AM. Here is the route up and back. Starts at the edge of the city. A few file pictures as I did not take any photos today.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/qeisvKR1YQDUmg6b9

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