Brother-in-laws crash

[likembikem]

Last Friday my brother-in-law going from Tn to NC with my sister on the passenger seat and packed for the weekend had quite the crash on his Victory M/C. Here's what happened: he is a long time owner/rider but sporadicaly and not too much of a tinkerer, from what I can tell, we are not close (too long of a story) anyway about 5 miles from home (!) another M/C behind them noticed bike looked wobbly, my sister said it felt wobbly and smelled rubber burning. The other rider was going to stop them at the one red light down the road but it was green, so they continued on. about 3 miles later the rear tire shreded (medium tread, sportmax radial, correct size). both had full face helments and padded jackets. She got skinned knuckels, He got broken arm, cracked sinus bones, damage of the liver (?) a couple of bleed spots on the brain. Arm is getting pinned up and screwed, he will be ok in a while still in hospital. The best I can tell it was simply a mater of not checking air pressure and running on low tire until it blew. He owns his own business and probably worked so much to get caught up at work that when came time to go just left. I haven't asked those questions to him but, really tires don't just blow do they? after 41 years of riding, I've never heard of a crash, just poor handling and then you pull over, right?:confused2:

 

[CaptainKyle]

Sorry to hear about the crash I wish them a speedy recovery.

 

[Rusty McNeil]

First off I'm they both survived, hope he has a good recovery.

I have never seen a castrophic failure of a m/c tire unless it was from road debris, All the flats I've had and witnessed we're slow motion events that gave some warning signs.

To not have any warning signs would require a huge hole and quick air out to short circuit the warnings signs you'd normally get.

Or maybe riding on A very low tire long enough could cause sudden failure. That one possible. Low enough to overheat. Not low enough to handle like crap. Combine that On a big heavy cruiser and an intermittent rider?? Then the rider might not notice till its too late.

Perhaps a tire could have massive sudden failure if ridden till the cords are showing or something. I dunno bout that one. Don't want to.

 

[PDWeyand]

speedy recovery for the both of them. Do not understand why he would not have felt it going flat with that type of wobble of a low tire, and the smell should have been the second clue. Thank goodness they both will be ok.

 

[grimmie]

Things could be a lot worse..... Speedy recovery to both of them!

 

[PATMAX]

Smell rubber burning, felt wobbly, two up riding and you don't pull over to investigate?
I'm just saying....

 

[Fire-medic]

Sad to hear of anyone injured, but they should recover, hopefully.

Yes, it sounds like an inexperienced rider not paying attention to increasingly-squirrelly handling, the smell of burning rubber, and no pre-trip once-over. I would have taken an hour to check the bike before the trip, probably the week before, in case there were any repairs needed.

I usually check the F & R brakes, clutch, throttle, and tires at least visually before nearly any ride. Some things you learn the hard way. I had a KZ1000 that ate clutch cables. I also got a flat during my probably second tank of gas on the same bike, after installing a new Dunlop premium sportbike tire back in the 1980's. It was a road hazard that did me in, a Craftsman allen key punched a neat perforation. I still have the wrench in my toolbox as a souvenir. I was at the bank, getting some $, & when I got back to my bike, it looked low (the rear tire) which I found hard to believe, until I searched the circumference, & saw it hanging-out.

Awhile ago I posted here a pic of a firefighter's H-D which had an underinflated tire literally melt-apart in the middle of the tread. It split the casing, luckily the guy wasn't hurt. I still rib him about his lack of maintenance on such a shiny bike.

 

[kingman]

glad there going to be ok made me think about checking tire pres. more often i just checked my 85 and 2010 maxes both were low thanks speedy recovery

 

[Barry barker]

Smell rubber burning, felt wobbly, two up riding and you don't pull over to investigate?
I'm just saying....

You can say that AGAIN!! Glad they will live to remember this one. Wonder if they will ever ride again?

 

[sdt354]

Speedy recovery to them. I try to check tire pressure everytime I ride. How long does that take? Not saying for sure that the prob. was pressure. I could have been anything. Burning smell? Tire rubbing with 2 up?

 

[m-cman]

I doubt they could smell the burning rubber while traveling at highway speed. Should have felt the handling change though. Maybe with the added weight and two up he thought it was normal. Did he take trips loaded up like that often?

 

[a113ycat]

I had a tire blow on my old Dyna once and I can tell you for sure when the tire goes so does the handling. If I had not had years of riding experience the bike would had shot right out from under me. When I was a kid my dad thought I needed some bad condition training and had me ride a bike with a flat tire just to give me the experience and to know what it felt like.

I hope they are getting better and have learned from this.

 

[VMike]

Sure glad it wasn't worse and wish them a speedy recovery. I suspect low air pressure was the culprit with the added weight caused the side wall to get extremely hot and basically disintegrate. At highway speeds he may not have smelled the rubber and probably contributed the wallowing,mushy feel in the rear to the added weight he was carrying.
Mike

 

[misiek93]

Glad he's ok. Hopefully next time there's smoke coming from his bike he will stop to investigate, lol.

I cant help but wonder, are you the guy who crashed a vmax during a test ride not too long ago? Now your brother-in-law crashed his bike, seems like you guys are a bit accident prone :stretche:

I don't mean anything negative by it but I just had to ask. I can't be the only one that was thinking that :rofl_200::rofl_200::rofl_200:

Again, glad he'll come out of it as it could have been a lot worse.

 

[SpecOps13]

Really sorry to hear this. Hope all goes well for a fast recovery and then back in the saddle together....

 

[rusty]

Last Friday my brother-in-law going from Tn to NC with my sister on the passenger seat and packed for the weekend had quite the crash on his Victory M/C. Here's what happened: he is a long time owner/rider but sporadicaly and not too much of a tinkerer, from what I can tell, we are not close (too long of a story) anyway about 5 miles from home (!) another M/C behind them noticed bike looked wobbly, my sister said it felt wobbly and smelled rubber burning. The other rider was going to stop them at the one red light down the road but it was green, so they continued on. about 3 miles later the rear tire shreded (medium tread, sportmax radial, correct size). both had full face helments and padded jackets. She got skinned knuckels, He got broken arm, cracked sinus bones, damage of the liver (?) a couple of bleed spots on the brain. Arm is getting pinned up and screwed, he will be ok in a while still in hospital. The best I can tell it was simply a mater of not checking air pressure and running on low tire until it blew. He owns his own business and probably worked so much to get caught up at work that when came time to go just left. I haven't asked those questions to him but, really tires don't just blow do they? after 41 years of riding, I've never heard of a crash, just poor handling and then you pull over, right?:confused2:

I wasn't there so it's hard to tell exactly what happend,and how they were ejected off the bike from a rear flat tire at low or moderit speed.Or where they going really fast? If it were a front tire I could have seen that happening. From the threds I read on this subject .I think your brother in law should stay off motorcycles.IMO,I hope he & his passenger are OK.

 

[ouchez]

You said a full face helmet, yet had a broken sinus bone?

Can you say more of the helmet situation please?

O

 

[Boostmax]

Hope they get better soon. Sometimes a mushy tire on a mushy bike in unfamiliar circumstances is hard to detect.

Previous to my own experience, I had always thought a front wheel blowout at speed ends with certain disaster. I used to commute 140 miles per day on my 2002 Yamaha R1....mostly highway which was like a big playground for that bike! Anyway, coming over an overpass at my typical cruise speed of 90MPH (dont have to watch behind me) and I heard what sounded like a big rig air pressure regulator pop off, you know how big trucks go "pshhhhh" when they set the airbrakes, or just randomly....like that.....so I looked around andd there was no truck near me....Thought that was kinda strange, I75 has a slight left bend where I was, so I tried to turn normally....nothing, tried to turn harder.....nothing, I look down to see that my front tire is FLAT! and I'm going 90mph! Had to just about run off the road befor I could get it to turn. Got her straight and slowed down. Valve stem cracked and split. Instantly let all the air out. No wobble, no instability, no indicator until I had to turn. Crazy....... Could have been game over if the bead came off the rim!

 

[likembikem]

Sorry so long to reply. I'm not the Vmaxer who went down though...haven't done that in quite a while, knock on wood. The helment was full face shoei. He was going highway speed 55 or 60. The rubber smell may have been an overloaded 3 wheeler in front of them with fenderes almost rubbing(?) I am just reporting what I have been told, I didn't ask much because of the situation you know. I didn't know the other people, I don't ride or hang out with them. (Part of the long story, but we are kin you know) He has had a bike several times for many years inluding dirt bikes. but everyday riding a lot, I don't think so. He is going to be o.k. I don't know if the riding is over for them or not