I Got Into Heavy Metal this Summer

A little over a month ago I picked up some unwanted metallic road material.  I had about 7500 miles on the tire since May and as you can see I managed to get some miles on this screw too.  That's because I didn't realize it was there until later that night when I went into the garage for something and noticed my rear tire looked low.

I got to thinking about my day and where I might have picked up the screw.  The last place I left before heading home was this yard at Portland School District.  Of course it could've been lurking anywhere on the road but I'll be watching this yard a little more closely.

It's kind of interesting to think that I was leaning like normal on all the curves on I-5 between downtown and our house.  Thankfully I made it home before the tire went flat.

An engineer at one of the hospitals in Portland was returning home a few weeks ago from a 10 day road trip in Canada with some friends.  They were just outside Wenatchee, WA and he was in the lead on his 09 Honda ST1300.  At this point when he tells the story he says he was on the downhill side of a hill.  He noticed something ambling on the side of the road but it didn't register with him what it was.  As he kept watching, it made a change in course and was now heading to cross the road.  About the time he thought to himself, "That's a bear!"... he hit it.

The next guy behind him was near the top of the hill and had a panoramic view of the whole incident.  He would later say that it looked like the two of them were on tracks and were meant to collide.  This is what we all learned in our motorcycle safety class as "target fixation".  I'm thinking though that it would be pretty hard not look at a bear ambling on the side of the road.  Probably the best bet would be to slow way down or even stop.

After the impact the motorcycle low-sided. The rider separated from the bike and did a combination of sliding, rolling, and basically flying around like a rag-doll.  The guy who had the view said he thought he was dead.  He said the bear was knocked into the air and landed back on the side of the road. He attempted to get up then fell back down and died.

The rider was very fortunate.  He broke his throttle wrist, cracked a rib, and his big toe on his left foot was swollen.  All of his gear did the job it was intended to do including his Draggin' Jeans with Kevlar inserts. He has a plate in his wrist and is looking forward to riding again.

When you think back on close calls that you've had in life do you sometimes wonder how you managed to get through them?  I've had at least two incidents where I shouldn't be here and those weren't on a motorcycle.  And then there are countless close calls we're not even aware of. 

Anyway, keep checking your tires and watch for furry critters along the roadside.

God's speed.

Tire Change Reflections

Last night I posted this photo with a very short write-up then decided to delete it. The trouble with doing that is Blogger doesn't delete it from the blog lists of others.

Next Friday it will be a year since the truck arrived at our house with the Beemer. I've put 14,000 miles on it this year. When I got the bike it had a little less than 12,000 miles and the previous owner had just installed a new rear tire. In the last couple of weeks the tire had worn through the wear indicators. Since I plan on making a trip to Southern Oregon next week I figured I needed some fresh tread.

I bought my tire online from my favorite motorcycle supply house, which happens to be in Oregon. The tire was waiting on my porch the next afternoon. Wednesday afternoon I stopped at the nearby Honda/Yamaha/Suzuki dealership to work out the installation. They wanted to check out the rear wheel to make sure it would work on their balancer. Everything check out okay so I told him I'd call Thursday to make the arrangements.  Before I left I popped a couple of shots of the FJR next to me. I'm pretty sure some people in the service department thought I was weird to take several pictures of the side case of an FJR waiting for its owner. I just thought it was a Kodak moment.

Here's where the glitch came into play on the tire thing. Wednesday was a nice day with high clouds but Thursday was clear and sunny and very beautiful. This caused anyone with a motorcycle to call the dealership and want their bike worked on for the upcoming beautiful weekend. The service department was slammed and he said it would be two weeks before they could look at my bike. Wow, things change fast when the sun comes out.

So this morning I strapped my tire on the bike and rode to the BMW dealer across town by the airport. It's first come first served so I made sure I was first. Actually I was the only one. An hour later I was back on the road.

Before I left, a man and a lady each pulled up on 1200GS's. His bike had two new tires strapped on the back. I couldn't help but notice that the two tires on his bike looked okay, so after he went inside I asked her about the tires. She said that they were cupped and because they're leaving for Alaska in a few days they need replacing.  They're both tour guides for trips from Portland to Alaska. We spoke for a while before she gave me her card. The company is MotoQuest and the trips look very interesting. It's not necessary to have a dual sport bike because they have all sorts of tours. Maybe someday.

While I was waiting for the shop to open I couldn't resist another reflection shot with the FedEx truck.