I'm in Erie, PA this week for a series of meetings with Erie Insurance. Tuesday's event (building a home for Habitat for Humanity) was canceled which left me with a free day to explore the shores of Lake Erie. I headed out around 9:30 am after having breakfast with a friend of mine from the Chicago area who just happened to be staying in the same hotel and who also had meeting with Erie this week. He's an actuary, though, so he had nerdy, intellectual, meetings probably of much greater import than my meetings. My planned route was supposed to take me east into New York where I would wander around for a couple hundred miles before returning for a 4:00 cocktail reception and dinner.
Route 5 clings fairly tightly to the lake shore all through Pennsylvania and it's a delightful 2-lane motorcycle road. Direct, but not straight. Light traffic (except through Erie) and nice views of Lake Erie on one side and vineyards on the other. If you're traveling through the area, I recommend it over the interstate or other US highways that bypass the city.
About 20 miles out from "home", I spotted a guy and his ST1300 on the side of the road. I slowed and he signaled that he was 'OK'. I continued on into New York State.
I came upon a blue Dodge minivan of the 1990s variety putzing along at below the posted speed limit of 55 and well below my internal speed limit of 65. As luck would have it, I came upon him at speed and at a perfect place to pass safely. Naturally, I accelerated into the opposing lane to execute the pass and it was then that the rear tire slid out. Not much, thankfully, but enough to startle me. It felt a little like a patch of ice but there was no ice and, an ice patch, I couldn't ride away from it. Telling the story takes much longer than the actual event. I was too far into the pass to let up, so I finished it then pulled immediately on to the shoulder. I'm sure the driver in the minivan thought I was a jerk.
I had noticed odd handling earlier in the ride, but I thought I had just squared off my aging Michelins on the mostly flat trip from Chicago. I knew before my bike had stopped that the rear tire was flat, though. I have never had a flat on the road before. I think my dealer found a screw in my stock tire once when they were replacing it with the PR3s, but I hadn't noticed it and it was still holding air. This was going to be an adventure, I thought. I'm 600 miles from home in a town about which I know nothing really. I have tire repair kit so I figured I was going to learn how to use it.
Just about the time I had unloaded the bike, Curt stopped his ST1300 in front of my bike and offered his assistance. He's from the area and was riding around on his day off. My luck under the circumstances could not have been better. Not only did he have experience fixing a flat, but he had a friend who owns a campground about 1/2 mile from us who had a compressor to fill the tire to proper pressure. Then, after getting me back to riding condition, he suggested that I ride to Forest Park Honda in Erie to have it patched correctly or replaced if needed. I agreed and asked him for directions, but he insisted on riding with me the 25 miles in the opposite direction to the dealer to make sure I arrived safely and to introduce me to John the service guy.
John was working on the front end of an ATV, but stopped to look at the damage, give me the usual warnings that it's probably better to get a new tire, but that he doesn't have one stocked and that it would take an hour or so and $100 to patch. I agreed to his terms. Curt, who was late for lunch with his wife, said goodbye and refused my repeated offers to buy him and his wife lunch in exchange for his help.
I went to a new BBQ place for lunch ("new" because John said he hadn't been there yet). I returned to a repaired bike and John's confident assurance that the patch would hold up to 100mph and to ride as normal provided, of course, that my "normal" was less than 100mph.
The acid test will be tomorrow's ride home. So far, though, I could not have scripted a better first flat tire experience.
P.S. As I don't think PR3s are available anymore, what should I use as replacements?
