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Evening everyone, Wanted to tell you all about a near disaster that occurred on my short bike trip last week. I am a school teacher in Moore, Oklahoma, and last week was our spring break. We didn’t get to take a bike trip last year, so my dad, uncle, and myself decided to take a quick trip over my break to southeastern Oklahoma and stay in the Kriver campground and ride the skyline drive from Arkansas to Oklahoma. On Wednesday, we were only about 12 miles from Antlers, Oklahoma when it happened. At a certain point I felt the steering was acting odd, but I attributed it to some brisk crosswinds. There was a pavement change, and I thought the steering lightened back up, so I figured I was right. About that time, a loud growling noise started and steering got super heavy again. I knew I had a front tire failure and was in trouble, as I was at speed. The handlebars were shaking , but I was hanging on, while trying to slow her down and head to the shoulder. I was almost to the shoulder when the handlebars started shaking violently, which caused a sharp right off the road and into the soft dirt on the side of the road. The dirt was soft enough it caused the bike to come to rest on the crash bars on the left side. I guess my head hit the windshield, because I broke my windshield clean off. I was pretty shaken, but all good physically. Once my dad and uncle got back to check on me and the bike, we assessed the bike. It was in surprisingly good shape, except the front tire was flat, flat. We decided to try to put some air in the tire to get it up on the shoulder of the road, and then make a plan from there. We got the pump out and hooked it to the valve stem...that’s when we figured out what happened. The metal inner piece of the valve stem came straight out of the valve stem. That was my major point of air loss. We managed to get it up on the road, and started making some calls for towing, or possible bike shops. We soon discovered that there was no motor sports shops within 30+ miles that worked on or dealt with motorcycles, just atv’s and sxs. No towing around. We did find a car tire store that could work on the tire, but we had to take them the wheel. My dad came up with a great idea. We took our jackets off and placed them on the ground anywhere the paint might touch the cement. We then laid the Venture over on her side and unbolted and pulled the front wheel out that way. Worked awesome. We then strapped the wheel on the back of my dad’s bike and I rode my uncles bike into town to the tire shop. In about 10 minutes, the dude had the tire off, new valve stem I and tire remounted. They sprayed it all over with soapy water and everything was solid. We loaded the tire and went back to the Venture. Got the wheel put back on , with the bike laying over on its side, reinstalled the brake calipers, as the aired up tire was too wide to fit with them on the fork. We then reloaded all the bikes up, and slowly worked our way to Moyers, Oklahoma, where the kriver campground is. that’s Adam Sandoval’s campground. The tire never lost a bit of air on the way there. Once we got camp set up, I bent the left crash bar back straight, unbolted the lower and matched the lowers back up. Just some scratches on the bottom of the lower is all that you can see. The old bike carried me through the next days ride, and then the ride home safely. We dealt with lots of wind, which also lead to the demise of the chrome strip under the windshield getting ripped off by a big truck gush of wind. The old girl had a tough trip. I’m thankful to be all safe and healthy, and thankful we were able to finish the trip. It was crazy

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh LOL... I mean,, COME ON JACK!! That of which you speak is a direct pathway to one of the socialist owned U.S. prisons for 10 years! Ahhhh no.. On some things I have no problems "bending" the rules but messing with the ATF is not one of them!! Besides,, who would take care of Tippy and the grandkids if I were not home LOL.... Speaking of Mcgyvering Jack.. What do you think of my little project so far?

Sooo glad you made it thru that ordeal @Bobcat54s!! Flat tires on motorcycles are one of the top causes for fatalities, riding them thru and surviving it takes skill that many riders simply do not possess,, obviously you are not one of those = GOOD ON YA!! Your story does bring to mind something of HUGE importance IMHO.. That being proper installation of the simple little valve stem in the 1st place.. Your story is also one of the very reasons why I simply do not trust and hands but those of my own in my tiring swapping needs.. Quite frankly, just the little art of valve stem installing seems to be a dieing art. Many unknowing, or uncaring, installers over look the need for extreme special focus/care when installing that stem. Overtightening of the stem is a very common mistake and one with the results of which you discovered (not saying this was the case in your example,, just a warning to someone reading this who is not aware of the danger of which I speak). Here is one of my corny youtube videos that I did years ago all about the little stemmer.. Ironically, this little vid is right at the top of views on my tube channel!! Take a peek and see what you think! Puc

OK gotta question???? What's a class 3 FFL?? I have a FFL3, but it's strictly for collectors with a few more bennies than the average Joe... Nothing about silencers. Also on the bent pinky. When I had my COE. Certificate of Exceptance.. prints done they were digitally transmitted to the FBI, and had them done at a Box Store/FEDEX shop. I guess they did it all the time?? Personally if I had the hots to shoot a 22 silent, I'd tape a Desanti bottle full of cotton balls to the muzzel... And Scott you're a McGuiver kind of guy. Bet you could make your own out of a 2"x6"pipe/fender washers/and have it slip over masking tape... No need for threads with a 22... 🙂

Wow that has to be the fluke of all flukes. Glad you came out of it ok as it really could have been a lot worse and within hair of being so. I hope you had spare underwear, jeans and boots cause I imagine they were not in the most sociable condition after that incident.

Hope to make it but will be just getting back from a 4 week trip so we will see. Here is a pic of our new bike

Buy what you want right now because the bill being proposed allows you to keep what you have but you can't buy certain firearms or larger magazines. I have everything I want and I don't plan to give them up.

You may be surprised at my connections......Who do you think funds the WWW ????