Home
Sharon's Biking Blog
Something Has Burst...Is It My Bubble?
Blog date Oct 2016
So 4 months on and 2500 miles covered on the Kawasaki Z250SL what have I and the little green eyed monster Envy been up to.? Have we grown together or apart? Read on and all will be revealed in the next episodes of Sharon's blog...
I am afraid alas dear readers I have neglected my duty and failed to keep you all up to date with my current adventures.
But I have a valid reason you see. It is not I am glad to report due to the fact I have nothing to report. Nay on the contrary the truth is thus...I have been having way to much fun and spending all my spare time out on my my gorgeous lean green racing machine. Wahooooooo!!!!! Time to write? No not I, only time to ride. Mwahhhhh. I am sure you will forgive me because hell you know what it feels like to be out enjoying your bike. Winter is coming and we must make tread marks while the sun shines.
Oh how time flies on a little green torquey machine.
My 1000 miles first review of the bike can be found here - Kawasaki Z 250 SL First review
So after 1000 miles I was beginning to settle nicely into the bike. Every ride brought a bit more confidence. In August a nice bimble was arranged with a friend of ours TM and his lovely partner LM. The last time I rode with TM was as a very nervous new rider on my little Keeway. I was really thrilled when we all stopped off for a brew and and a chat and he told me how good a rider I had become. We all love a bit of praise and yes this was music to my ears. Which was more than can be said for the sound of the singing tree we all visited that day. Music hmmm more like a mournful wail. Maybe that wail was the harbinger of doom because on returning home from a delightful day out I discover something embedded in my rear tyre.
Closer inspection reveals it to be a "U" nail. There is no alternative but to pull the bugger out and see what damage it has done. A loud hiss is followed by a wail. Not the singing tree this time but meeeee. Nooooooo the bloody tyre has only a 1000 miles on it...don't die now.
With no center stand Ren helps me to learn how to lift the bike via a paddock stand. It lifts fairly easily so that was a something useful to learn how to do.
Can the tyre be saved and new life pumped into it?
Worm in place.
We try to repair the tyre using a sticky worm but bubbles reveal it is still leaking. Damn it. The trouble was the "U" nail has given me a double puncture. The two holes proved to be too close together to enable two worms to be used but too far apart for one worm to cover both holes.
Ren as always comes to my rescue and takes the tyre the next day to a garage for a professional repair. Alas even the professional could not save the tyre, its tarmac days were over.
Goodbye Dunlop your life was far too short.
Double trouble - a "U" nail
So a new tyre had to b purchased. Easy right?? Just buy another Dunlop TT900 to replace the punctured one. Well no it would appear that you can not actually buy Dunlop TT900s in good old England. Yes you can buy the bike with them on it but replace them - no. Fabulous, so now despite all the advise the manufacturers tell you my bike would now have to have mis-matched tyres. Because I was not buying 2 new bloody tyres after only 1000 miles that was for sure. The tyre of choice was the Michelin Pilot Street which was fitted and balanced for £70 by B&C at Farnworth.
So much for my new found confidence, now I had to scrub in a new tyre and a mis-matched one at that. Would it misbehave because it is mis-matched, will it be s#!t in the wet?
My fears proved unfounded the tyre was scrubbed in with ease and I actually felt no difference in the Michelin tyre to that of the Dunlop which was a good thing. It handled just as well in the wet and the dry as the original Dunlops so we are back on track..well not literally more back on the dirt trails...but more of that next time..............
Reader's Comments
Ian Soady said :-
That's a shame. Still, at least it wasn't a tubed tyre. When they get a puncture they tend to go flat instantly which makes for very interesting handling....
It always seems to be the back tyre that gets it. The explanation I heard was that the front wheel flips the nail / screw / whatever up just in time for the sharp end to pierce the back. Makes sense to me.
TT900? TT100s (official name K81) were so called because they were the first tyre to exceed a 100 mph lap of the TT course on a production machine (Malcolm Uphill on a (real) Bonneville in 1969 - before you were born probably.....) So have these tyres done 900 mph somewhere?
10/10/2016 09:55:13 UTC
Ren - The Ed said :-
I'm so glad it wasn't a tube Ian! I recall my blowout on my Honda H100A back in '89 when I wuz but a mere lad. The rear bounced around like a pogo stick while I managed to hang of for dear life.
I guess most nails lie politely flat on the road and it takes a front tyre to disturb it from its safe position. Then lady luck plays her part deciding whether or not the object lands in such a way that the rear tyre can devour it. How about...a uni-motor-cycle!
Yes Ian. The TT900 achieved 900mph on Sharon's 250, she's getting a bit quick these days. It wasn't at the Isle of Man though, it was on a lap of Halewood where she lives. She didn't get caught, the speed cameras failed to register a speed.
10/10/2016 20:38:14 UTC
Name
Comment
Add a RELEVANT link (not required)
Upload an image (not required) -
Uploading...
Home
Sharon's Biking Blog