One of the things I do is ride a motorbike to work every day…
I started doing this when I was 18, the reasons, in order where;
1) I liked it
2) It was faster and cheaper than public transport.
I’m now in my 50’s and I took a break of about 15-years following a rear wheel tyre blow out, on the way to work one morning. I wasn’t badly hurt but we had two children under 5 and my wife wanted them to grow up with a dad.
I got back into motorcycling to work when in 2000 I bought a Moto Guzzi, an 1100cc shaft drive bike that the Italian motorcycle company had originally designed for the California Highway Patrol (CHiPs) – I was in my 40’s and my kids told me is was a mid-life crisis!
The reason this time: -
1) Its faster and cheaper than public transport
2) I don’t get sneezed on, in some overcrowded tube train and spend two weeks at home with flue
3) I like it - not as much in the winter now
My bike history is:
Suzuki 80cc (cant remember the model name but did go above 50mph)[circa 1972]
Ducati 350 MkIII [1972 - 1981]– the best bike I ever had. A single cylinder 350cc flat acceleration up to 80mph. Handled like a dream front break was double twin leading show (ie four shoes in one drum) better than a disc break. Temperamental and Italian electrics where awful but once you knew how to tickle it into life - it had a personality.
Then I had a Honda 50cc [1981-1982]– Honda 70cc [1982-1987] – these where good reliable work horses minimal maintenance (enclosed rear chain) it was in the 70 that I had the rear tyre blow out.
Motor Guzzi – [2000-2009] Nice bike but Italian finish is crap, wheels corrode and chrome plating rusts through. Engine great and electrics German so no problems there but had to change front and rear wheel bearings every 18-months or so. Almost as frequently as the break pads.
I’ve now go a Suzuki 400 cc scooter [2007 -]. Ideal manoeuvrability in town, with sufficient acceleration to keep you up with most motor bikes. Economical it's not. Why can you not get an MPG figure for bike?
Anyway one of the reasons for this blog is that blow out I had. Ever since then in all my cars and bikes I have used a puncture prevention fluid. Partly because my wife and later kids just get in a car start it and go – they never check oil, tyre pressure or anything else, and partly because I became a bit paranoid about a tyre suddenly deflating.
The benefits have been that most tyres I have treated have not lost a pound in pressure over their life. This has made their life far longer than it used to be. Fuel economy should have been better but difficult to tell when your kids are driving.
More importantly on the bikes I have had some serious tyre damage – If you drive a bike in London you will know of the debris that lies in the wake of a traffic island. This is a collection of flotsam and jetsam that is discharge onto the highway and never cleared up by the road sweepers.
In one relatively new tyre I had a 6” coach bolt, about 5mm diameter that had gone through the tyre tread and was poking out of the side wall. When I checked the pressure it was smack on 36lbs/in2. The puncture sealant had fixed the whole – unfortunately the damage to the side wall meant a new tyre. In the past I have simply pulled out the nail, or whatever, and kept riding without a problem.
It isn’t cheep but 1ltr will treat between 3 ad 5 tyres depending on their size and at £25+vat+shipping you will defiantly get your money back in the life of the tyre alone (unless you are some that checks you tyre pressure every week). When you take into account fuel economy benefits and the ability to get home if your on a bike. Finally, have you ever gone to get the spare out and found that in the last three years since you checked it has gone flat? Well this stops that too.
Check it out for yourself. Oko tyre puncture prevention http://www.okosales.co.uk/index.html
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