Maybe I have just been getting paranoid after reading all of the Harley hate on the local CL rant's and raves

 

Anyone around the DC metro area pretty much knows the Springfield Interchange area. (Big time ramp contruction project going on 12 years now)Once going to work was going thru the area and got a flat, stopped and changed it and noticed what appeared to be the end of a bolt sticking out right at the bottom of the sidewall. Took it to the tirre shop the next day after work and the "bolt" turned out to be a 9" screwdriver minus the handle. WTF, needless to say since it was on the sidewall, no repair possible. Stupid screwdriver ended up costing me a $200.00 tire, (thank goodness for road hazard insurance) and the tire that was ruined was only a month old! Have had other flats in the area caused by screws and nails, tire guys said they get at least 4-6 tires a week for nails and crap from that area.

 

That exact same thing happened to me, except it was in the rear tire of my 2000 Corvette.

 

Friggin "FOD" walks. LMAO Haven't thought about that phrase in years.

To the OP, I think sometime during the night a cat chewed off your bell and shortly there after a gremlin with screwdriver attached the aforementioned screw.

Seriously though I have picked nails, screws, tacks etc in my own driveway. Think may I should "FOD WALK" my driveway? "FOREIGN OBJECT DAMAGE" or the prevention thereof.

 

I won't even touch this one. Gawd.

 

There are a couple of stoplights on my way to work that I always seem to catch and the amount (and type) of trash both in the main traffic path and a bit off to the side is amazing.
Several years ago a hometown owned lumberyard that my cousin worked at lost one of those 50# boxes of roofing nails from the back of their delivery truck. They were good folks there and were paying for flat tire repairs for ages it seemed like.

 

2 weekends ago I had exactly the same as you. 1.5" crosshead square on in the middle of the rear tyre. Looked suspicious though being so perfectly square on in the tyre. I was 120 miles into a 160 mile trip and the handling suddenly went off. Point is that I put air in and checked tyres before the trip and everything was ok so I must have picked it up on the road. Paranoia kicking in I guess.

New whitewall and inner tube plus fitting here in the UK £359 (around $500) and a 2 week wait while the UK's most famous HD dealership sourced a tyre for a 2008 Road King Classic!

 

I once had a 1/4" bolt sticking through a car tire.Still makes me wonder how that happened.

 

Does not sound odd to me.
I had a 1/8 dia. drill bit stuck in my rear tire.

 

Amateurs, any good sabotagers out there knows that nails, and screws are too random, they should of put sugar in the fuel tank.