Sorry to hear about your bike, but glad you are ok. Is sounds to me from what I am hearing from the responses that a rear tire flat is worse than a front. I have not had either (knock on wood), so I just imagined that a front tire would be much harder to control to a stop. Learn something new every day.

 

best way to describe is a possibility of 3' from center of where your riding, in both directions, left & right, so imagine the rear swinging 6 feet back & forth, while trying to get it under control. a sudden loss of air from a torn tire, & even the best riders can go down, a slow leak can be dealt with, but a flat, in rear is one of the most dangerous problems other than trying to ride on black ice, & I will take my chances on black ice slowly, over a rear tire blowout at any speed!

 

the main thing is that you are alright, bike is repairable / or replaceable, your not...

 

This happened to my buddy, just ahead of me, at 75 mph, after passing a line of 18 wheelers. He was able to get it to the shoulder safely. He didn't realize what was happening at first. I was getting little pieces of the rubber bouncing off my windshield. I pulled up next to him and frantically motioned him to pull over. It wasn't until he got off the bike that he realized how close he come to crashing, badly.

 

Had a flat on the rear of my FXR a couple years ago going down the freeway. First I thought the lines in the road were catching the tire, then it felt like the bike was hinged in the middle. Made it from the fast lane onto the shoulder and got the bike stopped. Tire was completely flat. Turned out to the a 3/4" slit/ hole or whatever in the seam at the base of the tread. Not sure how it happened. Took 4 tire plugs just to get it to hold air so I could get it to the shop.

 

This is a Metzler tire, did he or is going to contact them about this?

 

It felt the same way with me. My back tire went down and I kept looking at the front tire because the steering was all over the place.

 

I would have driven it, but on side of road, just above idle, & dog paddled it the 4 miles, riding maybe 5mph?

if your bike has modern brakes? "disc" & modern bearings "timken" then I am sure that was a workout. before I would push I would take a screwdriver & pry pads to release them from rotors, as they have a little drag. dont believe it, next time you do a brake job, with both calipers off, notice how much easier it pushes. I only had to push a bike with this 1 time & that was until I could get service with cell phone & that was maybe 1 mile, all in mountains, that was an electrical problem that shut engine off.

for the bearings, not much that you can do, only early bikes "big twins" before 73, had non timken bearings & drum brakes & they roll so much easier. I havent decided if I will use drums on my project, or disc, mainly because I want to use a 46 rear & drum is pretty much 51, & once upon a time 49, was available. I want less rolling resistance, & better gas mileage.

Randy

 

No, we all assumed that it was caused by some type of damage like a cut or slice. Besides, he got rid of the whole bike a couple of months later and now rides a Ultra Classic.

 

Quick note about the progressive claim. 6k in damages. It was not a total loss. I got to do some shopping for replacements parts today. Happy with the results.