First road trip

[cwsenn]

This past Saturday I decided to make my first road trip to Walla Walla, WA to judge a BBQ contest. It's about a 305 mile trip from where I live in Olalla, WA. The weather was perfect, I had a hotel reservation in Walla Walla and was thinking it would be a relaxing drive on my new 1200RT and in about 5 hours I would be there having a few cold ones and visiting with friends.
I made a short stop at South Sound BMW and was about 90 miles out on Interstate 90E enjoying some nice curves doing about 85 MPH when I suddenly noticed it becoming difficult to steer my bike. My first thought was what the h--- is wrong? In the MSF course they mentioned you would loose steering at 130MPH or above but I am only doing 80 - 85. The interstate went from one curve to the next where I slowed to 65 and still found it difficult to steer. As soon as I came out of the turn and straightened my bike I gave the handlebars a slight twisting motion and it shook too much so I pulled over immediately to find my front tire very close to flat with two big knots right in the middle of the tread. I then realized Walla Walla was not happening that day.
I called AAA and was told "sorry your motorcycle is not covered because you don't have the RV coverage package." I then remembered that I has just received a BMW roadside assistance card in the mail a few days earlier so I called the toll free number and to my surprise they said they would cover up to $300.00 for towing my bike back to Tacoma. A tow truck arrived in about 45 minutes, loaded my bike and we were off to Tacoma. I had called the service manager at South Sound BMW and he hung around for 1.5 hours after closing for me to get there and gave me a loaner 650GS to ride home on. The total for the tow was $336.00 which I paid $36.00 of that bill. I went back today and picked up my bike with a new tire for total of $148.00 and the old tire looked like it had picked up a large nail dead center in the tread.
My thoughts on the whole incident? Lucky to not get hurt, The BMW roadside assistance was great and South Sound BMW went above and beyond to help me out. I am sure glad to get my bike back as it rides like a dream (even with a flat tire).

Life can be great even on a bad day,
Lownslo

[CTHalk]

Glad you made it to a stop in an upright position! I once picked up a nail in MA on 290. I rolled the bike into some bushes, and hitched for a lift. The driver took me to Sears where I bought some fix-a-flat, then brought me back to the bike. The fix-a-flat got me almost to Old Orchard Beach, ME. When I stopped at an all-night sandwich joint for some hot chocolate to warm up, the tire went flat while sitting. A customer went to his house and came back with a bike pump. That got me into Old Orchard on a late Saturday night (actually Sunday early morning). I met the rest of the riders I was meeting, and we found a closed bike shop on Sunday, with a small house next to it. On a chance, we knocked on the door, and it was answered by a sleepy looking guy. He saw that we were on bikes, out of state, and opened up his shop to get me a tube, and let me use some tools to replace it. I'll always remember that. I wish he would open a BMW dealership! Nice to hear that there are still dealers that will back up a customer too.. H

[Motorman]

I'm glad you were able to get through this without crashing. Moral of the story is that the first time you sense a dificulty in steering, stop and look to see what the problem is. Don't keep riding until it gets too hard to steer or you are no longer riding the bike.