First SS1000

On Friday September 3, 2004 my son Joe and I completed our first Saddle Sore 1000 ride. I rode my 1988 K100LT, and my son rode the venerable 2001 Ducati ST2 he purchased earlier this summer from Sue and Jon Diaz.
We left Joplin, Missouri at 0545 and headed south on US 71 into Arkansas. The ride south of Fayetteville on I-540 was incredibly beautiful. This new highway goes through the Boston Mountains and the scenery was fantastic with the sun coming up as a giant red ball and all of the many steep valleys on both sides below us filled with fog. We made excellent time to Alma, Arkansas where we turned east at I-40.
Just north of Alma, we saw the first of many troopers for the day tucked well back up an on-ramp. This was to be the order of the day, and we saw many LEOs as it is Labor Day weekend.
Headed east on I-40 we met several west bound motorcyclists, the majority of which were (surprisingly) riding BMWs. We saw at least 3 late model GSs and one Cruiser, and an older K-bike. (Did we see you? I was on a dark brown K, Joe on a sapphire blue ST2)
We made excellent time and made 2 efficient gas stops at North Little Rock and at Marion, Arkansas just after we turned north on I-55 at West Memphis. Blasting north across the delta land of eastern Arkansas, we continued at a brisk pace to Luxora, Arkansas where we stopped for a City Limit sign picture for the Glacial Lakes MC Grand Tour of Biblical Proportions grand tour. I glanced at my rear tire and commented that is was getting squared off from all the slab riding. Joe happened then to look at his rear tire and to his horror saw that the center of the tire tread (which was good at the beginning of the ride) was down to the steel belts 2/3 of the way around the tire. What had been a good tire was now toast.
What now? 460 miles into the ride..not quite halfway...The sinking feeling that our planning and preparation was in vain began to settle in deeply. The nearest town of any size was Blytheville, Arkansas. Well.. It is worth a try. The failed rear tire on JoeÔÇÖs Ducati was holding air, so we rode (conservatively) into town to see what we could possibly do on Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend.
Snooping around, we found that there were no motorcycle shops in town, but were able to find a store which sold lubricants, tools, and ATVs. As a last resort we went there and they had a (barely) used tire in the back room which would work, although it was a 180 instead of the stock 170. Hey, it worked and suddenly (3 hours later) we are back in the hunt for the elusive SS1000.
Discouragement and despair turned into optimism and we decided that we had gone this far, we were going for the rest. We resumed our northward course to Sikeston, Mo and then up I57 to Mt. Vernon, Illinois for our northeast corner of our planned loop. It is all downhill from here, merely having to ride west an hour or so, then through St. Louis at 9:00 PM in the dark, then 300 miles down I-44 to home. Again keeping close in mind the expanded presence of the LEO community at all points along the journey.
We successfully arrived home in Joplin at 2:00AM Saturday, tired and very satisfied. It was easier in some ways than I had envisioned, and harder in others. We had our ups, we had our downs. The best moments were riding through the Boston Mountains early in the morning and riding east on I-40 across Arkansas to Little Rock.
The most crystal image of the whole ride was riding side by side with my son (and favorite riding partner), a couple of feet separating us, running slightly above the posted limit, 900 plus miles into the ride, at around 1:00 AM on a nearly deserted I-44 with all of our riding lights blazing, knowing that we had toughed out a problem that nearly made us quit, and our goal was nearly in the bag.
A great time and I am still buzzed two days later. Hope you enjoyed my report. Tom

A SS1000 with a pit stop! That's like the Daytona 200.

MarkF

Congrats to you and your son!! Now the paperwork..........

Congrats on the accomplishment. Good thing you made the comment about your tire and found the problem with your son's. Better than it should blow on the road.
Good show!

Congrats on the SS1000!


R.Wilson
IBA 18687

(Iron Butt, Puddin' Brain)

A good time,a good adventure,a fine ride. Good job. Congratulations.:clap :clap

Way to go!

Congrats on the ride, and glad you made it even with the tire problems.

wooo! smart move! with a mind for safety, you still achieved your goal. bravo.

Congrats.

Now comes the hardest part, waiting for the certification.

Congratulations...I'm making plans for my own first SS1000 in two weeks, en route to the GM400.

I'm curious about the tire problem...what was the condition of the tire before the ride? You mentioned that it was "okay" but was that really correct? How much tread depth did he start with?

Like others have said, it's a good thing you found the problem before it became a *problem*.

If you have ANY tire doubts, spend the $$ and get some new sneakers for the bike. I'm way on the paranoid side when it comes to tires since my one tumble was due to a rear tire going out on me.

RW

The tire (a Dunlop 205 IIRC) had a "reasonable" amount of tread on it before the ride, at least visually more than enough for a 1000 mile ride. The failure consisted of a strip approximately 1/4 wide right along the center of the tread where the steel belts were showing. The strip did not go all the way around the circumference of the tire, only approximately 2/3 of the way around.
The remaining tread along that strip appeared to be of reasonable thickness. It appeared as if someone had shaved the tread down to the belts 2/3 of the way around. The shoulders and sidewalls of the tire were still in good shape visibly. (No where near the wear bars)
We didn't take the old tire with us, so I am going on a three week old memory of the condition.
The major lesson is to check tires, chain etc. periodically during a ride even if they looked good when you left.
Best wishes on your ride. Tom

PS Gene: I used to live in Ames. Graduated from ISU in 1980. Lived in Pammel Court. Rode a 1952 Harley panhead with factory sidecar. Great memories.

The tire wear you're describing sounds like an out-of-round condition...which, if that were true, should have caused a noticeable balance issue.

-

Thanks for bringing up this whole issue...I occasionally inspect my own tires, but not throughly enough it seems. I'll take your advice and check them more often.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by merrittgene [/i]The tire wear you're describing sounds like an out-of-round condition...which, if that were true, should have caused a noticeable balance issue. [/QUOTE]Out of round because he wore it down to the belt for 2/3 of the circumference of the tire? I seriously doubt THAT.

My guess is that he left with too little meat on a tire for a 1k ride and probably didn't have it properly inflated to begin with.

Folks who primarily drive cars are generally unaware that bike tire pressure must be checked WEEKLY. And ALWAYS before a long ride.