Warchild
Benevolent Dictator
As many of you know, this past weekend (Jun 13-15) was the "Cal 24" Endurance Rally. I was Staff for this event.
So I get down to central California (Dunnigan, right on I-5) late Friday morning after running straight through the night through eastern Washington and central Oregon.
When I get down there, I am a bit surprised to see the rear BT-015 is just barely touching a wear indicator, though only right in the center. Between my Staff duties and the ride home, I still had 700 miles to go, so I thought I had *really* better take it easy on the throttle the rest of this trip, and even then, I'd probably be showing a little cord by the time I got home.
Shyeah.... nice try, but it didn't quite work out. I was exactly 115 miles from home when the magic PSI pixies where allowed to escape.... :blink:
It was a grim scene.....
It took the magic PSI pixies exactly 15 seconds to go from 42 psi down to nothing. Fortunately, I have some amount of experience with flats over the past several decades of I've been doing this Endurance Riding stuff, so I was over to the side of the road and a yard away from white line by about the time I was riding on the rim.
Called a 'bro from home who has a small flatbed trailer, he came and rescued me. So this really wasn't any drama, just an inconvenience. :glare:
Meah.... live and learn. My error was forgetting that I wasn't riding on the normal sport-touring tires I tend to use (Storms, PRs, etc). For my riding style, a single wear band indicator in the center on these tires means I have about 800-900 miles remaining until cord shows.
When a indicator band pops on these factory Bridgestone BT-015's, you will show steel in about 200-300 miles, and fabric at the 500-600 mile mark. This fabric is the last line of defense before exposing the final inner butyl liner that actually contains the magic PSI pixies. Once the fabric wears away, the first sharp little pebble it encounters means the ball game is over.
Oh, well, that's what I get for trying to make tires stretch out and last during Endurance Riding season.... about to mount up a fresh set of Dunlop Qualifiers, just in time for the Utah 1088....
So I get down to central California (Dunnigan, right on I-5) late Friday morning after running straight through the night through eastern Washington and central Oregon.
When I get down there, I am a bit surprised to see the rear BT-015 is just barely touching a wear indicator, though only right in the center. Between my Staff duties and the ride home, I still had 700 miles to go, so I thought I had *really* better take it easy on the throttle the rest of this trip, and even then, I'd probably be showing a little cord by the time I got home.
Shyeah.... nice try, but it didn't quite work out. I was exactly 115 miles from home when the magic PSI pixies where allowed to escape.... :blink:
It was a grim scene.....
It took the magic PSI pixies exactly 15 seconds to go from 42 psi down to nothing. Fortunately, I have some amount of experience with flats over the past several decades of I've been doing this Endurance Riding stuff, so I was over to the side of the road and a yard away from white line by about the time I was riding on the rim.
Called a 'bro from home who has a small flatbed trailer, he came and rescued me. So this really wasn't any drama, just an inconvenience. :glare:
Meah.... live and learn. My error was forgetting that I wasn't riding on the normal sport-touring tires I tend to use (Storms, PRs, etc). For my riding style, a single wear band indicator in the center on these tires means I have about 800-900 miles remaining until cord shows.
When a indicator band pops on these factory Bridgestone BT-015's, you will show steel in about 200-300 miles, and fabric at the 500-600 mile mark. This fabric is the last line of defense before exposing the final inner butyl liner that actually contains the magic PSI pixies. Once the fabric wears away, the first sharp little pebble it encounters means the ball game is over.
Oh, well, that's what I get for trying to make tires stretch out and last during Endurance Riding season.... about to mount up a fresh set of Dunlop Qualifiers, just in time for the Utah 1088....
