Well, at least you got some help. Glad you made it ok. Here's our deal that has had me irritated all week.
I'll preface by saying I'm an idiot, and I should have known better, but I was going off prior experience and thought we'd be ok.
So, on Thursday morning we left to Cedar City with a used 190/55 Dunlop RoadSmart 2. It had 4400 miles on it and looked great. I got 7500 miles or better out of the three sets of standard RoadSmarts I've run in the past and knew this would be a 2000 mile trip. That would leave me a 1000 mile cushion for any weirdness.
We got to Cedar City and the tire looked great. If any of you have seen the picture of C and I standing at the bike ready to leave on Saturday morning, look at the tire. It looks great. Tread all the way across and lots of room until the wear bars.
We left CC on Sunday morning and booked. We left, taking I15 towards Fredonia. With an 80mph speed limit, we were running close to 100. Past Fredonia on 89A headed towards 89 and Tuba City, we continued moving right along. Very little traffic and open roads with loooooong site distance made for good FJR nominal speeds. We had a blast in the turns there.
We had just passed the Vermillion Cliffs when we decided to stop for a picture. We stopped at one of those roadside Navajo jewelry stands, probably 13 miles from 89 and 40 something miles from Tuba City. C started looking at jewelry and I took some pics. I don't know why I looked down, but my rear tire caught my eye. It was shredding. I could put my fingernail under the rubber. It looked like ****. The edges looked, and still look like track tires. Like someone took a rasp to them.
We got back on, I slowed down, and I told C we'd check the tire at Tuba City and make a decision then. Knowing 89 goes right into Flagstaff, and knowing Grand Canyon Harley Davidson is in Belmont, just 10 miles west of Flagstaff, we stopped at the intersection of 89 and 160, which is the turn to Tuba City. We were 358 miles from home and 67 miles from Flagstaff.
Upon checking it, the rear tire had smoothed out, and just looked worn. I could see strips of steel and knew we'd never make it 358 miles home on mostly straight road. I knew The HD shop was open on Sunday, so called them, hoping they'd have a tire that would fit. I got the service guy and told him we were almost 400 miles from home and needed a tire. When I said 180/55/17, he said, "That's an odd size." I explained it was for an FJR, and his immediate response was, "We only work on Harley Davidsons." I re-explained to him that we were stuck and would never make it home, and needed a tire. I told him I had the tools to take my wheel off and all they had to do was mount the tire. He simply repeated that they only work on HD. I asked him if he meant he was going to leave my wife and I stranded when all he had to do was mount a tire on the rim. He then gave me the names of three bike shops that "might" help, but were closed on Sunday. Then he hung up.
Now my rant: **** him and **** Harley Davidson. I have used an entire plug kit fixing tires for those pirate clad douche bags over the years. I've gone out of my way to get them gas, and helped them secure **** that vibrated free. Never again. Next HD I see broken down will get the finger. On our way to CA in July, I'm going to go into their store and get $2k worth of **** and put it on their counter. Then I'm going to remember I ride a Yamaha and walk the **** out. **** Grand Canyon HD. I cannot believe they'd leave a rider and his wife ****** for a tire, knowing no metric shops are open until Tuesday.
Rant off:
It may have been Tango Sierra that happened on us and stopped. He offered to follow us to Flagstaff. We got there safely and secured a U-Haul truck, but it was 40 miles south in Sedona. We made the ride on a ****** tire and got to U-Haul. As we were doing the paperwork, the lady told me it was too bad we didn't call yesterday. She said her MC mechanic had just left. Then she pointed out the open door of their small shop. I told her to call him and I'd pay him extra. She said he was going to Florida and was gone. I tried to convince her to just let me mount a tire, but she refused...Now that I think about it, **** her too. So we paid them $400, loaded the bike and jumped in the truck. Got home around 4 hours late, but safe.
If I had been alone, I would have just pushed that tire home. With C on the back, no way I was going to risk that. Thank God we stopped when we did. I may have never checked the tire at a gas stop, and it could have just let loose at 80-90mph somewhere between Tuba City and Albuquerque. Our luck was bad, but not bad enough to die, so that was good.
I checked the mileage on the tire. It has exactly 6027 on it and is destroyed. This trip put 1555 miles on them. I don't know if it was the roads, if the tire is just super soft, or if these RS2s are just ****. With the slower speeds, the rubber smoothed out, but it's SOFT, and the sides still look feathered and look like I took a rasp to them. Air pressure is still 43, so they are not under inflated. As a matter of fact, the front looks phenomenal. I don't know why they fell 1500 miles short of previous RS tires, but I will never ever leave on a trip with a used tire.
****, every SW-FOG I have gone to has been on used tires. This one was wearing so well, I was planning on where to ride it hard to finish it up. What a pain in the ass, considering I have a new set of T30s in my garage. I'll put them on tomorrow.
As for Grand Canyon HD, I left them a bad Google Review...I know, oooooooooh, who cares. I also called and got the service manager. He said the owner says they can only work on Buell and HD, and in a month or two, no more Buell. I explained to him that I wasn't asking for a tune up or a valve check. I was stuck without a tire, and they didn't even have to take my evil Japanese bike into their shop, just the rim. He stood firm that he was sorry, but no way they would have helped us. Nice, fuckers. I'm hoping Patch let's them have it on Facebook. I can't believe a MC dealership would leave another MC rider hanging, regardless of the brand. I'll never spend another dollar at any HD shop.
And that's it...Lesson. mearned