Second flat tyre in a week & AA rant

[Kamikaze Bob]

A couple of weeks back I was on a wee tour with a mate round the Highlands and Skye. First tour, nowt too strenuous. Halfway round we're stopped at a ferry port and he notices my back tyre, which is starting to crack. It was only slightly (a few cm) bald when we left, obvs we were pushing things so it got worse fast. Had to get a new BT023 from a garage in Inverness to get home, but ordered a PR3 to match the 2-month old front I replaced as I like the matching tyres thing, plus I bought them last year and loved the wet grip.

Got the PR3 on last Saturday, bike not ridden til Monday, to work and back. Tuesday I come out to go to work and the rear tyre's flat. No nails or anything else in there, but I take it off and eventually notice (after looking over the entire wheel multiple times for something sharp) that the head of the valve is broken, and that's where the air's escaping. Take the wife's car to work with wheel in back, leave work early to get it replaced, which garage does at no charge, bewildered as I was as to how it happened, (we could only guess a rock being thrown up at speed or something) and I replace and continue to work the rest of the week.

Until tonight. I leave work and head past home to meet the wife and kids for their swimming lesson. Just as I'm coming off the motorway I notice the bike handling funny. The pool is just off the motorway junction so I get it in the car park - handling terribly - and look down to see another flat tyre! Straight away I check the valve, and it's fucked again. This time tho, it's at the bottom, next to the rear caliper. As in RIGHT next to it. The garage last week must have put on a longer valve stem, and the wheel spinning round has cracked off it so many times it's broken.

TL;DR 1 - garage fitted too long a valve, hit caliper, air escaped and flat tyre. Twice

So that's fine, I now know what's wrong and how to fix it. But I'm not at home this time, I'm in Glasgow, at a school swimming pool, in their car park at 6pm, parked technically in the playground under shelter seeing as it was peeing down today. We have gold AA membership, so call them up and the first thing I ask is "can your guys replace a valve on a tyre at the side of the road?" And the answer I got was "Yes, no problem".

So I explain exactly what happened, and that I know what needs done, and could they send someone to replace said valve so I can take myself home. About 40 minutes later I get a call, and it's a guy in a flatbed. Who says he can't get into the car park (which I later found was bullshit, they've had flatbeds in there before for the teachers' cars) so I'd have to get the bike to the main road. I ask him why they sent a flatbed to fix a valve, he doesn't know. Says he'll check with them and have someone call me back.

Now, I downloaded the app while the kids were in the pool, so I knew this guy was getting close, and he's showing on the map round the corner from me. Then suddenly disappears. And 2 minutes later I see him driving away round the corner and away somewhere else. I try to bring up the breakdown on the app again, and it shows I have no breakdowns to be attended to.

On the phone again, and the woman I speak to can't seem to find ANY breakdown for tonight, the one seemingly just cancelled or another logged to replace the flatbed just gone from sight! So she says she'll have someone out to fix the valve or get me home within an hour, and I'm on a priority due to the previous mess up. So I send the wife and kids home - they've just came out from the pool - and settle down for an hour. Get a bit of chat with school janitor, who's in until 9pm but I should be gone by then. An hour passes, I'm cold and damp from the rain, and no AA guy. I call again to make sure, and nothing's booked on the system for me.

Nothing. Not the original, a call from the flatbed guy, or anything from the other woman I spoke to.

At this point I'm ready to lose it. Girl manages to find the first call, so has my location, etc. I advise her of my impending lock in/out of my sheltered position, and she ensures me I'll be put on priority (again) and be sorted within an hour. Sure enough the breakdown shows on my app within a minute.

Then it tells me the ETA for someone is over 90 minutes away, now putting me way past the janny's lockup time. I text the missus, who's now home and warm, and she gets onto the AA, going nuts and demanding to speak to a manager to push a quicker response.

I have to move the bike out of the car park to the street as the janitor locks up. It starts to rain again. I stand in a corner trying to shelter myself from the wind and rain as much as possible, playing sudoku on my phone to pass the time, occasionally checking the AA app for updates, all fruitless.

All of a sudden, I get an update telling me someone will be there in 10 minutes. Then a call from the wife to tell me the same - she went to town on them, about me being on a bike, no shelter, soaked, etc. Then a call from Barry the AA man to say he'll be there soon. And I can see his van on the map, he is actually not far away.

He gets to me, we chat briefly, show him what's wrong, and he gets the van into position and tells me to hop in and warm up while he gets the bike sorted for the ride home. On the way home I explain exactly what happened, and he informs me that they've never been able to change a valve at the roadside - something I had no clue about til tonight - but there is a repair they're able to do on some valves, but it's no use on a motorcycle for pretty much the same reason mines was fecked.

He also tells me he can "hit a button" to have someone from the higher-ups call me to discuss the fiasco. Turns out it was the customer satisfaction survey thing, so that's been logged and I'm going through the whole damn thing with them tomorrow. Watch this space....

TL;DR 2 - had to call the AA 3 times in just over 2 hours to get them out properly, due to call centre ignorance and stupidity.


TL;DR all - a simple thing which should have been easy was made long, hard and painful due to incompetent idiots at a call centre
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2001 Honda VFR800fi

[iooi]

[Hahadumball]

[doggone]

I'm not surprised they can't change the tyre valve on the roadside since they'd have to demount tyre surely?
Maybe they first thought you meant the core had popped out.

A bit surprising tyre valve hitting caliper didn't make odd noise.
If it goes down inexplicably again I'd suspect a cracked wheel.

[G]

Typical to good service for the AA/RAC I'd say - experienced and heard about much worse too.

[MCN]

[G]

[Kamikaze Bob]

Got tyre sorted this morning. A few phone calls to parts places I eventually got hold of a smaller valve, and headed to the garage to get them to replace it. Had a laugh with the guys about it all, showed them a pic, etc. The guy who put the tyre on last weekend apologised, said he wasn't thinking when he replaced the valve - apparently a short car valve, looked pretty big to me - and sent me on my way.

Gonna buy some 90 degree valves when I next get a set of rubber, take last night and this week's shenanigans out of the equation completely.


iooi - don't have an adapter, but if the valve isn't directly below the caliper there's room to get a pump attached.

doggone - the VFR is a single-side swingarm with 19mm bolts, I use a tyre wrench I bought for the car to get the wheel off. Not expecting it to go down again, it was pretty obvious what the problem was both times.


Just for reference, this is a pic of the valve hitting the caliper last night, the new valve is about half an inch smaller, so will be fine:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zvx4w1xmo13h1c8/IMG-20160909-WA0003.jpg?raw=1
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2001 Honda VFR800fi

[grr666]

https://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorcycle/accessories/bridgeport-tyre-valves
These look alright.
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Currently enjoying products from Ford, Mazda and Yamaha
Ste wrote: Avatars are fine, it's signatures that need turning off.

[stinkwheel]

That valve looks a lot longer and also narrower at the base than any of the valves in any of my tubeless motorcycle wheels.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[stinkwheel]

[Polarbear]

To quantify MCN's post about closest possible vehicle and to give at least a bit of support to the AA.

When my wifes ER6 broke down with a fractured/broken exhaust I phoned the AA and said we would need the bike relayed home.

30 minutes later a van turned up and the mechanic looked at what was wrong and said 'You need relay'. My response was I'd already told the controller that.

He said that they don't take a lot of notice about what the driver says is wrong because of the amount of times they get to a vehicle and it's nothing to do with what they said. It's policy to have a mechanic to check whats wrong and then take it from there.

I doesn't excuse your situation but all I'm worried with the AA is that they get to my wife and daughter as quickly as possible if they break down, once they are in the cab of a truck does it really matter how long it takes.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[stinkwheel]

[Kamikaze Bob]

grr666 - my mate sent me a link to those last night, found quite a few on fleabay too.

stinkwheel - it's a "small" car valve the guy put on, admitted his mistake when I saw him today and apologised. I was just glad, looking back, that it didn't go flat at speed.


The new valve is on, and tyre back on the bike. Not as much clearance as I thought, only 3-4mm, but at least it's clear. Was gonna leave the 90degree valves until the next tyre set, but might just go ahead and get them now so it doesn't linger in the back of my mind.

Still waiting on the callback from AA....
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2001 Honda VFR800fi

[grr666]

[G]

Had the big end gone.

Had to wait for a van to turn up to confirm the issue - I did request to at least talk to the driver, so everyone's time wasn't wasted.

Couldn't do that.

So bloke in van turns up at 58 minutes. Asks me to start bike. "Yea, you're right." Arranges for flat bed and disappears again. I then have another two and a half hour wait I think it was.

That was I believe the second time such a thing happened and the second time I was told that it shouldn't have been handled that way and they'd make sure something was done about the 'staff training' issue or whatever.

Last time I had to do something like that, luckily it was local and I'd got a lift home; so I explained that it was being collected in my lunch time and if they wanted to send a van first, the van driver could wait with the bike until the flat bed got there.
After some huffing and puffing, they agreed to send a flatbed.

[Nobby the Bastard]

Conversely, when I rang up the RAC and said 'throttle cable has snapped' I had to wait longer , buit the van turned up with the bike trailer. He was late because he had to go to Avonmouth to get it.
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Triumph Sprint ST 1050

[ackack]

[G]

Right angled ones like those are standard on the Daytona 675 - done me fine racing and trackdays.

[grr666]

I believe striple has same valves.
____________________
Currently enjoying products from Ford, Mazda and Yamaha
Ste wrote: Avatars are fine, it's signatures that need turning off.

[Sable]

Had my 'aluminium' valve caps rust onto a valve once. A pair of Halfords home brand ones I think.

[stinkwheel]

[temeluchus]

[kramdra]

Your pic looks like a TR414, should be a TR412.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141056238519

To dismount tyre and fit a new valve at the roadside, is quite an easy task, especially with the shelter of a van and proper tools and lighting. They try to limit work to very simple things that can be done in 5-10 minutes, even though the recovery time could be much longer, a driver does not need to be a skilled mechanic.

If bike is one that has centre stand, OE spanner to remove wheel, and a mini 12v compressor under seat (it is adequate to pop bead and re-inflate), not many additional tools are needed: Tyre levers, lube, valve, core tool, bead breaker (or 3 blocks of wood and a spade)

I do have RAC cover included with my insurance, but for most things it would be much quicker to phone up a mate to get my tools out to me and DIY. I also keep spare tyres in garage just incase I get an unrepairable puncture.

[iooi]