Front Tyre blew out on motorway.

[rtho782]

Hi all

The day before yesterday I was going down the M4 near swindon and my front tyre blew out on my ER-6f, at about 70mph in the middle lane.

Now, I'm not that experienced a rider, having done about 3000 miles in the 4 months since my test pass.

It initially felt like I'd caught some debris as the steering jerked to one side, then it carried on going wild fishtailing more and more until I was thrown off.

Rolled down the road for what seemed like hours and luckily came to a stop on the hard shoulder without being run over by a HGV, got to hospital, and survived with lots of pain but no broken bones, just a dislocated shoulder and some minor road rash and a ton of bruising.

What should I have done in this scenario to avoid an off? How should a front tyre blow out be handled?

Anyway, I'm obviously going through the insurance claim process. The bike was new 4 months ago and had covered around 3500 miles, so the front tyre was barely worn to be honest.

I'm convinced that something must have punctured it, and that as I was 65 miles or so into my journey, it must have been something on the road that day.

I've read that when mud etc has been left on the road by driver or drivers unknown, you have a valid case against the MIB, could this possibly be the case for me?

Also.... I won't be going anywhere near Bennetts again - I took out their "ultimate cover" as the legal cover said it would get me a hire vehicle, even the girl at customer services understood this to be the case, yet it seems that is only the case when there is a 3rd party to blame - in which case I could have a hire vehicle anyway.

Thanks in advance!!

[iooi]

[Hockeystorm65]

Firstly....bloody hell! Well done for whatever you did or didn't do as it has allowed you to post the story here!

There is no easy aswer to this kind of thing as so much depends on how the tyre blew, whether it is off the rim or not, state of road, whether you are on a bend etc. Generally not hitting the brakes and trying to keep the momentum of the bike in a straight line till it runs to a stop is about all you can really do...but that is easy to say when you are not thinking......"oh f*ck my tyre's just gone....my tyre's just gone...my tyre's just gone!"

Did you get the major bits of tyre or not? That might be the only way of finding out what happened. It could have been something you picked up a while back on the road and it took its time to do the damage......
____________________
Good judgement comes from experience.....experience comes from bad judgement!

[rtho782]

Thanks

I think I was kind of lucky to be honest, as I was rolling I was convinced that I was going to die, I was just waiting to be run over by a HGV.... The second I stopped I was on my feet ready to get out the road, then realised I was on the hard shoulder, as was the bike 100 meters down the road... Then I decided to lay back down for a bit!!!


Could proof of debris not come from the tyre itself (I wasn't in much of a condition to look at it at the time, but the insurance company will have it by now...)

[pinkyfloyd]

Well done on not getting dead. Dangerous places those motorway things for a spill.

Now, may I direct you to the spill counter thread and ask for the customary dodgy paint drawing of what happened and where you and the bike landed.
____________________
illuminateTHEmind wrote: I am just more evolved than most of you guys... this allows me to pick of things quickly which would have normally taken the common man years to master
Hockeystorm65:.well there are childish arguments...there are very childish arguments.....there are really stupid childish arguments and now there are......Pinkfloyd arguments!
Teflon-Mike:I think I agree with just about all Pinky has said.

[Hockeystorm65]

[Serendipity]

Not much you can do with a front wheel blowout. Surviving with all your bits intact and not getting mown down sounds like a right result, especially as you were in the middle lane.

Much luckier than that poor GSXR rider who came off in Wiltshire a few weeks ago and was subsequently run over and killed by an ambulance responding to another call.
____________________
2016 CBF1000F - Commuter heaven | 1994 CBR600FR - Awaiting defibrillation

[rtho782]

[shooter]

can i ask what gear you have? textile or leather?

glad you're ok

[rtho782]

[anthony_r6]

Glad to hear you're okay. With a front tyre blowing out it does sound more like luck than tact, on how you handle it. Luckily you got out the way of other traffic and are relatively okay.
____________________
Ted : "Maybe he's agoraphobic."
Dougal : "Jack scared of fighting? I don't think so, Ted."

[G]

Pop a wheelie, go past the balance point and use the rear brake to slow down .

Otherwise, try and stay loose and relaxed on the controls as much as possible, but appreciate this is hard - often there's not much that can be done.
Glad it had a relatively happy ending.

Sounds like what you got sold was the option for Benetts to make a load of money selling your claim to a no win no fee solicitor if you have a crash that's someone else's fault. This is basically what 'legal protection insurance' is and really shouldn't be 'sold'.

[stinkwheel]

[cromwell]

Glad you lived to tell the tale.
____________________
"unbelievable"
Current - Suzuki Bandit 600
Ex's - Yamaha YBR 125

[Kickstart]

Hi

As others have said, not much that you can do. Putting more stress on the front end (steering, braking, etc) will likely make things worse.

I did have a front wheel sudden deflation at a fair speed once (tyre valve split doing about 65). That I didn't come off I attribute pretty much exclusively to luck.

With luck looking at the bike you can hopefully find out what happened with the front tyre. Whether a valve let go, or a nasty puncture or the tyre really blew to pieces.

All the best

Keith
____________________
Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[shooter]

anyone think its worth getting on the horn on in this situation to make sure the people behind having a little nap notice if the bike spits you off in the direction of their lane?

[Jayy]

Holy shit, don't think there is anything more scary than a front tyre blowing out on the motorway, I think my heart would stop beating for a few seconds.

Seriously lucky to be alive mate

I have a very clear memory as a child, about 8 years old and travelling down the motorway in the car with my mum. I was in the passenger seat and I was watching a back in the middle lane, his bike tyre suddenly blew out and I remember the violence of the wobble and him going all over the place and managed to get over onto the hard shoulder and stop without coming off.

I suppose it's all down to luck whether you're coming off or not and you seemed to have it on your side that day.

[Pete.]

Anyone looking on wouldn't need to hear a horn to know that the rider was in trouble.

I had a tyre go flat and roll off the rim at slow speed, on a roundabout. It was enough of a task getting the 50 yards or so to the filling station.

As above - not a lot you can do but stay on it as long as possible and pull your arms and legs in when you come off.
____________________
a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[shooter]

[Livefast123]

You've had a right result there mate, I would be getting down to the nearest lottery shop and buying a ticket

As a start you could ask the Highways Agency if they have any CCTV of the incident and also if they had any logs of debris coming in on that part of the motorway at the time of the accident, ditto the police.

As the tyre was relatively new I would write / phone the manufacturer and ask them to test it for defects.I had a rear tyre blow out on my 3 month old MX-5 destroying the rear arch and rim in the process. They tested it, found a defect in the sidewall and fixed the car for me.
____________________
Current ride - Yamaha MT-07

[rtho782]

Thanks all, I'm slightly happier knowing there probably wasn't much I could have done!!

So, assuming the bike is a write off.....

Insurance company pays out, GAP insurance pays out, meaning I get the purchase price of the bike back, in total.

Bike is on 0% APR, so I clear finance and have about £250 left (finance, minus payments to date, minus cost of GAP policy)

I have helmet and leathers cover, so that is £750.

....sounds like it will be bike shopping time after that!!!!

Looks like a CBR600f will be a huge pile of money to insure, an XJ6 Diversion F is £1500 more than my ER-6f was for no particular reason, so I'm thinking maybe a GSX-650F (a little more power, the same on insurance), a Honda Hornet (CBR600f with reasonable insurance), or maybe going 2nd hand, and getting a VFR800 (although this may kill me on insurance as well).

As all I have to do for the next week off work is look at bikes and argue with insurance companies, I guess this is going to take a while!!!

It seems for an MIB claim I only have to show that on the balance of probabilities (i.e. 50%+) an unknown 3rd party left something on the road to damage my tyre.

That to me means that if the valve is still in place, or it can be shown to have been a puncture, I should stand a decent chance... As my daily tyre checks did not find any foreign objects in the tyre before setting off....

[LordShaftesbu...]

[sickpup]

I would REALLY like to see pictures of the tyre if possible off of the rim.

[Jim Mc]

I'd like to know who the tyre manufacturer is, was it a budget brand?

[Gerrard]

Glad you are all right dude...that was hellish..
____________________
Honda Blackbird the great all rounder.
Chillin near Malaga.
Marco Simoncelli 58