My TPMS saved me this morning

[Conrad]

I hop on the bike and head out for work. I'm keeping an eye on the readouts because the batteries are way low and they've been acting up quite a bit. (I have an appointment to have both the front and rear changed out tomorrow under warranty.) The front readout pops on, 42, perfect. I'm waiting for the rear to come up. About 5 mins later it comes on. 20? WTF? No way! The red warning light didn't even come on yet, and then it does. I pull over and hit the flashers. The tire looks fine, hmmmm. Since I'm not far from home I decide that I'd rather mess with it in my garage instead of on the side of the road in 35 mph winds. I turn around and head for home. I get into the garage and put her up on the center stand (from the left side  lol)

SOB! There it is, a wood screw smack dab in the middle of the tire. After a few more choice words I get out my sticky rope Slime kit and go to work. This is the first time that I've had to repair a tire on my C14. 5 mins later, I'm done. The Slime kit worked perfectly.   

So the question is, since the tire will be taken off tomorrow anyways, should I have an internal patch put on or leave it as is?

[Pokey]

Good deal...........mine are acting up a bit too "especially the rear", but they still work good enough to display the psi eventually. Glad you made it home safely!

[Conrad]

Thanks Poke! I was really glad the battery didn't die completely this morn. Who knows what might have happened?

[Pokey]

Thanks Poke! I was really glad the battery didn't die completely this morn. Who knows what might have happened?

Did you notice any ill handling at all?

[wipfel]

I hop on the bike and head out for work. I'm keeping an eye on the readouts because the batteries are way low and they've been acting up quite a bit. (I have an appointment to have both the front and rear changed out tomorrow under warranty.) The front readout pops on, 42, perfect. I'm waiting for the rear to come up. About 5 mins later it comes on. 20? WTF? No way! The red warning light didn't even come on yet, and then it does. I pull over and hit the flashers. The tire looks fine, hmmmm. Since I'm not far from home I decide that I'd rather mess with it in my garage instead of on the side of the road in 35 mph winds. I turn around and head for home. I get into the garage and put her up on the center stand (from the left side  lol)

SOB! There it is, a wood screw smack dab in the middle of the tire. After a few more choice words I get out my sticky rope Slime kit and go to work. This is the first time that I've had to repair a tire on my C14. 5 mins later, I'm done. The Slime kit worked perfectly.   

So the question is, since the tire will be taken off tomorrow anyways, should I have an internal patch put on or leave it as is?

Do you normally leave the display on the tire pressure option or did it switch to it to notify you?

[Conrad]

Did you notice any ill handling at all?

Thinking back on that after the fact, I did. At the time I thought that it was the wind messing with me. The wind was right out of the south gusting to 45 and blowing at a nice clip of 30 to 35 and I was riding due east. I was leaned over going straight down the road and I thought the wobbly feeling was all from the wind. Not so it seems.

[Conrad]

Do you normally leave the display on the tire pressure option or did it switch to it to notify you?

I always ride with the tire pressure displayed. The red warning LED would have alerted me if I didn't have the pressure shown though.

[Jeremy Mitchell]

If you are having the sensors replaced tomorrow I would ask them if they could do a plug/patch for you, or if the tire is nearing the end of it's useful life go ahead and slap another one on there without having to pay mounting fees.  My dealer was cool like that, hopefully your's is too.

[Mister Tee]

I've never had an issue with leaving rope plugs in the tire for the rest of its life, and I've plugged quite a few.

There was one single exception - and it was a case of where TPMS alerted me to the condition and the ability to monitor the pressure allowed me to get safely to a place where I could fix it.  I picked up a curved piece of metal that put a half inch gash in the tire.  It was just too big.  I tried plugging it but the plug blew out a couple miles down the road.  I ended up getting a very $pensive tow home (this was on a Friday evening after all the tire shops were closed.)

[Conrad]

If you are having the sensors replaced tomorrow I would ask them if they could do a plug/patch for you, or if the tire is nearing the end of it's useful life go ahead and slap another one on there without having to pay mounting fees.  My dealer was cool like that, hopefully your's is too.

My dealer's tech is pretty cool and I'm sure that he'd slap a new tire on for me while he was at it. The tire is a PR2 that I put on last year, it has about 4.5k miles on it and still looks pretty good. I think that I'll go ahead and have him put a patch on the inside, might as well as long as the tire is off anyway. 

[gPink]

Definitely inside patch since it's already off.

[Jeremy Mitchell]

Unfortunately for my wallet (or fortunately when it comes to having fun  )  my rear tire would be ready for changing at 4,500 miles.

[Conrad]

Unfortunately for my wallet (or fortunately when it comes to having fun  )  my rear tire would be ready for changing at 4,500 miles.

I just walked out to my bike and took a hard look at the rear tire. Crap, I really should put a new one on.

[CRocker]

Around here many shops won't plug a motorcycle tire...no matter what...good luck!

[Conrad]

Around here many shops won't plug a motorcycle tire...no matter what...good luck!

I'll bet those shops would MUCH rather sell a new tire than plug the old. Who can blame them though?

[ZG]

That sux C... 
 
Glad you made it home safe and sound though, beats a tow!

[Conrad]

That sux C... 
 
Glad you made it home safe and sound though, beats a tow!

Thanks J.

I did have my Slime kit and compressor with me in the bags J. If I'd been a bit further away from home I'd have been doing the repair on the side of the road instead of the comfort of my garage. I just checked the tire and it's still right at 43 lbs, right where it was when I left the house after the fix.

[556ALPHA]

I try to keep my slime compressor and string plugs on board since picking up a screw last year.  Glad it all worked out safely. 

[VirginiaJim]

Glad it all worked out.

[maxtog]

Definitely inside patch since it's already off.

If it were my bike, I would put a patch on the inside too, if the tire were coming off anyway.  But if it were already coming off and even 2/3 worn, I would probably sneak a new tire into it.

Thanks to this board, I did buy a Slime kit and keep that on the bike, although I have no compressor.

Conrad- glad you were safe and monitoring.  I always change the display to tire pressures when I first start the bike.  Once I get readings, I usually change it to temp.  As said in other threads, I really wish I could see several things on the screen at once- at least temp, and tires.