365 Group (f)Today I saddled up for a road test of my brain storm. My retread rear tire.
I packed up everything to turn in my payroll at work, picked up my road bag and spare cell phone. Strapping it all on I went over the days plan in my head. Run by work and get the payroll turned in so all my people will be happy then head out for the Buffalo River area, making a loop around and back to the house. Everything in place I jumped on the starter and half way through the kick, she fired up. Sweet! The motor Settled into a low rumble. I let it warm a little. In this heat it didn't seem to take much warming.
Bouncing down the drive to the street I had a spooky thought of how my luck will most likely let me pick up a rock and have a flat before I get on the road.
No flat. I made it to the Highway and light traffic. Pulling out I eased through the gears and thought I'd stop and check my tire every couple of miles for a while. See if anything is happening and maybe head off a problem.
At each stop along the way I was impressed as I couldn't find anywhere that looked like the Shoe Goo stuff was coming off or anything. Finally I just said to heck and let the hammer down for the last seven or eight miles to town. I did stop as I came into town and topped off my tank. Still nothing.
I was a little nervous in the heavier town traffic but I made it up to work without any problems.
After the Payroll bit, I ran around to the companies truck shop and got the guys to put my bike on a lift. I looked the tire over really well. Again nothing.
The tire looked almost like I hadn't done any patching or anything. I couldn't see any place where the cord was showing.
I made a fast call to one of my riding buddies thinking he might want to make a run to the river. After talking with him I promptly changed my plans. He was off today also and wanted to go for a ride down the Pig Trail.
So I headed over to his house and we took off down Old Missouri Road to Hwy.16. At the junction of 16 and Old Missouri we headed east to Elikns and on down to Hwy 23.
Turning onto Hwy. 23 we had a nice ride. I had forgotten how much fun this ride is. Shady and just the right amount of curves to make it what people refer to as sweeping. That is until you start down the mountain. Very tight switchbacks, a bunch of them. Kind of like what you'd find on the Dragons tail. Just not in anyway as many. Most of them,depending on your level of ground clearance about 25 MPH. Slower or faster depending. On a couple I scraped my pegs on my crash bar. Nothing but pure fun.
After the mountain we tooled down to Ozark to grab a bite to eat. We found a little diner just off the main drag that was packed with people so we opted for it. That many people it was either that good or they were giving lunch away. Whatever the reason. It worked for us. The food was great. and we lounged over coffee and dessert. A few other riders drifted in and it wasn't long before they asked about the Pig Trail. These riders were on vacation from Texas and were heading to Eureka Springs and Branson, Missouri. They had heard about this stretch of road from friends that had rode it a couple of years earlier. After a few minutes of chat we invited them to join us headed out to the bikes.
I looked over my back tire and found a small place on the edge of my patch job where it was showing damage. Man! A hundred and five miles and not anything to speak of. I'm sold on this as an emergency quick fix. The real test will be what it looks like when I get back to the house.
I hit the kick starter and we eased out into the small town traffic and back to the highway. Turning onto Hwy. 23 we met a group of bikes coming into town. All the riders had big grins on their faces. They must have found the curves to their liking. I had told our new partners all about these curves and told them that we would keep a pace to make them comfortable with them.
The run up to the curves was enjoyable at about a fifty five pace. It gave me time to look over the country side and just relax a little.
We all made it through the curves. Stopping at the junction of 23 and 16 I asked everyone what they thought. The grins said it all. I explained where they were at and where Jim and I were going. They started pulling out maps to figure out where they were going form there. Jim and I explained the area a little, closest gas station and how to get across to Eureka from where we were.
Bouncing down the drive to the street I had a spooky thought of how my luck will most likely let me pick up a rock and have a flat before I get on the road.
No flat. I made it to the Highway and light traffic. Pulling out I eased through the gears and thought I'd stop and check my tire every couple of miles for a while. See if anything is happening and maybe head off a problem.
At each stop along the way I was impressed as I couldn't find anywhere that looked like the Shoe Goo stuff was coming off or anything. Finally I just said to heck and let the hammer down for the last seven or eight miles to town. I did stop as I came into town and topped off my tank. Still nothing.
I was a little nervous in the heavier town traffic but I made it up to work without any problems.
After the Payroll bit, I ran around to the companies truck shop and got the guys to put my bike on a lift. I looked the tire over really well. Again nothing.
The tire looked almost like I hadn't done any patching or anything. I couldn't see any place where the cord was showing.
I made a fast call to one of my riding buddies thinking he might want to make a run to the river. After talking with him I promptly changed my plans. He was off today also and wanted to go for a ride down the Pig Trail.
So I headed over to his house and we took off down Old Missouri Road to Hwy.16. At the junction of 16 and Old Missouri we headed east to Elikns and on down to Hwy 23.
Turning onto Hwy. 23 we had a nice ride. I had forgotten how much fun this ride is. Shady and just the right amount of curves to make it what people refer to as sweeping. That is until you start down the mountain. Very tight switchbacks, a bunch of them. Kind of like what you'd find on the Dragons tail. Just not in anyway as many. Most of them,depending on your level of ground clearance about 25 MPH. Slower or faster depending. On a couple I scraped my pegs on my crash bar. Nothing but pure fun.
After the mountain we tooled down to Ozark to grab a bite to eat. We found a little diner just off the main drag that was packed with people so we opted for it. That many people it was either that good or they were giving lunch away. Whatever the reason. It worked for us. The food was great. and we lounged over coffee and dessert. A few other riders drifted in and it wasn't long before they asked about the Pig Trail. These riders were on vacation from Texas and were heading to Eureka Springs and Branson, Missouri. They had heard about this stretch of road from friends that had rode it a couple of years earlier. After a few minutes of chat we invited them to join us headed out to the bikes.
I looked over my back tire and found a small place on the edge of my patch job where it was showing damage. Man! A hundred and five miles and not anything to speak of. I'm sold on this as an emergency quick fix. The real test will be what it looks like when I get back to the house.
I hit the kick starter and we eased out into the small town traffic and back to the highway. Turning onto Hwy. 23 we met a group of bikes coming into town. All the riders had big grins on their faces. They must have found the curves to their liking. I had told our new partners all about these curves and told them that we would keep a pace to make them comfortable with them.
The run up to the curves was enjoyable at about a fifty five pace. It gave me time to look over the country side and just relax a little.
We all made it through the curves. Stopping at the junction of 23 and 16 I asked everyone what they thought. The grins said it all. I explained where they were at and where Jim and I were going. They started pulling out maps to figure out where they were going form there. Jim and I explained the area a little, closest gas station and how to get across to Eureka from where we were.
I pulled in to the house in a very relaxed state. Funny how that always happens.
My tire held up. The patch job had only a couple of places that showed anything. Like I said. In an emergency I think this stuff would be a great tool to have. Looking at my "GFM", the tire held up nicely for a total of 227 miles. Now the fun part, putting on my new back tire.
Catch ya on the road
My tire held up. The patch job had only a couple of places that showed anything. Like I said. In an emergency I think this stuff would be a great tool to have. Looking at my "GFM", the tire held up nicely for a total of 227 miles. Now the fun part, putting on my new back tire.
Catch ya on the road
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