18 replies to this topic

[Ivan]

Scared the s*** out of me! I keep my T-12 in my apartment, it's about 6' from where I was sleeping and POP, no BANG! I jumped up disoriented trying to figure out what happened, then realized after doing a minor search the right rear tire blew. Odd, since I rode the T-12 a short distance about 10 hours ago, no problems. Anyone ever have this happen.

[rogwild]

Sounds like Gremlins! You didn't happen to check for any signs of 'mouse gnawing'?

[Delta Foxtrot]

I had that happen once on a bicycle. What did the autopsy show?

[OZQUAD44]

Guys the tyres on my T12 are rated to 40psi MAX. I've been reading on this site, and the also the stickers that came wrapped around the rims when I picked it up, indicating that the rear tyre pressures should be 85psi and the fronts 75psi. Some of you guys are using 90 psi.

I'm surprised that this occurrence is not far more common. I'm not saying that this going to happen to all tyres that are pumped up this high. All I'm saying is this does not surprise me at all given the rating of the tyres. Tyre wear or something sharp wedged in the rubber may have contributed to this particular failure, but the high pressures that are being run in these tyres has to be a contributing factor with punctures such as this.

For the record I'm running mine at 65psi, only because I had around 65psi in my compressor tank before my maiden voyage. It seems to go well at 65psi so I've left it. Sort of a compromise between the trikke recommended tyre pressures and the tyre manufacturer recommended pressures I suppose.

[rogwild]

If you look 'closely' at your tires (at least NEW ones from the dealer), you will see an ADDED blue painted label of "55BAR~Trikke~80PSI" painted on the sidewall. Supposedly, Trikke Tech has had 'specially reinforced' sidewalls for their tires, but did not want to pay extra to have new tire MOLDS made ... so the original "40psi Max" remains in the molded rubber. The inner tubes have no such pressure restriction on them; but since they are 'restrained' by the tire, been tested by Trikke Tech, and have several hundred of thousands of 'rider miles' on them, they should be good also. Except for the occasional 'bad' batch from the factory, and those that get 'cuts' from rough edges around the 'stem hole'. Thicker 'thorn proof' tubes are also available.

[saratoga]

It is suppose to be above freezing tomorrow & Wednesday so I am considering taking my T-12 out for a spin. Low and behold, one of the tires is flat. If it did "pop" I didn't hear it since the Trikke is in the garage. I find this strange because all of my tire/tube failures have been while the Trikke was hanging on the wall in storage and never while underway. Lucky me ...

[rogwild]

I heard one "POP" (on a T- during the 'hill climbing' exercise at the FL Trikke Academy, last May. Quite IMPRESSIVE, got everyone's attention. Luckily, I've only had a couple of flats in my 8 years of Trikking. One near the 'stem seam', and another along a tube seam 'weld'. Glad we don't have GOAT THORNS in Florida.... only smaller 'sand spurs'.

[Ivan]

The tube had a hole easy to spot near the air valve, but no damage to the tire that I could detect. I normally keep about 90 psi rears and 85 in front, but this was a first rapid air release that wasn't my fault.

[Ivan]

Ready to do about 20 miles, filled the water bottle, put on my weight training gloves, right mind set, not now! Another deflated right rear, 3rd time. Bad tube, should have checked what I thought was an extra good tube that I had stashed some time ago. Patched, checked, ready to go. I was apprehensive, so I told my son, there may be a call to rescue me down the road. Maybe solid rubber wheels technology will find it's way on trikkes in the future.

[Delta Foxtrot]

Wow Ivan, you've been having a bad patch with those tires - or should I say tubes. For what it's worth, there's a chart here

http://www.airfreeti...am-pricing.aspx

that lists all the standard sizes that the air free tire company offers to fill with foam. They can apparently fill to different virtual "pressures," and they also say to contact them if the tire size is not listed.

They're a little pricey, but maybe not compared to replacing several tubes; I don't know. Might be an interesting exercise, if nothing else...

Better luck sooner,
DF

[Delta Foxtrot]

ooops, just looked a little more closely at that chart... when you get up to wheel diameters of 8" - 12" the prices are pretty ridiculous. Oh well, still an interesting idea. Just probably not real practical.

[Badabing]

Pretty sick to see a handgung barrel pointed at you when reading a forum... Post office stuff.......

[Delta Foxtrot]

> Pretty sick to see a handgung barrel pointed at you when reading a forum... Post office stuff

HA! to post office stuff... Welcome to the real world, at least here in the sunny south land... Down here, anybody who doesn't have one of those under the front seat of their car isn't really trying (either that or we have our carry permit and it's even closer to hand). Back in the sixties I did a lot of hitchhiking around Texas, Louisiana, Florida with hair down to my shoulder blades... seemed like all the rednecks that picked me up loved to wave their guns in my face, trying to get me to show some fear I guess. Yeah, that's a fun game. The upshot of all that (no pun intended) is that I don't really give much thought to firearms, I pay a lot more attention to the people carrying them.

The really funny part of that story is that 9 times out of 10, when I didn't get all weepy about it, they'd end up handing me their weapon so I could have a closer look! (That's about the time I started always carrying a kerchief... up to then I never realized what that little fashion tic was all about).

And by the way, that's not a handgun... that's a KEL-TEC! The Trikke of saturday night specials and the finest inexpensive piece made in the USA! And it's in .40 S&W, finest caliber nobody ever uses! I guess you can't really call anything in .40 caliber a saturday night special, huh?

Anyway, thanks for noticing that I've got the drop on you... and always remember to keep the nine commandments: eight in the clip and one in the strip! )

Best regards,
DF

(off topic much?)

[rogwild]

Delta Foxtrot, on 25 February 2012 - 09:04 AM, said:

(off topic much?)

DF, don't give 'Badabing' too much attention. He drops by once in a while to 'bad mouth' the Trikke, drop a couple negative comments, and to try to 'stir things up'. Just your basic internet Troll. Since KEL-TEK is a Florida company, I'd love to tour their facilities sometime, but since they are at the other end of the state (13 hr drive), I don't get in the area much. They do make a nice selection of inexpensive weapons though.

[Ivan]

Didn't want to start another topic, I already have, way too many. Anyway I have to admit, this time it wasn't the tire, it was me that failed. Yesterday I trikked to the health club with the wind at my back, a strong wind, so strong I didn't have to carve much to get there, sort of a free ride. Did my workout, headed back, or tried to, I've been trikking for a long time, been fighting wind here in Florida many times, crossing bridges, whatever, but the wind was so strong, at one point I was almost standing still. I fought going up a minor incline, carving as best I could. I knew my son was at Starbucks that I would pass on the way home. Instead of doing a workout I saw the trainer pushing the guy through to burn out I opted for a ride home. I admit, I caved. Would I have a few years ago, maybe not.

[Delta Foxtrot]

rogwild, on 25 February 2012 - 10:07 AM, said:

DF, don't give 'Badabing' too much attention. He drops by once in a while to 'bad mouth' the Trikke, drop a couple negative comments, and to try to 'stir things up'. Just your basic internet Troll. Since KEL-TEK is a Florida company, I'd love to tour their facilities sometime, but since they are at the other end of the state (13 hr drive), I don't get in the area much. They do make a nice selection of inexpensive weapons though.

Yeah, I know, Roger; he doesn't bother me though. I just mainly think it's kind of ironic that anyone would even notice a picture of a firearm, when almost every bad movie out there is busy promoting irresponsible weapons use. Not just guns, but knives, swords, tasers, you name it...

Kel-Tek is a cool company. Recently they've cut down on the inexpensive arms and gone to more esoteric weapons. I mean, to me 900 bucks for a shotgun is high, but of course it's all relative, and it IS one AWESOME piece of work. Kind of a Streetsweeper For The Rest Of Us... On the other hand you can still buy a brand new Mossberg 12 pump in stainless for about 200. Might be fun to have a .223 Rem semi pistol, though. LOL

Ivan said:

I admit, I caved. Would I have a few years ago, maybe not.

Man, Ivan, you always amaze me with your ironman feats... I hope you treated yourself to a nice Starby's coffee and congratulated yourself on your great condition, regardless of age. You're my hero!

DF

[Ivan]

"Man, Ivan, you always amaze me with your ironman feats... I hope you treated yourself to a nice Starby's coffee and congratulated yourself on your great condition, regardless of age. You're my hero! "

Thnx. Now if wasn't for my cape, I could have made it................

[Delta Foxtrot]

Ivan, on 25 February 2012 - 03:32 PM, said:

Thnx. Now if wasn't for my cape, I could have made it................

Ah... and here I was thinkin' that was just a fancy rain slicker...

[BubbaJePH]

I've had my T 12 tire blow and it sounded more like my 5.56 rather than the .45 I CCW. I ride with 90psi in the tires. Have been buying my inner tubes from the local bike shop. Straight valve stem is no problem. Just took the front assembly apart and greased and 3 in 1 oiled everything up. Rode much better. Back to being a breeze riding my 10+ miles through the hood.