Alot of you are drivers and alot of you already know about 'recaped' tires but for those who dont. Last Friday on the way home from N.Y. I was on the Ohio pike when I blew a recap on the trailer. I had 44,000 lbs. on , and at 70 m.p.h. it was a mess. I was looking in the mirror just as it blew, lifting the trailer and throwing 20 lb. chunks of rubber and steel belting across 3 lanes...also ripping off my mudflap bracket (steel) and mudflap. Guys, dont follow to close to trucks in this hot weather, if there woulda been a bike behind me ....I dont even wanna imagine. This morning before daylight I made a 50 mile run up the road to deliver some stuff and wouldnt you know, a goldwing came off a side road and followed me 10 miles. So close all I could see was the glow of his headlight under the trailer. When I finally slowed down to 40 m.p.h. he went around. Some people just dont know what a 'cap' will do to ya in a car...let alone on a bike. And with about 75% of trailers on the road using caps we gotta be careful. I'm sure you all have seen the "gators" all over the side of the road lately. So, give yourself some "safety" room behind semis. Just a little F.Y.I.

Thanks for the tip.....much obliged!

Good advice Blackroadie. It gets very hot down here in SW Utah and I hadn't thought about all the recaps out there.

Thanks for the scoop! How about in extreme cold weather? Are there similar risks?

I recall several years ago, I took a road trip in some real cold weather. Although I was dressed warm it would still get chilly at higher speeds so I would try to stay behind big rigs to use as a windshield.

It seems that every trucker would get irritated with me and slow way down until I went around them. I wasn't right on their tail to the point of being able to get a ticket for tailgating, but I was somewhat close enough to feel a big difference with the wind.

Something to think about... I blew a recap on a trailer a few years ago and a new Kenworth was following me. A strip of rubber (almost all of the tread section) Hit his grille....ripping it apart destroyed his radiator and actually bent it off it's mounts and into the front of his engine. He also had to replce the hood.

Always watching, thanks for the tip, and I have seen those tires blow apart.

what a mess.

A truck can always blow a tire, just because of the weight onboard. Cold doesnt effect caps as much but never say never. I think alot of the reason truckdrivers dont like people to close is because we do know what can happen, and if we were to suddenly hit the brakes for a deer ..or whatever... that just jumped out of a ditch that you didnt see.... messy.

Call it bad luck or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I've been on the "receiving end" twice when big rigs have had blowouts. Luckily I wasn't on my bike either time and wasn't hit by any of the debris, but it sure makes for some exciting manuvering!!!

And you definitely don't want to be there on a bike!!!

In The Wind,
Aaron

Blackroadie that is excellant advise. I drove trucks for a living years ago and I know what your talking about. Back when I drove we still had the split rims and if you ever see one of those come off! OMG look out.
I try to never sit behind or next to a truck, I will go as fast as needed to get past and keep my fingers crossed as I go by that nothing happens. Also if your riding to close to any vehicle you can't see what they see laying in the road and they might be able to put the road gator between the wheels of their vehicle, but you won't have time to react. We had a guy here about 2 years ago riding too close to a motorhome. Well the motorhome was running through a construction zone and hit one of those orange cones to divide the road. It flew up and hit the guy on the bike and killed him. So for everyone's sake don't tailgate when your driving or riding!!!

Thanks for the warning BlackRoadie!
Thats another reason I stick to riding back roads unless I am in a hurry to get someplace!

When I was a new rider, I was heading to work one day and passed a truckload of woodchips heading in the opposite direction. One of the chips flew out of the truck and smacked my helmet right in the center of the faceshield! I was so glad I was wearing a full face helmet! (I was on a nighthawk at the time) When I got my Roadie, the first accessory I bought was a nice wide windshield ... worth the money.

One more thing ... thank-you to you and all the other responsible truckers out there for paying so much attention to safety! God bless!