An interesting morning. Two-tyre blowout on the M25 at around 70mph!

I was on my way to a meeting this morning, on the V-strom and heading
anticlockwise on the M25 making for the A1. I was making good headway in
fairly heavy traffic. I had just passed the turn off for the A10 and was
doing about 70-80mph in the middle lane when I noticed the car in front
swerve slightly. The reason became immediately obvious - he had just run
over a sharp-edged piece of metal about 8 ft long that was right across the
middle lane. I had no time to do anything and anyway there was nowhere to
go as both the other lanes were full. No time to brake enough to make much
difference. No time to form any thoughts in words but I do know that my
brain registered that I was probably about to get fucked up in a major way -
then I went over it.

Miraculously, I kept control despite the bars doing a bit of a tank-slapper
and the rear end dancing around. I managed to wobble through a gap in the
traffic in the inside lane and make it to the hard shoulder. With both
tyres flat I couldn't even put the kickstand down so I has to lean it
against the armco barrier. A quick inspection revealed the following:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25300337@N08/sets/72157622493431772/

As well as me there were at least 5 cars on the hard shoulder, all with one
or more punctures caused by the same piece of metal. After phoning Auntie
Carol's recovery service I managed to cadge a ciggie from one of the victims
as we stood around waiting for recovery vehicles to arrive. I don't mind
saying that my hands were still shaking a bit when I tried to light it.
Eventually my recovery van arrived (first one there - well done Auntie!). I
began helping the driver load my bike into the back using a natty little
wheeled frame that holds the bike's front wheel and which is attached to a
winch. As we were dragging the bike over to be loaded I heard a rather loud
crunch - and looked over to see a car embedded in the armco in the central
reservation. Presumably somebody going the other way had taken a bit too
much interest in what was happening on our side and lost control.

So now we had a collection of recovery vans and Highways Agency vehicles on
our side of the road and an accident on the other side that was fairly
quickly surrounded by flashing blue lights. I saw the driver walk away
(turned out to be a woman) so no significant injuries fortunately. Shortly
afterwards we drove off with my bike on board. The driver had the radio on
and I was strangely gratified to hear that we had made the traffic news.

I am now going to have to sort out new wheels and tyres - the wrong side of
£500 I reckon so I will need to think about whether its worth a claim on
insurance. I must say I am VERY impressed with modern wheels and tyres.
The tyres stayed on the rims and didn't disintegrate despite the complete
loss of air at high speed.

As the guy driving the recovery van said, if I was a cat that would
definitely be one of my 9 lives gone. However, I feel rather elated. There
is nothing like a very near miss to make one appreciate life. What doesn't
kill you makes you stronger!

 

On Oct 1, 1:34 pm, "TMack"

****. Wow. ****.

 

In communiqué <ha2469$qfb$-september.org>, TMack

'kin Nora.

Well held that man.

--
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As Vass said, I think you did really well to keep your cool and stay
on, particularly as you obviously hit the piece of metal with a hell
of a thump.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, TMack

'Kinell, matey. Well done.

 

Holy fuckstumps batman, very lucky & well held

 

TMack wrote:
snip

Sphincter factor 10

Sphincter factor 11 !

snip

I'll never complain about the cost of motorbike tyres when the carcass
holds together after something like that.

Go on, give us a loud American style "whoop whoop yeah, I am *the* man"
whilst the adrenaline is still flowing.

 

Correction - I forgot that its the ABS version. Make that the wrong side of
£1200. Its either off to a wheel-repairer or its an insurance job.
Assuming the wheel-repairer thinks that they are fixable, what's the current
views on having such work done? A quick google suggests that properly
repaired wheels shouldn't pose any hazard but I would be interested in any
views/experiences

 

errm, Fark! Well held. You had better luck than Concorde.

The thought of hitting something like that on the m'way sometimes plays
on my mind, especially at night. We all know we should leave a huge gap
between us and the car in front, but....

I sometimes see 'debris in road' signs on the M4, everyone slows down
for a while, then no debris appears. The usefulness of those signs seems
very limited to say the least. 'Think Bike' is ok by me though.

Any chance of identifying who dropped it, from cctv, and sending them a
bill?

 

Plod mentioned this sort of thing on the Bikesafe I did.

Their thinking is, you should always ride in the wheeltracks of the
vehicle in front on the motorway.

At all times this means the road in front is little cleaner, and if
there is something there, you'll get a warning because they'll hit it
first. If you're inbetween the wheel tracks, it could go straight
under them without you even noticing, then you hit it.

 

Serves you right, if you had put Puncture Seal in those tyres you could
have made it home ;o)

Shit, that's the worst I've seen. Beats Monz and his fence post. Very
lucky, the traffic behind running over you is what I tend to think of on
busy m-ways.

Shame the dozy bitch going the other way didn't break her nose though.

TOG knows a shop which repairs alloy wheels, I expect they might save
you 500 or so.

 

that's your mistake right there. M25/J25 is a ****.

 

Eek - well held.Are plod taking an interest in finding the owner?
Hopefully you could claim off their insurance assuming it wasn't
gippos on their to way to fly tipping somewhere.

Steve

 

PARP! Well held.

 

Couldn't agree more - had an off last month on a hidden patch of diesel at
around 70, somehow managed to miss the end of the Armco where the sliproad I
was taking split off the A3, tumbled behind sliding bike for about 50 yards
missing (and missed by) the rush-hour traffic and stood up and walked away
with a slightly broken thumb and a few bruises - made me reassess life a
bit, jacked the crap job[1] at the next opportunity!

Nice District Nurse who stopped to see if I was OK was amazed that I wasn't
a shaking wreck and didn't want an ambulance or recovery truck (tough old
bikes, ZZRs), Hell, I think she was as surprised as I was that I got up and
walked away - praise be to cheapo Aldi riding gear, the body armour is
exactly that

Fairing and exhaust are a bit of a mess, but I rode it home!

Dave H.
--
(The engineer formerly known as Homeless)

"Rules are for the obedience of fools, and the guidance of wise men" -
Douglas Bader


[1] Anyone want or need a decent hands-on network engineer, mainly Extreme
and Juniper (including firewalls), bit of Cisco and Alcatel, DWDM etc? Some
MPLS, BGP etc. too, but need to brush up on 'em... M3/A3 corridor ideally!

 

Thing is, leave a big gap on a busy m-way and cunts keep moving over
into it. That bit of metal must have come off a truck *just* in front
of you T and if so the traffic cameras should be able to ID it.

The most common riding mistake I see, and it makes me wince some, is
bikes riding right up behind cars and trucks in the blind spots. They
are waiting to overtake but meantime.... sitting ducks.

 

Hmmmm - sounds like a Concorde repeat.
Bloody lucky that nobody seems to have been seriously hurt.

OTOH luck was not smiling on a biker on Herluin Way WSM this morning.
The main drag into Weston was closed for over 3 hours while plod
picked up the pieces. Latest unconfirmed local scuttlebut is that
he might survive.

 

TMack wrote:

You must be fucking invincible now then. I use that virtually daily.
Well done.


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www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

I was just thinking...and the rest! You might *just* be able to get
2nd hand stuff for that.

I've raced on repaired wheels (and I have a mildly dinged wheel for
sale on eBay at the mo). However, looking at your pictures, I'd be
pretty suprised those wheels are repairable.

You didn't say what bike it is for. I'm not sure why you think ABS
will make a difference to the cost - usually the ABS sender/trigger
thingy would be a bolt on anyway, no? But still, a pair of new
wheels is going to be a grand, minimum.

 

Microsoft Bikesim?