TYRES!!!

No, not which ones - something different. Icba to check, but istr
several people having punctures very soon after getting new tyres. If
that's the case, I have a theory...

Fitted the wheels back on the MV earlier, shod with some lovely new
Power 2CTs, & when I yanked it off the stand & pushed it forwards, it
made a godawful racket. The cause of this was lots of gravel from the
(unsurprisingly gravelly) ground where I was working had stuck to the
tyres where the big Michelin stickers used to be, & was grinding away
at the CF hugger & front guard as it passed underneath.

There's quite big lumps of gravel stuck firmly to the sticky residue,
so things like small bits of sharp flint, old nails etc would stick
nicely too. Give 'em a few miles to work their way through the rubber,
et voila - new tyre puncture.

The moral to this story is next time you get new tyres, check where the
labels were for anything pointy, then either clean the glue off or coat
it with dust or something.

 

I think generally sharp objects like nails lie flat on the ground - I
suspect that rear punctures are so much more common than fronts
because the front tyre rolls over them then flicks them up, and if
you're unlucky they land just right for the rear tyre to catch them.
Still supports your sticky labels theory - they're more likely to
flick up stuff at slower speeds.

Maybe, and this is a very wild guess, things like nails, flints etc
are also more common on slower, residential roads, or at least, roads
nearer to residential areas, where the tyres would normally be cooler
and less sticky.