touring and flats

[Gone]

Hello, I'm strongly considering renting a bike from Eagle Rider and heading x-country. They want $18 or more per day extra for coverage to deal with repairing flat tires. Seems like an awful lot of money for an uniikely occurance. How would you folks deal with this? If you didnt get the coverage but did get a flat, could you use a sealant to ride to get a repair. And can most cycle shops take care of this kind of thing, or does it have to be an HD shop? Part of the ride will be across Highway 50 in Nevada, where you can apparetnly go for 100 miles without seeing a gas station, much less a bike shop.
Thanks

[ken01976]

Depends if the bike your renting has tubeless tires. If it had tubes, I'd pay the 18 bucks a day.

[chrishajer]

If the tires have reasonable tread on them when they rent you the bike, I would decline the insurance coverage. It is extremely unlikely that you'll get a flat. That's just gravy for them.

--Chris

[gusotto]

I think it would also depend on how many days you were renting X $18.

If you had a flat in the middle of nowhere (the west can be "middle of nowhere"), You'd be glad to drop a big bill for a quick repair.
I imagine they would also give you an 800 # to call if you had a flat, then they would dispatch someone to fix the bike.

It might be a bit of a hassle to find a repair shop away from home. You wouldn't be carrying a local phone directory with you.

I'd probably spring for the $18.
I've driven out west and there are lots of places I wouldn't want to be stranded.

[chrishajer]

IIRC, the Eagle Rider flat tire coverage covers the tire repair and labor only, not towing. Not sure if that matters or not.

gusotto: good point on the number of days in the trip.

I still think I would forgo the flat tire coverage. Just make sure the tire has enough tread to last for your trip, or you've made provisions to get a new tire at one of there locations during your trip.

Another possibility is the AMA MoTow coverage. Not sure if you are an AMA member or not, or when the trip is, but that might be a possibility too.

http://www.ama-cycle.org/roadride/assist.asp

--Chris

[Carl-04XL]

I got a flat on my first trip 'out West'. It was back in '75 and I was being re-assigned to Mather AFB in Sacramento. I was going through Four Corners and ran over a dirt clod. Now, I know dirt clods shouldn't be that much of a problem, but I swear that that thing was harder than diamond. Anyway it bent my rim. I had a spare tire but it wasn't mounted (oh btw, I was driving a cage pulling a U'Haul with all my worldly possessions inside.)

I was stuck. A highway worker came by and called for help on his radio, but nobody ever came. I got tired (pun not intended) of waiting after being there for about six hours, so I took the wheel off and started walking toward the town of Four Corners. Damn if I didn't get a ride before I had walked 100 yards. Got into town and was dropped off at the service station. The mechanic looked at my wheel, grabbed a hammer and started swinging. In no time he had banged the rim back into a reasonable sembalance of round, aired up the thing, and accepted my greatful payment. Now I needed to get back to the car. About that time a car full of members of the local tribe was going back toward my car and gave me a ride.

As we were approaching the car, we saw someone under the hood. Of course they 'beat feet' before we got to the car. Oh well, I wasn't fixing to get 'involved', just wanting to get moving. Anyway, got the wheel back on and got going. Never did try to get the rim replaced as it never gave me any other problems. Glad it was a steel rim and not aluminum.

Thing is you will meet a bunch of good people on your trip. Most will be happy to help if they can. This was before cell phones (I had a CB, but it didn't help 'cause nobody to hear me calling), so you would be able to call for help if you're close enough to a cell tower.

Ultimately, it's your call. I think $18/day is too much just to get a tire fixed/replaced. It should be a flat fee (damn, another pun, I'm on a roll :roflblack ), sort of an extra insurance thingie. If you aren't a HOG or AMA member, I would join one or the other (or both :D ) just for the towing benefit. Although, you might opt for the extra coverage from HOG if you think something will happen when you're in the middle of nowhere. The standard tow from HOG is only for 100 miles (if I remember right).

Good luck and good riding.

[klinesamuel]

If your worried about it just make sure the bike you rent has tubeless tires. Usually non spoked wheels are tubeless, then I would carry a can of fix a flat and tire plug kit. That should keep you out of trouble, tire wise that is.
I just had a flat a couple of weeks ago out of state and it was a very trying experience for me and my girl.
Sam

[ken01976]

AMA towing is the way to go. I forgot I even had that! Good call!

[gusotto]

If you aren't a HOG or AMA member, I would join one or the other (or both :D ) just for the towing benefit. Although, you might opt for the extra coverage from HOG if you think something will happen when you're in the middle of nowhere. The standard tow from HOG is only for 100 miles (if I remember right).

Good luck and good riding.
__________________________

I happened to be in the dealers yesterday and they had a "Stranded ?" flier to get you to up your automatic Standard Membership.

The Standard Package provides a single use of Roadside Assistance per member, per year, with up to $100 of coverage.
(I never bothered reading my membership info, thinking of a long trip so I'll probably up my coverage.)

I see they have Deluxe and Ultra Packages. Guess I'll have to check it out.

I was starnded about 20 miles (I-15) out of Vegas on Memorial Day a few years ago. Cars going by continuously.... nobody would stop, including a Highway Patrol car going the opposite direction.
That was in the days of CB's. Someone said they'd send a tow truck. Four hours later, still no tow truck and it was starting to get dark.
A couple in a Vega (shows you how long ago) stopped and offered a ride. I said a tow truck was "suppose" to be coming out but I started to have my doubts. They recommended me taking a ride because people come out at night, spot a stranded car, keep going but turn off their headlights, turn around and come up behind the poor stranded person and rob them if still in the car.
Good point... I took their ride. I was also lucky enough that they had some rope and tied my VW bug to the Vega and pulled me into Vegas.

Being stranded in the desert isn't a fun thing...... Never sure if they really are coming to help.

[Gone]

What I think I'm going to rent is a heritagte soft tail,2004 or 2005 --does anyone know if that is tubeless or tube???

[Bill2]

I just carry a plug kit and a c02 (pellet gun type) air despendser are whatever you call them. Anyway with 7,500 miles on my stock tire i ran over a 2 & a half inch screw and had a flat, but with the little $20.00 tire repair kit i was back on the road in 15 mins. Plus i rode around town for two weeks until a tire i ordered came in without any problems. I've since seen tire repair kits from $20 to 50 bucks. The nicer ones have a gun that shoots a mushroom type plug into your tire that's pretty cool and easy. There all a good and cheap investment, and i don't go anywhere without one nowdays. There not only cheaper than the flat insurance there alot faster too!

[Bill2]

What I think I'm going to rent is a heritagte soft tail,2004 or 2005 --does anyone know if that is tubeless or tube???
Pretty sure they all come with spoke rims and that means intertubes.

[Gone]

I just checked and its $24 a day and does not cover towing - just tire repair and labor. That seems a little excessive for a 10-14 day trip.

[tim4hire]

i ditto bill2 point just get a plug kit there are several kinds out there and you should be coverd for at 90% of the problems that could occour.I'm lookin to get one that'l let me use the engine compresion to refill the tire.

[VTRII]

I passed through that area last summer. It is a lonely road. I'd get some type of towing, and forget the rest.

[RonInFla]

First of all ... I'll be damned if I'd even consider renting a bike unless the tires looked very good. After that .. what's the odds of you having a flat ? How many flats have you had recently ? ...... I can't remember my last one.

After all that's said .. I'm with Bill ... carry a plug kit and a can of fix a flat and quit worrying about the small stuff .. It's a beautiful day to ride .. enjoy it !