Hi, I have been wanting to buy a motorcycle for a very long time now and just started wondering one day what would happen if you got a flat tire on a motorcycle? I mean, if you got a flat tire somehow then you‘d pretty much be dead, especially on a highway. Is there some kind of safety protection that prevents flat tires? Maybe stronger tires that can‘t be pierced through by nails, glass, etc.?
most useful for towing other HD applications keeps the transmission fluid from overheating and becoming less of a lubricant more like sludge and carbon particles
from my experience with motorcycles i've never really seen a full flat tire. i've seen them get low with air and before it becomes any danger at all you'd have had plenty of time to fill it up by then. i've never had any problems with motorcycle tires just getting flat on the highway.
You can carry puncture plug kits to get you home, with a small compressed gas cylinder to pump it up – they are fine unless you puncture a sidewall. The chances of having a catastrophic puncture – losing pressure very quickly – are less nowadays thanks to construction developments, not completely out of the question though. Normally you have time to react, check around you, signal and move to the side. It is possible to ride on a flat tyre – takes a bit of confidence to go round a corner though and will not do your wheels many favours. If you find a nail in your tyre, and it hasn’t deflated, do not pull it out until you are home (go slow and keep checking the pressure) the chances are that it will hold in the puncture.
I had a rear tire go flat once. The rear end slid to one side. I corrected by steering into the slide and then it slid to the other side. I zigzagged to a stop. It was scary but not that dangerous. I've never had a flat front tire, but that might be worse. It would also be worse if the tire just burst or 'blew out'. Usually a flat comes on slowly enough that you feel it coming. I've been riding for decades but I only had that one flat tire. Motorcycle tires are very different from car or truck tires. They are softer, so they have more grip, which is needed because in curves you are putting a lot of sideways pressure on the wheel. They don't last nearly as long as car tires, maybe 10,000 miles. They are probably more dependable (against flats) than car tires, but then both are pretty dependable these days. Also when you ride a motorcycle you learn to scan the surfaces in front of you and pick a line over the road to avoid loose stuff (gravel, broken glass, whatever). You don't do this as much in a car. Sliding a few inches sideways because there's gravel or dead leaves on the road doesn't bother you as much in a car, but on a motorcycle it can cause a spill, and you learn this right away after you have a spill or two. 8^) So it could be that riders just protect their tires more than drivers.
