Flat Tire Juncion

What is this and why is it on the Blog? you ask. Justin has had his alloted time to give his version and so now it is up to me.

What is it? - A brand new RAZR2 tire on the Yellow Raptor.

Why you ask? - It is difficult, if not impossible, to drive two Raptors on 7 wheels - ummm - let me see they are called 4 wheelers - 2 times 4 is 8, if you haven't brushed up on your math lately.

What happened? I thought you would never ask... but now that you have.... let me tell you a sad story.

Let's start with the fact that the last time Justin rode he had to be towed back to the trailer, on Friday he was able to "lose" his work cell phone. Don't things come in threes? Should have thought about that before we left to ride on Saturday morning. It was a great day to ride. We decided to go to Tibble Fork - nice and close - more time for riding. We left about 7am and were there to enjoy the cool morning.

The first misfortune came when I hadn't attached the soft cooler well enough to the grab bar and it came off and the bungee cords wrapped around the axle and the cooler unzipped itself and Gatorade and Power Bars were strewn along the trail. No one but me saw the ugliness. Justin was leading and when I didn't make it to the fork to head up the mountain, he came back in time to see me doing a better job of securing it.

We took the same trail that Megan and I rode a couple of weeks ago. This time when we got to the top we continued on - albeit with some detours off the main trail. On one of the side trips, I went up the mountain and when I made the circle to come down there was a large tree down across the trail. I did manage to get turned around and headed back up the mountain. The dirt was real soft and the wheels didn't get much traction. How to get more traction? - put your weight over the wheels - how to keep the front end down? - put your weight over the front tires. The dilemna - the right weight distribution to keep the front end down (as opposed to flipping over) and enough traction to get out. My guardian angel was in attendance and the task was accomplished. I will admit that Justin came up close and personal so he could watch the fun.

On we went on our merry way - side trips and zipping along. Even a break to drink some Gatorade (shaken not stirred) and power bars. We found a side canyon with some great trails and zipped up and down around - through cow pies, mud, etc. Finally we decided to head back to the main trail. Justin went about 100 yards and stopped and got off to discover that the right front tire was flat. Keep in mind that we are about 12 to 15 miles from the trailer. Oh what fun to nurse it back up the hill and down the hill. I am sure that everyone that passed us thought we just a couple of putzes with machines we couldn't handle.

We got home and later in the afternoon, after Justin and Greyson had cleaned the machines, (we use the air compressor to blow the water out of all the nooks and crannies) I opted to have Greyson use the compressor, rather than Justin - no reason to take risks of such magnitude) Justin took the tire to Discount Tire to get it fixed. You pay top dollar for a great machine and they put the cheapest, junkiest tires they can find on it. There was a small hole on the sidewall but they couldn't repair it as there is not enough substance to the tire to hold a patch.

Here is the reality - you can buy another junk "OEM" tire (if purchased from the Yamaha dealer it is $105 - on the Internet about $50) or you can buy an after market tire. For future reference, anyone that buys an ATV should make sure they have either radial tires or 4 ply or 6 ply tires.

Result - The Yellow Raptor has two new 6 ply RAZR2 tires and there is an extra cheap OEM tire for the next time we have a problem.

Through trials and tribulations, I remain a commited "clutcher"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (anyone want to ride?)