Goldwing

Using only the stock Honda tools, plus a stick and a rock (seen above), I was able to remove the wheel. ( Ever tried to get 100 foot-pounds of torque on a wrench 4" long ? ) I tied the wheel to the back of my wife's PC800 and next morning, off I went in search of civilization, leaving her alone, with no food, no money, little water and no communications ability. I found EXACTLY the rubber I needed at the very first bike shop I ran across, in a town of population 3,000 ! The tire was ordered in error and was about to be sent back. I paid less for it than big city prices AND they replaced the wheel bearings for free. One hour later, I'm on my way back to the campsite, almost too good to be true. Mid trip, riding WAY too fast in my hurry to get back to my sweetie, I realized that if I crashed, NO ONE would know she was there! and so slowed down a whole lot. 15 minutes after I got back, the wheel was reinstalled and into town we went for food. What happened to the rubber ? Well, the bike shop warned me that the new surface they were using on the highways, while excellent under wet or icy conditions, cut rubber life in half. We were camped about 50 miles north of nowhere. Laying out on the grass reading, I glanced over at my rear tire. Now, I had checked tread depth before leaving home and was SURE that I had plenty of tread for this relatively short trip. Still, there was something weird about what I was looking at, so I crawled over and had a closer look. Damn, the tread was nearly gone and I was down to almost a slick. Better have a closer look at the whole tire. Up onto the centrestand and ... well, check out the picture.