CHANGE THOSE FUCKERS, DAMMIT!!


And here's why. Some of you know I had a blowout a couple of months ago. Took a header off the BR, was ejected mebbe 25' at around 35 mph, landed face and chest first in the ditch and walked away with nary a scratch.

Well, I thought I'd had a blowout.


I let the BR set for the past few weeks. I wanted to get back to it with an unjaded eye; in order to assess damage and find all the little shitty stuff that's easy to miss when the crash is fresh in your memory.


I didn't have a back tire blowout. I had rear tire valve stem failure.






Now, that particular valve stem has over 26,000 hard miles on it. So, a head's up folks. Change 'em bastards. Probably every 10,000 miles would be a good idea. But you can plainly see the rupture in the pics. Sorry they're a bit blurry, I couldn't get the right light and angle around the rear shock.


As for me? Well, I'm buying metal shorty valve stems from here on out.


http://www.americanmototire.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=632_695_699

The stubbies are a bitch to check tire pressure
and fill tires. Just hold the back side of the bend
when you are checking or filling tire. Will keep
flexing to a minimum. I changed the ones in BR1
& BR2 when I'm at the 10 K mark now. Good
advice though. I do have the 90° stems on both
wheels. The front one definetly should have the
bent one as it's tough to get at the stubby.

When I get tires I tell them to look for cracks or
drying symptoms on the stems. So far not a problem.

The shop where I get my tires changed put a new valve stem on every time they put on a new tire. They say it reduces liability. Seems like it might be a good idea.

yeah, but since last summer I'm the one doin' the tire swaps on #5.

But for some reason my local shop does NOT carry the 90* stems. Just the tall shit. One horse town, though, so I'm not surprised.

No extensions on mine... just the stock straight MET stubbies...

no problems here.

I would stick with the 90° and
hold it like I mentioned. Keep
a spare in the tool box and inspect
it when you change tires. I tried
the stubbies and they really complicate
the proceedure.

Those are nice, but I'm not paying $12 for a pair of valve stems. When you rack up 10,000 miles per year on yer scoot, that's just too much moola.

Sorry to hear about this Hightech,
yeah maybe try the stub set of stems. They do look a little bling to!

I like what it said on the $12 package though "visual tuning" LMAO. This is the first I heard of this crash to, glad you came out of it with nary a scratch, I'm sure it wasn't a good time though. I understand what Katman is saying about holding the stem while filling, I do that on the LR cause they bend like crazy otherwise, but 10,000 miles or so is a pile of tire pressure checks and fills.