Feed Back

FEED BACK

Readers, as well as those involved in the motorcycle industry, are invited to have their say about motorcycles they own or have owned. Anything is fair game: performance, handling, reliability, service, parts availability, lovability, you name it. Suggestions: be objective, be fair, no wildly emotional but ill-founded invectives; include useful facts like mileage on odometer, time owned, model year, special equipment and accessories bought, etc.

TIRE REPAIRS

I am a veteran desert/Baja fiend and here’s a tip from me. Don’t use the aerosol goop that supposedly repairs your inner tubes. On an off-road trip to Baja I decided to try it in place of my bulky bicycle pump. I happened to get a flat, we stopped, pulled the tube, patched it, and buttoned everything up, using the aerosol goop to restore the pressure. About 20 miles later the goop seeped through the pin hole in the tube and worked the patch off, causing another flat. So not only did the aerosol make the puncture impossible to repair properly, it also failed to seal this small leak, which is what the product was designed to do.

I’ve mentioned this in my riding group and found that others have encountered the same problem, so my experience was no fluke. The guarantee on the aerosol goop is worthless when the stuff fails a hundred miles from civilization.

Steven Cirone

San Diego, Calif.

We’ve had similar experiences with some hut not all products of the type and we can agree in part.

Some of the aerosol spray sealers don’t work, especially if the tube has a rip. No sealer could be used as a substitute for a patch.

What we do is use one of the squeeze-type sealers, like the Advance Cycle Products sealer/balancer, before we go on a ride. It won ’t seal a rip, but we know first hand that the stuff will close a puncture well enough to ride in for repairs.

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WHO COULD ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE

I ordered a Carb Stix from Paser Instrumentation Inc., and when it was delivered one of the glass tubes was broken. The box it was packaged in was not damaged so I didn’t discover the broken tube until I had signed for the merchandise and the delivery man had gone.

I wrote Paser and told them what had happened. The people at Paser know how to solve problems in the best way. I received a complete new Carb Stix—who could ask for more?

Iven Todd Austell. Ga.

BOAST FOR BMW

I’m not trying to assert that my BMW is the perfect motorcycle for every motorcyclist. I imagine most bikers view a BMW with the same disdain I once did. But after I rode one and learned of its engineering excellence I was quickly and totally converted. A BMW is a work of art. And, I have learned that in the long run a BMW’s price is entirely justified by its qualities. A BMW is not the fastest bike you’ll ever meet up with on the street, but it’s far from being a toad. Unless your mount is a bike such as a Z1,1 would advise you to not roll it on with a 900/6 or an S. If you do, you will be surprised to find that a BMW is more than just a good touring bike.

S.L. Nichols El Galesburg, 111.