DRZ and the Flat Tire

flat tire

I’ve been commuting to work on my 2006 DR-Z400SM and enjoying it for its lightweight and easy maneuvering through Boston traffic. Last week, I think that maneuvering got the better of my back tire. I got to work just fine, but when I walked out of the office many hours later I suited up, use the magic start button, pulled away and immediately noticed something funny feeling. After a couple of seconds I was sure I had a flat tire and wouldn’t you know it, I did.

The DR-Z400SM may have street sized rims and tire, but the rims are tube-type rims, so my experience with and possession of a tire plugging kit offered no benefit to me or my tire.

There is a gas station not too far from the parking garage, so after gingerly riding around the parking garage hoping for an air pumping station, I made my way through traffic (again) to this gas station. The attendant was nice enough to turn it on free of charge but not surprisingly the valve didn’t work. After getting yelled at for trying to fix it with the tools I had on hand I search for repair shops and thankfully not two blocks up there is a car repair shop. They were very helpful in pumping my rear tire.

With a rear full of air, I booked it home. Since my tire wasn’t completely flat when I came out of the office I knew it was a slow(er) leak. I just didn’t know how slow. Thankfully I got home with a medium low rear tire.

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