[Industry_Hack]

Originally Posted by SUX VR40 Rider

I think you're comparing a large commercial truck to a pickup truck. I believe the truck that hit the cyclist was a pickup truck. Also, the tread you see on the side of the roadway is not from the front tire of a large commercial truck, like a semi. It is typically from one of the dually tires, and usually one of the trailer tires, and it is a retread. On a retread tire, the new tread loses adherence from the body of the tire, comes loose and comes off. Sometimes the dually tire on the truck does lose tread, but most often it is the trailer, as that is where the heaviest load is. I do not think the front tires of a semi are allowed to be retread, only the rear dually tires or trailer tires.

Also, it was not the tread that hit the cyclist, nor did the tire lose tread. The tire blew, causing the driver to lose control of the truck, thus accidentally swerving into the cyclist and hitting him.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone...

[georgec]

Originally Posted by photosbymark

But anything mechanical can and WILL fail. You can have a brand new tire, inspect it before you get in the truck and everything be just fine and it still fails. Every tire is a may pop and yes well maintained tires can and do blow out from time to time. Just as steel can suddenly break, this type of accident could have just as easily occurred from a broken tie rod and no way the driver could have known that was going to happen. This article doesn't go into enough detail to say that it was anything but a tragic accident. Timing had to be just right to come to this result in that had the tire failed 100 yards sooner or later, it would have been just a truck in the ditch.

Just because something tragic happens does not mean anyone or something is to blame. There is an inherent risk to almost anything. Not everything is preventable. Some collisions are also unavoidable. We do the best we can to manage risk, but the only way to eliminate collisions between bikes and cars is to ban either bikes, cars or both. Even if you did that someone might get run over by a tractor. Ban them too and we don't eat.

Thanks photosbymark no truer words have been spoken. These guys have this driver hung without knowing all the facts.

[rola643]

Originally Posted by photosbymark

But anything mechanical can and WILL fail. You can have a brand new tire, inspect it before you get in the truck and everything be just fine and it still fails.

Yes this article is very vague...

In 28 years of wrench'n for a living and racing Late Models I have never seen a new tire fail, not one. I don't mean to be argumentative, just never seen it. We put some awful punishment ( over 600 H.P) on some pretty soft compound tires and never a failure we didn't cause. Nickel and dime parts failures are much more likely. Even the cheapest re-retreads run on trailers and rear axles will last with proper inflation. Under inflation probably causes more blow outs and failures than any other single reason. How many times have you pulled up behind someone at a light and seen a tire that looks about 10 pounds low, bulging out. Nobody(as a general rule) checks tire pressure as the season and air temps change and that has a HUGE impact on inflation and tire wear. Most late model cars now have TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) that let the driver know if a tire or tires are low.

Sorry..I know this probably sounds a little obnoxious but you'll never convince me otherwise so I'm apologizing before this ever gets read
k1 2009 LLM Track Champ New chasis ( Rocket Chassis) Kept the car from being 2010 Champ..sorting things out.

[pedalpusher]

No one mentioned the speed of the vehicle when the tire blew, no one mentioned the location of the bicyclist on the road (I did not see a photo when I connected to the link with the news story) and all these things are relevant in determining whether it was preventable.
All such accidents are preventable if the motor vehicles drove the same speed as bicyclists--they would not be passing us! Of course, they might as well ride a bike then, wouldn't they? If you don't want to have a motor vehicle accident or collision, don't drive one!!