Pit Bull Tire test II 10-05-13

Pit Bull Tire Test II

We had an outstanding weekend weather wise. We have survived through another sweltering summer in Phoenix AZ so It was time to ride. Unfortunately we had plans to stay at our sons house in Surprise Saturday night and had to be someplace at 2:30 Sunday.

I wanted to ride so bad I woke up early Saturday and asked my wife if we could go home early so I could go for a short ride in New River. Thankfully she agreed, so off we went.

I loaded up my Kawasaki Brute Force 750i as fast as I could and took off. I think I made it to the staging area in record time. I took off down the road to head over to a fun trail about a mile away. The new Pit Bull tires felt super smooth on the FS road. I was taking it easy on the trail as I have not been on it in a while and sometimes the trail gets washed away as it crosses many washes.

On one of the steep loose hills I was about 3/4 of the way to the top when my innerr tie rod broke and the tire just flopped to the side. Fortunately I was not going fast and just grabbed the brakes. It was so steep and loose that the quad slid backwards about 2 feet when I got off. Well of course I could see the inside tie rod was broken in half. Now how to get down the hill backwards by my self.

I noticed a Ranger a ways behind me on the trail. He went around me to the left on another trail and came to the top. He shouted to me and gave me the thumbs up sigh. I gave him the thumbs down sign. He said some not to nice things back so I told him don't worry about me, I will figure it out.. With that he left.

I tried to use a ratchet strap to hold the broken wheel straight but had no luck. I even tried to go through the spoke and hold the wheel solid but the strap broke. Oh well I just slowly went backwards down the hill until I could get it turned around. I then parked it under a tree got out my camleback and took off walking the 3 miles back to my FJ with my helmet in hand.

About a mile into my hike I noticed I didn't have my cell phone. I must have lost it when I was crawling under my quad. Of well I wasn't going back now. At the same time I noticed a couple of motorcycles take off headed for the trail I was on. I thought they would probably find my phone.

Well I was double timing it back to the FJ and a few trucks passed me but no one stopped until a guy in a Ford Raptor came by and offered me a ride. I could see the FJ off in the distance but gladly accepted his offer. He did ask if I needed help but I told him I could get to the machine without any problems.

I got back and walked the trail both ways after loading up the Brute looking for my phone without any luck. On the way back to the main road I stopped at the truck where the bikes took off from to leave them a note in case they found my phone but I had nothing to write with so no note.

When I arrived home my wife came out and asked how my ride went. I said it was memorable. She then said our friend Johnny received a call from some guy on a motorcycle that picked up my phone in the desert. I called him back as they were just loading up to go home. He said he would meet me about 10 miles up the road.
How cool is that, he restored my faith in humanity. He would not take any money as a reward but I bought a 12 pack of beer before they arrived. I asked him if he drank beer and he said a little so I gave him the 12 pack as a reward.

What a fun day all in all. Just sad I didn't get to really test the tires. Oh well I will get the parts ordered and hopefully get to ride next weekend.

We have an 4 day camp and ride planed starting the 16th at Apache Lake so I will test them then along with some fishing.