Rear wheel on the C5 went flat at 60 mph today on the freeway. Tire stayed on rim, I did not crash, I did not die. (I don't think....what if this is hell?)
Bike ran so well with flat I didn't know it was flat until someone pulled up next to me and told me. Limped on sidewalls about 1 mile to work and swapped out the tube.
When I yanked out the tube, there lying in the tire was a second stem washer, just like to one on the stem. On the tube, near the stem was a nice circle eroded into the tube through the presence of the washer dropped into the tire during assembly. If I were a quessing man, and I am, I have some dude at the factory trying to wrestle the tube in, the stem washer falls off into the tire interior, hmmmmm, that'll take time to fish out, leave it and slip on a new one, fish the stem through the hole and continue. Nice.
See the attached. There is a picture of the hole cut into the tube and to the right of that the extra stem washer, provided to me at no charge.
Kinda sloppy, sorta negligent. If I had crashed, looks like the wife could have cleaned up. So close......
Anyhow, for what it's worth.
Mike