Update
Well, I almost ate the big cannoli this weekend. Coming down the back side of a narrow, cool and shaded, steep twisty, I was carrying a bit too much speed and briefly lost traction on the rear. I ran out of roadway and carefully chose an entry point into the woods on my side of the abruptly disappearing road, expertly guiding my Mulberry Mistress off-road at the apex of a rather sharp turn. Up into the woods we went dodging rocks and trees along the way and then negotiating a hairy 180 over a small log, across a drainage ditch and back into the roadway at the bottom end of the curve.
Even though it all happened very quickly, I remember having thought to myself 3 separate times - as I entered the morass, while engulfed in it and on the way out - "I'm going down for sure and how the Hell am I going to get found and recovered from this off-the-beaten-path spot!?", I somehow managed to stay atop the beast and kept her upright. No doubt it would have appeared to a casual viewer, had there been one, that I was doing a strange sort of tango with my 800+ pound steed, twisting and turning my body and my ride in order to avoid rearrangement. to my great relief, I miraculously danced her in and out of trouble without a scratch, although I did wrench the crap out of my lower back, for which I am in the middle of 3 months worth of physical therapy to help me better deal with 4 damaged discs. The silver lining??? I must have self-adjusted the back because it hasn't felt this good in monthes!
I was so amazed by the outcome that my heart forgot to beat like a butterfly's and I didn't even soil myself "down there".
Moral to the story... at 8,000 miles my Exedra is finished. Although I could squeak an extra 1,000+ miles out of it, it is not safe for the type and style of riding I enjoy, so it will be replaced very soon.
Btw, my Australian friends, The current price for the tire, is about $165 US. Try
https://www.denniskirk.com/bridgest...55zr-16-blackwall-tire.p543986.prd/543986.sku
In my case, it was more like, "Leave the body, take the cannoli!"
Leave the gun Take the cannoli - YouTube