My SM tire got nailed...

[wgwgoldwing]

Of course, I'm 90 miles from home and 6 miles off the pavement.

If I had the S wheels on, I would have just peeled the tire off, patched it, and rode on. But the SM tires are tubless tires (with tubes). I know the sidewall and bead is stiffer on the tubless tires so I didn't even attempt to fix it on the road and the nail was big enough that I don't think fix-a-flat would have helped at all. Called my son and he rescued me with his truck. I change my own tires at home using a bead breaker on my tire changer. Anyone attempt a roadside repair on a SM tire? I'm now thinking about getting one of those little trail sized bead breakers.

WGW

[707drz]

When I get a nail in the tire it usually holds air long enough to get home or somewhere to try ad fix it. Do your tire go flat or was it still holding air?

No I wouldn't try and do a roadside fix, not worth the the back breaking work

[Tmall]

plug cords will get you home on a sportbike tire. I've actually run a tire for an entire season with nothing more than a plug cord in it.

The proper way to patch them is a plug/patch combo. They have to be done from the inside, but are as good as new after.

[707drz]

plug cords will get you home on a sportbike tire. I've actually run a tire for an entire season with nothing more than a plug cord in it.

The proper way to patch them is a plug/patch combo. They have to be done from the inside, but are as good as new after.

Hole is big enough in the tire were things might come through or I'm too cheap to go buy a new tie I'd plug it along with a new tube but I have never had a hole that big, once the nail comes out you can't hardly see where it came out of

[Hans Schmid]

plug cords will get you home on a sportbike tire. I've actually run a tire for an entire season with nothing more than a plug cord in it.

The proper way to patch them is a plug/patch combo. They have to be done from the inside, but are as good as new after.

Whatever you do, dont do this! I have worked in the tire industry and this is a band-aid fix which should only be used if in an emergency. They are not `good as new`.

[Tmall]

Whatever you do, dont do this! I have worked in the tire industry and this is a band-aid fix which should only be used if in an emergency. They are not `good as new`.

Sigh. Here we go again.

About 15000 miles on plugged/patched tires since I've been riding. Never a problem. And that's on 600 and 1200 cc sport bikes.

Everybody who uses them, say they work great. Everybody who's never tried it always has an opinon.

Do a poll of people who've actually used them, and ask if they would use them again and I'd bet my house that the vast majority would say yes.

The only time you shouldn't use the plug/patch is if the hole is over 1/4 inch in diameter or if you've broken a belt.

[hinksy]

Whatever you do, dont do this! I have worked in the tire industry and this is a band-aid fix which should only be used if in an emergency. They are not `good as new`.

I also have worked in the tyre industry as a retreader/fitter and this is exactly how you fix a pucture in a tubeless tyre . Do canadians /americans have different types of puncture repairs ? We use tubeless patches which are a patch attatched to a plug that pulls through the puncture hole and is vulcanised into place with a bonding agent and airpressure . Rebalance the wheel and you are good to go , greg

[Hans Schmid]

I also have worked in the tyre industry as a retreader/fitter and this is exactly how you fix a pucture in a tubeless tyre . Do canadians /americans have different types of puncture repairs ? We use tubeless patches which are a patch attatched to a plug that pulls through the puncture hole and is vulcanised into place with a bonding agent and airpressure . Rebalance the wheel and you are good to go , greg

It was never designed for a motorcycle tire. It was specificly designed for a car tire and somehow was rednecked its way onto a bike. Because of the limited width of a motorcycle tire vs a car tire (contact patch), when you hit something (lets say a rock) there is less area to distibute the force vs a car tire. This puts more load on the patch. It will work, I will never say it doesnt but with only 2 tires touching the gound vs the 4 on a car. Your losing 50% of you control when that tire goes flat. At 80mph, would you really want to risk that?

And im pretty sure we fix tires in canada the same as you fix tires in america. Though lots of us canadian believe that the tire sealant you put in the tires after it gets a nail in it works! Anything below 0 and it becomes useless.

[Rhinoracer]

Since this is a tubed tire I don't see the sense in discussing the proper way to patch a tubeless tire

[Hans Schmid]

Sigh. Here we go again.

About 15000 miles on plugged/patched tires since I've been riding. Never a problem. And that's on 600 and 1200 cc sport bikes.

Everybody who uses them, say they work great. Everybody who's never tried it always has an opinon.

Do a poll of people who've actually used them, and ask if they would use them again and I'd bet my house that the vast majority would say yes.

The only time you shouldn't use the plug/patch is if the hole is over 1/4 inch in diameter or if you've broken a belt.

I was refering to them being used in the motorcycle industry not the car. I know they work great but you are one brave man to be using one on a sport bike.

[Hans Schmid]

Since this is a tubed tire I don't see the sense in discussing the proper way to patch a tubeless tire

Someone said plug patch, I could stop myself!

[Tmall]

Since this is a tubed tire I don't see the sense in discussing the proper way to patch a tubeless tire

That is correct, I went off of the picture of a Dunlop D208. Which is a tubeless tire. I didn't consider (or see) that they're run with a tube.

In this case, I would say the only option would be some sort of hole plugging goop. You'll have a hell of a time breaking and rebeading a tire like that. Not that it's impossible. But, it would take a hell of a time without proper tools.

[wgwgoldwing]

I don't really care about saving the tire. It is an elderly tire with 4000 miles on it and this was going to be it's last road trip. I'm more interested in emergency road side repair to get me home. Of course, I got home, but had to inconvience others, which I really hate to do.

When I discovered the nail, I was 90 miles from home and 6 miles from pavement. It was still holding air. So I drove as far as I could. I made it about 20 miles before it finally went completly flat. I pulled over and thankfully I had cell coverage. Called my son and he picked me up in his truck. It was a 140 mile round trip for him and over two hours of his time.

So, for emergency, get me home purposes, since it has a tube that doesn't really give me a standard plug option and since it's a tubless tire, I didn't think I would be able to break the bead on the road. Might be worth switching over to non-spoked wheels so that I can plug on the road if necessary. Is there a non-spoked wheel option that can use the DRZ speedo gear?

WGW

[zig06]

Here you go, packing a can might be a problem but it might have gotten you home. Scroll to the bottom and check out the "Three Bond Seal-N-Air" http://shop.thumpertalk.com/catalogs/Tucker_Rocky_Offroad_2010/default.asp?p=76&s=2

And it almost sounds like a CO2 pump would have worked for you as well, plus their smaller: http://shop.thumpertalk.com/catalogs/Tucker_Rocky_Offroad_2010/default.asp?p=73&s=2

As for patching a motorcycle tire, it's all about liability in the U.S. ~ as sorry as that sounds. Too many people willing to sue if even the slighest thing goes wrong, that even goes for a tire that was patched years ago but then another slow leaked developed and caused an accident. I personally will patch any leak and continue to ride until the tread tells me it's time to replace it.

Edited November 13, 2011 by zig06

[wgwgoldwing]

Thanks Zig. Looks like that's what I'm going to do.

I tried to break the bead at home using the same technique I use on the dirt wheels. Yeah, right, that ain't going to happen. Broke out the tire changer and had it off in no time.

Couldn't of gotten many more miles out of it anyway:

Smaller hole than I thought it would have. I figured it would have been shredded in there from the tire going flat while I was riding:

Looks like it just knicked the tube then started digging into the sidewall:

WGW

[MeatballStunts]

It happens. I never used the plug/patch before but I know alot of people that have good results from it. The only tires I run are either tires from a dealer with nails or something in them and I just patch them from the inside of the tire and mount it up with tire irons. Some people wont trust this but this is what I have been doing from years and never had a patched tire give me a problem.

[JEB1962]

I plugged a tubeless tire once when I was 18 or 19 with a plug and never bothered to do a better repair. A couple weeks later, it blew out on me at 60mph, on the freeway, with a passenger, at night. That old 550 Maxim and I were all over the roadway but did not go down,whew! I'll never let a fixed flat be just good enough again!

[mickeydee]

Sigh. Here we go again.

About 15000 miles on plugged/patched tires since I've been riding. Never a problem. And that's on 600 and 1200 cc sport bikes.

Everybody who uses them, say they work great. Everybody who's never tried it always has an opinon.

Do a poll of people who've actually used them, and ask if they would use them again and I'd bet my house that the vast majority would say yes.

The only time you shouldn't use the plug/patch is if the hole is over 1/4 inch in diameter or if you've broken a belt.

i plug motorcycle tires all the time BUT you should not use a car/truck plug patch for a motorcycle tire if possible.They are too big and when you take the reamer to clean out the hole you could possibly damage a cord.motorcycle plug patches look exactly the same but are half the size.

[Tmall]

i plug motorcycle tires all the time BUT you should not use a car/truck plug patch for a motorcycle tire if possible.They are too big and when you take the reamer to clean out the hole you could possibly damage a cord.motorcycle plug patches look exactly the same but are half the size.

It was the best pic on the Google...

[MeatballStunts]

I plugged a tubeless tire once when I was 18 or 19 with a plug and never bothered to do a better repair. A couple weeks later, it blew out on me at 60mph, on the freeway, with a passenger, at night. That old 550 Maxim and I were all over the roadway but did not go down,whew! I'll never let a fixed flat be just good enough again!

It can happen to anyone. But a properly patched/plugged tire will not blow out.