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Daft question!! inner tubes or not?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Greenbraes
  • Start date Start date
G

Greenbraes

Guest
Right...please don't laugh:confused:...I am heading off to work in the morning (oil rig) for 2 weeks and want to order up some tyres for the 1979 GS1000EN....the tyres that are on the bike are 1992 so need changing but both say they are tubeless....I had this idea in my head the bike needed inner tubes....what is the case...can I go ahead and order up tubeless tyres for me getting home??

:confused:

cheers

RB:lol:
 
The rims should be marked as suitable for tubless tires. If they are currently shod in tubless and hold air I would say they are so rated. No need to run tubes and with tubless tires it can be dangerous anyway ( friction between the tire and tube builds up heat which can result in blowouts) so just forget them.

Have a safe trip to the rig.

Cheers,
Spyug
 
thanks for the quick reply 'spyug'..off to buy some sports demons then feel totally depressed for the next 2 weeks...lol

RB:)
 
Tubes are fine for tube-type rims. It says so on the sidewall. A lot of peeps run tubeless on the early mag wheels (NOT tubeless certified) with no leakage, myself included. Tubes are a PITA.
 
If it is safe for tubeless, it will say so on the rim...

DSC03090.jpg


Otherwise, use a tube.

Eric
 
7981GS said:
If it is safe for tubeless, it will say so on the rim...

Otherwise, use a tube.

Eric
Click to expand...

Or not...

Plenty of us don't run a tube when the wheel doesn't say it's safe for tubeless...
Way easier to plug a tire on the side of the road, than to patch a tube...:)

You should modify the valve stem hole, though...
 
Understand that, just because the tire says tubeless on the side, does not mean you won't find tubes in them when you take the tires off. Those same tires installed on spoke rims would definitely require tubes! As noted, if you're going from tubed -> tubeless you may need to drill out the hole for the tubeless valve stem. I bought steel ones but my installer had to grind the front one down a bit to fit it in the narrow rim.

But, like others have said, I've been running tubeless front and rear for a while now with no apparent ill effects, despite the fact that the bike was originally equipped with tubes. My front rim does say "tubeless tire applicable", though the rear does not. Dunno. Interestingly enough, when I got the bike the rear was installed tubeless, but there was a tube in the front tire...
 
1980GS1000E said:
Tubes are fine for tube-type rims. It says so on the sidewall. A lot of peeps run tubeless on the early mag wheels (NOT tubeless certified) with no leakage, myself included. Tubes are a PITA.
Click to expand...

For what it's worth on this. I just put new tires on my '81 GS850G. In past I've had the work done by shop. This time I did the job myself, by hand, the old fashioned way.

The TUBELESS rear rim is quite different from the NON-TUBELESS front rim in this way. Rear rim has a raised lip along the inner edge of the area the bead lays on. I gather this is to lock the bead of the tire securely onto the rim.

Front rim does not have this ridge. Once the air was out, I was able to easily push the front tire's bead loose by hand whereas the rear was locked on so securely that even following the 2x4 fulcrum/lever method that I saw in an instructional by Mr. catbed, I was unable to break the bead & had to have it done at a local shop so I could proceed with the job.

Now I guess the tire would come "off the bead" just as easy with or without the tube in event of a puncture. But, I had always wondered why the front rim was not spec'd for tubeless tires. There had been speculation here in the past that these rims were somehow porous and would loose air. I believe the difference in the rim design is the reason why they are spec'd for tubes. Why did Suzuki do this???? Apparently in later bikes both front & rear became tubeless type.

So just sayin' what I found. Wish I had taken a pic of this but the rear tire was mounted before I noticed the difference on the front rim

A question here. The replacement front tube I used was of the solid molded-in rubber stem type. The old tube was of the "bolted-up" metal stem variety. Does this matter? I'd have preferred the metal type but didn't look when I bought the tube. Any wisdom on this?????
Thanks,

DH
 
If the manufacturer specifies tubed type on the rim then put a tube. If not then don't.
Any puncture, tube or tubeless is a pain.
 
suzukizone said:
A question here. The replacement front tube I used was of the solid molded-in rubber stem type. The old tube was of the "bolted-up" metal stem variety. Does this matter? I'd have preferred the metal type but didn't look when I bought the tube. Any wisdom on this?????
Thanks,

DH
Click to expand...

For what its worth, all my bikes have the threaded vlv stem, however I do not screw the nut down but leave it at the top screwed up against the vlv cap, the reason for this is that should the tyre creep you can spot it right away by the vlv moving from the perpendicular and gives you warning to do summat about it before it rips out and dumps you with a catastrophic deflate. Screwing that nut down does nowt and can hide a naff tyre fitting. I take glance at that every time I get on the bike.
Also I fit a new tube with a new tyre everytime and never bother repairing a tube just replace it.
 
I always replace the tube when replacing a tire.
I once had a blow-out at 70 mph with a passenger on the back on my '72 Honda CB450 I used to own.
That was the only time in my life where I sincerely thought I was going to die :eek:.
 
tatu said:
For what its worth, all my bikes have the threaded vlv stem, however I do not screw the nut down but leave it at the top screwed up against the vlv cap, the reason for this is that should the tyre creep you can spot it right away by the vlv moving from the perpendicular and gives you warning to do summat about it before it rips out and dumps you with a catastrophic deflate. Screwing that nut down does nowt and can hide a naff tyre fitting. I take glance at that every time I get on the bike.
Also I fit a new tube with a new tyre everytime and never bother repairing a tube just replace it.
Click to expand...
Right, & thanks for all the replies. I AM replacing the tube, as I have always done. My question was regarding the TYPE of valve stem. Is it OK to use the molded-in rubber stem type in place of the metal stem type that was on there?

Thanks again for your help.

DH

My
 
suzukizone said:
Right, & thanks for all the replies. I AM replacing the tube, as I have always done. My question was regarding the TYPE of valve stem. Is it OK to use the molded-in rubber stem type in place of the metal stem type that was on there?

Thanks again for your help.

DH

My
Click to expand...

In veiw of my experience outlined above, the answer would be yes for me, I think that you might have a bit of difficulty trying to push the rubber stem type through a hole that was meant for a metal threaded kind.
 
The rubber valve stem is much larger around than the metal one -- you'll need to get a tube with the correct metal valve stem.
 
When the first cast wheels were introduced on motorcycles, there were "NO TUBELESS MOTORCYCLE TIRES AVAILABLE". Metzler started the development of the tubeless motorcycle tires in 1978. The motorcycle mfg.'s had no reason to stamp approved for tubeless tires on the first cast wheels, because at that time there were no tubeless tires for motorcycles available. As soon as the tubeless motorcycle tires were available, the Mfg.'s did start installing them on their new bikes, and did start stamping approved for tubeless on the wheels. Personally I think the old early wheels would have had APPROVED FOR TUBELESS stamped on them, if tubeless tires had been available. Just my opinion
 
rphillips said:
Personally I think the old early wheels would have had APPROVED FOR TUBELESS stamped on them, if tubeless tires had been available. Just my opinion
Click to expand...


"Tubeless Applicable" wheels are different from the tube type; there is an additional raised lip on the inside wheel profile which holds the tire in place on the rim in case of low air pressure. This design is same as a car wheel and is safer in case of deflation. The old tube type wheels don't meet this criteria.
 
I have a front wheel from a 1983 GS1100G hanging on my wall. It is marked "tubeless tire applicable". There is no ridge or lip.
 
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