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Need expert answer re: 80 GS850G wheels

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peter Buehner
  • Start date Start date
P

Peter Buehner

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I just went to the local motorcycle dealer to have my tire mounted on my rim. When I returned, a guy there said, just so you know, that is not a tubeless wheel. If it was, it would say so. I insisted that I had taken a tubeless tire off of the wheel and I was quite certain that the literature on the bike said tubeless too. Can someone confirm that the wheels I have are from a 1980 and are also tubeless despite not saying so on the wheel? This guy told me that if I lost air pressure, the tires would simply roll off the wheel in the current setup. Yikes.
Photo Jan 20, 3 10 30 PM.jpg
when I pushed back a bit, he said that he was operating from memory of selling them new at the time.
Thanks for any help.
Peter
 
The rim will have raised lettering denoting "tubeless tire applicable" or something to this effect if it were originally tubeless. Suzuki was mixed between tube and tubeless at that time; some bikes even came with one tubeless wheel and one tube type. Regardless of such denotations, I'm pretty sure your bike came with tubes originally. If you look at the parts fishe and it will show tubes inside the tires.

Realize that there were wheels of that era, some of the early tubeless version of the Suzuki star pattern wheels for example and some Kawasaki wheels as well, that WERE denoted tubeless however they did not have the rim humps that some consider synonymous with tubeless wheels. Your tire guy was judging the wheel based on that but he probably doesn't realize that some OEM's made tubeless wheels that didn't have that feature.

Many guys here on the GSR have converted tube type wheels to tubeless by enlarging the valve stem hole. These wheels then are equivalent to the early tubeless wheels being sold by the OEM's. The safety humps do provide an extra margin of safety, but they aren't mandatory. And said wheels are no more "unsafe" than a regular tube type wheel.
 
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Thanks Nessism. I just went back to my service manual and realized that when I read tubeless is was for a different model...the danger of searching a manual online I guess. So are you saying that I don't need to put a tube on that tire? If I don't I would love to save spending another $30 on getting it redone plus a tube.
 
I'm no expert but I thought only the spoked wheels needed tubes.

So Peter, you've already mounted the tires and they're holding air fine? Soapy water at the valve and no bubbles?
 
I'm wondering if I have tubes in my tires. Gonna find out soon enough...I need to replace both.


Ed
 
I just had my front tire mounted this afternoon. My bike is torn apart so it is simply sitting in the living room. When I bought the tire, I also bought new valves...how I picked them I cannot recall. They have rubber bushings inside and out. It seems to be holding air fine now but like I said, it is sitting next to me on the couch : D
 
Hmmm, you're getting awfully cozy with that wheel.

Why not take it with you into the bath, if it makes more bubbles than you then you'll know for sure. Haha
 
You probably thought I was kidding. Here is my dining room. Good thing I am singe I guess :D
Photo Jan 20, 8 41 49 PM.jpg

Burque73 said:
Hmmm, you're getting awfully cozy with that wheel.

Why not take it with you into the bath, if it makes more bubbles than you then you'll know for sure. Haha
Click to expand...
 
Peter Buehner said:
View attachment 49408
One last view of some of the print
Click to expand...

You are good to go. The rim designation is 19 x MT1.85. The 'MT' denotes the correct bead seat profile for running tubeless tires, even if the rim doesn't have a 'Tubeless" designation on it anywhere. FWIW, there are lots of guys running tubeless here on the cast wheels that aren't actually labeled for it and very few have had any problems with it.


Mark
 
'Thanks Mark! Just what I wanted to hear.
mmattockx said:
You are good to go. The rim designation is 19 x MT1.85. The 'MT' denotes the correct bead seat profile for running tubeless tires, even if the rim doesn't have a 'Tubeless" designation on it anywhere. FWIW, there are lots of guys running tubeless here on the cast wheels that aren't actually labeled for it and very few have had any problems with it.


Mark
Click to expand...
 
I don't believe I've ever heard of a "tire peeling off the wheel" problem with a cast GS wheel properly converted to tubeless. Methinks it's an old biker's tale, or perhaps some disco-era rider tried to mount up a tube-type tire without a tube and only briefly succeeded.

Also, I have hanging on my wall a front wheel from a 1982 GS1100G, marked "Tubeless Tire Applicable", and there are no "retaining ridges" next to the bead area (although it's true that many or most tubeless wheels have these). Tubeless tires are designed to fit much tighter than tube type tires.

Of course, you have to do the conversion properly or you might get a leak around the valve stem.
 
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If the tire goes flat enough to come off the rim, it's not like the bike will be upright for long anyway. You might stay upright if it's the rear that suddenly goes. Maybe. You never know. ATTGATT.
 
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Ok this thread reads..... Need expert answer re: 80 GS850G wheels

Most of what i read is hear say.

"Many guys here on the GSR have converted tube type wheels to tubeless by enlarging the valve stem hole. These wheels then are equivalent to the early tubeless wheels being sold by the OEM's." WTF? U dont need to enlarge that hole for the correct tubeless fitting.

"I'm no expert but I thought only the spoked wheels needed tubes." You can silicone the spokes up enough to run them tubeless if ure crazy enough

"The 'MT' denotes the correct bead seat profile for running tubeless tires" Not sure where you read that. The current owner of the bike tyre place where i worked doesnt know. maybe you can let us know please.

So in other words unless its cast with Tubeless Tyre Applicable i wouldnt fit it it tubeless ever. Too many things out there trying to kill you and you adding your self to that list..

Oh and i better add the Need expert answer re: 80 GS850G wheels questioning was answered by a expert. Worked in motorcycle tyre shop from 78-91 then various motorcycle shops till 2010. But what do i know. Thats the answer. but we are all different so its only my answer. TC
 
Repeating myself here but both Suzuki and Kawasaki sold "Tubeless Tire Applicable" wheels (front to be specific) that did NOT have the extra rim bumps common to tubeless wheels. Apparently these companies did not feel these features were critical to the design, at that point in time anyway. These wheels differ from the tube type wheels though in that they have a flat machined in and around the valve stem area. This allows the tubeless valve stems to have a nice flat area to seal against.

The following photos are from brwinger and show how to mod a tube type wheel to accept a tubeless valve stem. Converting your tube type wheels like that effectively make them just like the early tubeless wheels both Suzuki and Kawasaki sold.

In later years both of these manufacturers did add the extra safety bumps to the rim profile because it's a positive safety feature. Does that mean that the early wheels are unsafe? No.



 
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The following photo shows what the safety bumps look like. Clearly, these wheels are safer since they hold the tire on the rim bead in case of deflation. This safety feature will function the same though regardless of whether or not there is a tube inside or running tubeless.

raisedridgerimtubelesswheel.jpg
 
Jeez, I wasn't trying to make anyone mad here. Nessism, my wheel doesn't have the bumps shown so nicely in your photos but it does have an already flat spot that accepted my replacement valve perfectly. The inner rubber gasket for the valve stem was a perfect fit for it. The tire I pulled off the wheel was a Continental super twin (tubeless) and has the matching tire on the rear (tubeless). Sharpy, I hear your concerns and will take that into consideration as well. I won't be getting on this bike for months as I rebuild it.
I appreciate everyone's feedback.
 
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