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Need expert answer re: 80 GS850G wheels

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peter Buehner
  • Start date Start date
Tubeless tires are fine. As long your not running synthetic motor oil in your GS....
 
You didn't answer the question. Waiting...

OK - they didn't have them because they were ignorant of the concept that the lip would help keep the bead in place. Like I said, it was the changeover period.

BTW, your timeline is off. My KZ is a 1981 and the front wheel doesn't have the bumps. Same with some GS wheels built the same time frame.

Correct - I should have said late 70's to early 80's, not just late 70's. But I did say after 83 or so all rims went to using retaining lips.

Anyway, argue it however you like and do whatever you want. Fact of the matter is you wont find a tubeless rim made in the past 30 years that doesn't have retaining lips for the bead. It's simply the standard for a tubeless rim.

Then again people still use those hopeless clown shoe Firestone things on bikes so there's no helping some people :cool:
 
Every year vehicles get safer as manufacturers innovate and improve the breed (cars mostly, not motorcycles so much). ABS, airbags, etc. First there were no airbags. Then they got one, and then two, and now some cars have 6 or maybe more. If you have a car with only one airbag do you stop driving it? What about two airbags? Yes, or no?

Hope you realize there is a parallel to safety features on these wheels. Tubeless is actually safer than tube type. Sure, having wheels with the humbs is better than not, but is the safety increase such that you are going to stop riding your old bike and upgrade the wheels?
 
No - I'd just run a tube.

So you think I should remove the tubeless tire off my KZ750 wheel without the humps and put a tube inside even though Kawasaki built the wheel as tubeless and the bike has been on the road for 36 years that way without issue?
 
So you think I should remove the tubeless tire off my KZ750 wheel without the humps and put a tube inside even though Kawasaki built the wheel as tubeless and the bike has been on the road for 36 years that way without issue?

If I was changing the tyre and I saw no retaining ridges I would put a tube in it. If one of my friends was changing their tyres and I saw the same I would recommend they use tubes.

I don't particularly care what you do, but if you were to ask me, I would suggest you should use a tube.
 
Basically if original fitment is tubless ure safe. From memory the 1st tubeless wheel we ever saw in Australia was on the front of GS850G's. Rear was tube. So there was sure a change over period. As for the KZ's they where around same time,1981. Anyway, i wouldn't use synthetic motor oil when using Cheng Shins. But when using Dunlop, Avon or any other good brand name it be Motul semi-synthetic motor oil all the time.

http://www.chinonthetank.com/2013/10/kawasaki-kz750/
 
Misguided concern.


Quite the the opposite actually - it's using what we know now to eliminate risk. Nothing misguided about it.

If you're happy to go by what some guy thought was OK 40 years ago then I'm certainly not going to stop you.
 
Shhhh dont get them started on there balancing liquid. This thread is easy compared to what they say in those threads. Be warned.
 
Okay, some questions that need answering and I'll let go of this thread...

Say we have a wheel without safety bumps running tubeless. Under what conditions would this setup be unsafe and why? And how would having a tube inside the tire increase safety?

I already know you are going to say that the tire could unseat from the bead and there would be catastrophic pressure loss, but how could this happen? Describe the mechanism.

I can't for the life of me understand how the tire could come away from the bead unless there was significant pressure loss already. And at that point any air that would possibly be left behind if using a tube wouldn't provide any rigidity anyway.
 
Shhhh dont get them started on there balancing liquid. This thread is easy compared to what they say in those threads. Be warned.

You've been a member for SOME time and have read/seen guidance (misguided or not). Very interesting feedback.


Ed
 
Okay, some questions that need answering and I'll let go of this thread...

Say we have a wheel without safety bumps running tubeless. Under what conditions would this setup be unsafe and why? And how would having a tube inside the tire increase safety?

I already know you are going to say that the tire could unseat from the bead and there would be catastrophic pressure loss, but how could this happen? Describe the mechanism.

I can't for the life of me understand how the tire could come away from the bead unless there was significant pressure loss already. And at that point any air that would possibly be left behind if using a tube wouldn't provide any rigidity anyway.

Have any of you that road dirt bikes ever come back from a spirited ride to find debris wedged under the tire bead and had to deflate the tire to remove it? If you have you can thank your tube for not having a total deflation while riding. Now imagine hitting a pothole, board, rock or getting run off the road into a field or ditch to avoid a collision or some such self induced mishap and trying to regain or maintain control. Now imagine trying get control back while dealing with a flat front tire because whatever it hit forced tire back from the bead just far enough to instantly deflate. Chances of it happening are probably quite slim but there is a chance and that's probably the main reason it's there and the main reason the manufactures stopped putting tubeless tires on non-safety bead rims after a year or so. Your bike, your skin, your choice.
 
Crud between the tire and vertical portion of the rim would not cause pressure loss. For that to happen the debris would have to travel UNDER the bead, on the horizontal portion of the wheel. That's where the seal occurs.

It seems to me that if your 500+ lbs. (+ rider) bike is off road and smashing into stuff with enough force to deflect the tire and force crap between the tire and rim then whether the tire is tube or tubeless is the least of your problems.
 
I've been running tubeless on GS850s for decades, front and rear, with no sudden deflations and that's in spite of clanging down some humungous potholes over the years that have had me take wheels off and carefully examine the rim, tyre carcass and everything else for consequent damage or misalignment.
Tough old brutes, the 850s.
 
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