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Tires/Rims/Tubes Q&A

  • Thread starter Thread starter witttom
  • Start date Start date
Kicking the dust off an old thread.

This past Spring, I've had my rear tire mounted/dismounted at least three times dealing with tube leaks. One time was my fault. I apparently pinched a tube when mounting. Another time was a manufacturing flaw in the tube (that'll teach me for not testing it prior). I don't recall what the other times where, but it doesn't really matter. It sucked.

In June, I set out for the Vintage Rally in Knoxville. I had a SLOW leak in the rear. I took a 12V air pump with me and just planned to top off when needed. Seemed like a good idea at the time. It wasn't. That slow leak quickly turned into a BAD leak many many miles down the road. To make a long story short, I had to abort the trip. After some McGyver moves and help from my riding buddy, I managed to get my rear tire to a point where it would hold approx 10psi of air (no more). It was late and I ran out of options. I limped a couple hundred miles home. No damage to the tire.

After this miserable failure, I said "Screw the tube!", bought a metal valve stem, mounted it, and have gone tubeless ever since. I've since put a couple thousand miles on it. No issues.

Man, I hate tubes.
 
After this miserable failure, I said "Screw the tube!", bought a metal valve stem, mounted it, and have gone tubeless ever since. I've since put a couple thousand miles on it. No issues.
Click to expand...

Wittom, thank you for the updated report.

I want to chime in, because I don't read the technical forum very often, but I've ran anywhere from 12,000-15,000 miles on my old '79 GS550E tube-free. '79 had the 5 star mag that did not say tubeless on it, but with a new valve stem installed and good tires (Metzler, Pirelli) I never had a problem.

From what I recall, I went through two sets of Metzeler tires and sold it with the Pirelli's at about 1000 miles. I always check the air in my tires every week or so, but I never had a prolonged leak.

That being said, regardless of the rim design, I've put enough miles and sets of tires on a wheel that originally had a tube to not worry me. Those running tubes in mag wheels still are asking for more trouble and hassle in my opinion.

~Adam
 
witttom said:
After this miserable failure, I said "Screw the tube!", bought a metal valve stem, mounted it, and have gone tubeless ever since. I've since put a couple thousand miles on it. No issues.

Man, I hate tubes.
Click to expand...

Did the same thing on my bikes. The rear's have never been a problem. I've had about a 50/50 success ratio running the front tires tubeless.
 
I've run every GS I have had with tubless tires and no tube and have never had a problem with it, not even leak down. Off the top of my head, thats over 100K miles.

Earl
 
Pharkmeh said:
I use these suckaz - and they hold pretty well - wet or dry @ the right price



Bridgestone Spitefire S11
100/90 + 130/90
Click to expand...


And I am running those tires. At the time this photo was taken, I had yet to replace the front. Tubeless with no stamp on either wheel. No probs as of yet.
 
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1980GS1000E said:
And I am running those tires. At the time this photo was taken, I had yet to replace the front. Tubeless with no stamp on either wheel. No probs as of yet.
Click to expand...

I've got a couple thousand miles or so on mine so far. I'm quite pleased with them. They perform well past the capabilities of the bike itself (I'm dragging bike parts long before the tires want to lose grip). I was shooting for something soft, which is what I got, but they're not TOO soft that I'm tearing them up. In fact, I ran the rear for a couple hundred miles with only 10psi of air in it (valid reason, long story) and they suffered no damage. No complaints so far. My only regrets is that the RWL was not available in the size for my rear, but was for the next size up. After mounting it, it was obvious that I had plenty of room for one size bigger. I could have ran the risk of it effecting my handling in a negative way, but I doubt it. Kinda funny... I'd never consider mounting RWL tires on any of my other bikes, but it just seems to go so well with the GS Cafe. ;)
 
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The only reason I would tube a tire on my ride is to repair a small puncture on tire with significant tread left. Rather than patch a tire, a tube would seem to be a better idea. But it's possible to damage a tube when mounting the tire, I would probably let a shop do it.

I had a nail in the tire 2 years ago but the tread was gone so it came off anyway.

From a performance standpoint it seems the weight of the tube would not be a good thing to have. Weight of the wheels affects handling and less is more.
 
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