How many tire plugs is too many?

**slabo** · 05-28-2011, 01:11 PM

talking about flats... how exactly do you mend a flat tire in the wild? I know how fix a flat bicycle tire, and possibly without levers(if the tire is soft enough). In a pinch, I can fix a bicycle flat with just a knife and a patch kit.. but a motorcycle tire is different. Do you have to take the wheel off? Patching an inner tube, you have to actually take out the tube, find the puncture and sand it down, then apply the patch.

Again, how do you do that in the wild? Anyone has stories to share?

**jape** · 05-28-2011, 02:16 PM

Never had to do it (touch wood) on a motorcycle but many times on a pushbike, cross country and road and once or twice on the machine before quick release hubs came in. I have seen a front tube fixed with difficulty while on the m'bike because some tools where lost but I think a rear would be too tight, less room to play with. I wouldn't go anywhere without tyre levers and tools. I am sure you can do things like stuff with grass for emergency until you find the tools and time to do it right. These days you have other options like puncture foam of coarse but that makes the final repair messy.

**bojer** · 05-29-2011, 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by slabo

talking about flats... how exactly do you mend a flat tire in the wild? I know how fix a flat bicycle tire, and possibly without levers(if the tire is soft enough). In a pinch, I can fix a bicycle flat with just a knife and a patch kit.. but a motorcycle tire is different. Do you have to take the wheel off? Patching an inner tube, you have to actually take out the tube, find the puncture and sand it down, then apply the patch.

Again, how do you do that in the wild? Anyone has stories to share?

I've fixed punctures "out in the wild" lots of times as I trail ride - I'm not quick at doing the change - 1/2 hour ? but I usually carry a spare front tube and just swap it over - 21" front tube fits rear 18" wheel as a temporary fix . usual problem is not fixing the puncture but blowing the tyre up again afterwards ! - I usually rely on one of my buddies caryying a pushbike pump . Fixing a motorcycle puncture with a repair kit is no different to a bicycle fix but more of a pain getting the wheel out . Also be wary of just carrying a repair kit - I had a rear tyre deflate quickly while on my Skyteam near Granada coming back from Spain - rear tube had ripped the valve clean out - no fixing that one . It involved a scary trip to the local bike shop on the back of a spanish guys Honda to get a tube - since then I always carry a tube on decent rides and sometime a repair kit too - pessimist me !

I've never had much success with the tyre foam in tubed tyres but it does sometimes do the job in tubeless in my experience , have tried the stuffing the tyre with grass trick but it does compact very quickly and you end up repeating it every few miles..........

**papadad** · 05-30-2011, 02:01 AM

Experience says that tubeless tires/rims are really the only way to go as they can be plugged from outside (usually) without needing to remove the wheel from the bike, remove the tire from the wheel, re-seat the tire on the wheel, etc etc etc. Just carry a plug kit, some compressed air (or small air compressor), and some tire foam "just in case" to reinflate a partially deflated tire. Also a spare valve stem and stem tool can be helpful (those little valve stem cores can go bad)

When possible, remove a punctured / plugged tire and install a proper internral patch (not plug) from the inside out. That eliminates the chance that the plug could pull out or be pushed in causing deflation...

Lots of guys are running "slime" in their tires too, which helps reduce punctures where the nail goes in and comes back out. I pick up a few bottles from USA every time i travel back n forth.

How many plugs? 0 to be safe but if the puncture holes have been very small, like what would be caused by a small screw or nail, or a hole not wider than 2 to 3 mm, or odd-shaped, then the plugs that I've used have stayed put beyond the useful life of the tire tread.

Those fancy laced (spoked) wheels may look good, with the glittering chrome, but they are not worth a darn if sitting on the side of the road. The fix-a-flat foam does *not* work in tube tires, and typically the tube rips a bit after it gets popped meaning often it can not be salvaged / reused / patched properly. Also, deflation is rapid with a tube tire leading to possible blow out / loss of control. Most of the time, a flat on a tube means the end of riding for the day, loading the bike on a truck to get it to the nearest service station, or as a minimum several hours in the sun, jacking the bike up on rocks, removing the tire, sweating your @55 off trying to break the bead, remove the inner tube, putting in the new tube and hoping it is not pinched, then pumping the hand pump like mad trying to re-inflate and re-seat the bead.

My tire tool kit contains: plugs, plug inserter tool, extra valve core, extra valve stem, and either 4 bottles of CO2 compressed air with inflator tool, or now they also sell these very small air compressors (pocket size) that run on 12V. Hooking it to the battery and running the bike while inflating the tire works good. And can be done multiple times (where as CO2 cartridges are good for 1 inflation but if you have a slow leak, you could get stuck again). Tire irons are helpful but extra weight....and then toss in a a spare tube (for your buddy who just wont trade his fancy harley spoke wheels for tubeless wheels) ...

Always buy good tires. Your life could depend on your tires and brake pads...

papadad

**slabo** · 05-30-2011, 03:53 PM

Blowouts are not only caused by patched tires. I forgot which year, team, rider, stage, ... of tour de france this happened, but I remember reading about a blowout on a TT stage once.

Reading about fixing flats on a motorcycle, I found this http://www.instructables.com/id/Moto...Flat-Tire-Fix/
It's much easier on tubless tires, but most MX bikes have spoked tires, so fixing a flat has to be done the hard way.. take the wheel off, and then it's all really similar to a bicycle.

**Fred** · 05-31-2011, 01:32 AM

Originally Posted by slabo

talking about flats... how exactly do you mend a flat tire in the wild? I know how fix a flat bicycle tire, and possibly without levers(if the tire is soft enough). In a pinch, I can fix a bicycle flat with just a knife and a patch kit.. but a motorcycle tire is different. Do you have to take the wheel off? Patching an inner tube, you have to actually take out the tube, find the puncture and sand it down, then apply the patch.

Again, how do you do that in the wild? Anyone has stories to share?

I had a puncture a few weeks ago on my rear tire outside Shanghai, flagged down a police car which sent a repairman to help me on the side of the road. His procedure was quite simple but really effective :
- he just got the tube out of the tire (without removing the rear wheel), found the hole by inflating the tube a little bit and checking where it was leaking
- cleaned around the 2 holes (!) with the brush, put a patch/seal on each of them with the special glue (he was very careful to stick them well)
- checked the inside of the tire with his hand and found the nail...
- put back the tube in the tire and inflate it as much as he could

And off I went, for 10 RMB and less than 10 mn for the repair job ! I just went to the bike shop after to have it inflated at the correct pressure, as the repair man on the road only had a bicycle hand pump.
Since this flat, I rode 1,500 km on it without any concern.

Hope this helps...

**Lao Jia Hou** · 05-31-2011, 02:07 AM

Originally Posted by Fred

... flagged down a police car which sent a repairman to help me on the side of the road ... and off I went, for 10 RMB and less than 10 mn for the repair job !

Hahaha - I love this country! Try that back home - road-side assistance for $1.5

Great story!

**ishie** · 08-06-2011, 09:43 AM

Originally Posted by papadad

Experience says that tubeless tires/rims are really the only way to go as they can be plugged from outside (usually) without needing to remove the wheel from the bike, remove the tire from the wheel, re-seat the tire on the wheel, etc etc etc. Just carry a plug kit, some compressed air (or small air compressor), and some tire foam "just in case" to reinflate a partially deflated tire. Also a spare valve stem and stem tool can be helpful (those little valve stem cores can go bad)

When possible, remove a punctured / plugged tire and install a proper internral patch (not plug) from the inside out. That eliminates the chance that the plug could pull out or be pushed in causing deflation...

Lots of guys are running "slime" in their tires too, which helps reduce punctures where the nail goes in and comes back out. I pick up a few bottles from USA every time i travel back n forth.

How many plugs? 0 to be safe but if the puncture holes have been very small, like what would be caused by a small screw or nail, or a hole not wider than 2 to 3 mm, or odd-shaped, then the plugs that I've used have stayed put beyond the useful life of the tire tread.

Those fancy laced (spoked) wheels may look good, with the glittering chrome, but they are not worth a darn if sitting on the side of the road. The fix-a-flat foam does *not* work in tube tires, and typically the tube rips a bit after it gets popped meaning often it can not be salvaged / reused / patched properly. Also, deflation is rapid with a tube tire leading to possible blow out / loss of control. Most of the time, a flat on a tube means the end of riding for the day, loading the bike on a truck to get it to the nearest service station, or as a minimum several hours in the sun, jacking the bike up on rocks, removing the tire, sweating your @55 off trying to break the bead, remove the inner tube, putting in the new tube and hoping it is not pinched, then pumping the hand pump like mad trying to re-inflate and re-seat the bead.

My tire tool kit contains: plugs, plug inserter tool, extra valve core, extra valve stem, and either 4 bottles of CO2 compressed air with inflator tool, or now they also sell these very small air compressors (pocket size) that run on 12V. Hooking it to the battery and running the bike while inflating the tire works good. And can be done multiple times (where as CO2 Kits & Accessories cartridges are good for 1 inflation but if you have a slow leak, you could get stuck again). Tire irons are helpful but extra weight....and then toss in a a spare tube (for your buddy who just wont trade his fancy harley spoke wheels for tubeless wheels) ...

Always buy good tires. Your life could depend on your tires and brake pads...

papadad

where did you get your co2? and how much is the price of that one? any help please. thanks!