Damn It. Nail In Tire

Slightly off center of tire.

Should I plug it somehow?.. Factory Tire has 3500 miles.

James

if you scroll down you will see NEW TIRE OR PLUG i just order my set of tires today should be delivered to the shop i use in 3 days

Plug it, ride gently and change it as fast as BROWN can send you a replacement.

Go to your favorite bike shop and get a plug kit, or if you're like me, go to Autozone or Walmart and get a plug kit. Follow the instructions and put the gooey string in there and reinflate the tire. You did buy the miniature pump to carry with you, didn't you?

Man, I'm not that aggressive when riding, and I still wouldn't trust a plug any longer than I had to. Was it front or rear? Rear you might be able to get away with. Front could be a killer.

Summary, if you have to ask,.. If there's doubt, Change it out.

air pump ? and how would you hook it up ?

Oh, I bought the miniature cigarette lighter plug in type air pump. I have one for my car, too. There have been numerous posts about those little pumps that cost like $15-25. Some guys remove the case and fan and just use the bare unit so that it packs smaller.

Doesn't everyone farke a cig or "BMW style" powerlet? I have both. One of these days I might even get some heated gear.

Sorry, It the rear tire. I'm not stranded just pissed, they only have 3500 miles on them, I really don't want to buy an entire set right now.

It seems that most here do NOT reccommend pluggin it for long. So I guess I have to dive into the wallot again huh. DAMN IT :angry:

James

Replace it. Why risk your life.

I buy my tires at American Motorcycle Tire.

Just ordered Avon rear tonight. $145 delivered to my door. Good price

Avon 45 lasted 5500 miles mostly 2 up loaded, best mileage so far

It seems that most here do NOT reccommend pluggin it for long. So I guess I have to dive into the wallot again huh. DAMN IT :angry:
James

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Not necessarily. Your just hearing from one group of people. If you would have looked a little closer, you would have seen a very applicable thread HERE in which most advocate riding a plugged tire. Of course you will also get to read my long winded contribution also.

Since were talking flats, here's a shot of the 'Peak to Peak' crew at the scene of the infamous 'chipseal' incident during the run to WFO4. And yes I am the guy out of sight behind the bike making the repair to get us off the mountain. The tire picked up an arrow head style piece of the highway that left a half inch slice in a new rear tire. It took a rubber string type plug doubled up and a can of fix-a-flat to hold pressure to get Greg mobile again.

Free advice - get an Airman Sparrow type pump installed ASAP (it fits perfect in the compartment under the riders seat) and know how to fix a flat before you get one. At least you will have an unlimited amount of air to deal with any trial and error.

I had a bad experience using the StopnGo soft mushroom type plug but re-plugged the tire with a sticky string type plug that I've used for years on all my cars and trucks and rode the rear Bridgestone OEM tire another 2700 miles without a problem. I've plugged probably at least 30-40 truck and car tires with the string plugs and have NEVER had a failure, but this was the first time I've ever plugged a mc tire. I replaced the Bridgestones with Avons, picked up another nail in the rear Avon a couple weeks ago, had about 8500 miles on the tires at that time. Plugged it with another string type plug, just turned 10,000 miles on the Avons this week, probably could easily go another 2000 miles at least before fully hitting the wear bars but I already have another set of Avons in my garage so will probably have them put on within the next couple weeks.

I carry a small bag in one of the sidecases with my tire reamer tool, tire insertion tool, sticky string plugs, rubber cement and a small Bell bicycle foot pump that cost about $10 at Wally World that will air up the rear Avon tire in less than 5 minutes with little effort.

Works for me.

Lee in the Mountains of Northern California B)

Man, Lee, you must work at a nail factory or something. I don't know 40 people who have plugged tires in my whole life, let alone one person who has had 30 - 40. You must get your share AND mine! Bummer, dude.

Man, Lee, you must work at a nail factory or something. I don't know 40 people who have plugged tires in my whole life, let alone one person who has had 30 - 40. You must get your share AND mine! Bummer, dude.

--------------------

Matt

www.DocThrock.com

You're not shittin' about that. At one time, my wife and I had three small businesses going, with several vehicles connected to each. Plus a truck pulling a horse trailer, another truck pulling a mc trailer, plus a son and daughter driving their own vehicles. For awhile there, it seemed like I was plugging a tire on one vehicle or the other just about every week. The puncture rate has dropped off the last couple years but my daughter is a grad student in the SF Bay Area and I just plugged a nail puncture in one of her tires last week while she was home; two weeks ago I plugged a puncture in my wife's Ford Focus; and then I had the nail in the Avon on my '04 FJR about 6 weeks ago. I have still not had a repair failure however using the sticky string type plug. I saturate the plug with rubber cement before inserting it, a lot of guys don't do that. I figure it adds some extra protection.

Here's hoping that you get your share of tire punctures back, I'm tired of doing them for ya. :bleh:

Lee in the Mountains of Northern California B)

Hey, anyone got a link or a brand name for the 'sticky string' repair kit? I feel like I have a good little portable air compressor, having done the mod on a cheap model 12V compressor. For repair, I've got a StopNGo kit but sounds like the 'sticky' is the better way to go. Thanks in advance.

Hey, anyone got a link or a brand name for the 'sticky string' repair kit?

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Nope.

I got my current sticky string kit at WallyWorld for like $5. Came with the sticky strings, the doohickey you use to clean/open the hole, and the insertion tool.

One of these days I am going to do some research to see if I can find a nice compact kit that will be good for a motorcycle.

Or maybe somebody will point us to the holy grail of sticky string kits.

Or maybe somebody will point us to the holy grail of sticky string kits.

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And then we could arrange a group buy. Or, just go to Walmart.

I think I stumbled onto the " holy grail " of sticky string repair kits. Comes in a very compact case, got all the necessary tools, cement and every kind of patch imaginable in addition to the sticky strings. Even has spare stem inserts and stem caps. Got it at Pep Boys.....believe it cost about 10 or 11 bucks. Unfortunately, I threw away all the identifying materials and I can't tell you who actually manufactured the kit.

I think I stumbled onto the " holy grail " of sticky string repair kits. Comes in a very compact case, got all the necessary tools, cement and every kind of patch imaginable in addition to the sticky strings. Even has spare stem inserts and stem caps. Got it at Pep Boys.....believe it cost about 10 or 11 bucks. Unfortunately, I threw away all the identifying materials and I can't tell you who actually manufactured the kit.

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Can you post a piccie?

They sell basically the same sticky string kit at Wally Mart, Kragen, AutoZone, Pep Boys, etc. The initial expenditure is around $10-$12 because you need to buy the kit that includes the reamer tool, the insertion tool, the sticky strings and rubber cement. After that, you only need to buy replacement sticky strings and rubber cement, which the stores also sell separately. The kit is very small, no problem to carry in the sidecase of the FJR at all. I have a little zipper nylon bag that's about 4x4x15 inches and I keep the repair kit and my foot operated bicycle tire pump in the bag. Fits neatly in the lower shelf of the sidecase on my FJR. The footpump was a $10 cheapie I bought at Wally Mart but it will easily pump up the rear tire on the FJR in 5 minutes or less, even has a tire pressure gauge built in, which much to my surprise given the cheapness of the pump, was within 3 psi of being totally accurate (measured by my digital tire gauge). The setup works for me.

On car and truck tire repairs, I've found that I frequently can fix the tire without removing the wheel from the vehicle, so long as I can get to the nail or whatever caused the puncture, pull it out and then insert the plug. As a general rule, however, I remove the wheel so that I can air the tire up high pressure to find the leak, then repair it, let it set for a couple hours (not really necessary but I like to do it if I have the time--lets the rubber cement setup good), then air it back up and it's good to go.

The only sticky string failure I've ever heard of occurred with my son's Toyota 4x4 truck which he has setup for serious off roading, like doing the Rubicon run up and over the Tahoe rim. He hit some kind of large object once when he was doing the Rubicon, put a hole about 3/8's of an inch wide in the tire. He stuffed 4 sticky strings in the puncture to seal it up and the tire did air up and hold air until he got back home, but later started using air. If you get a puncture that large, you need to either replace the tire or have it repaired with an inside patch by someone who knows what they're doing. But at least it got him back to civilization.

Lee in the Mountains of Northern California B)

I plugged a hole (StopNG0 Kit) in my rear Avon w/4K the night before a 300 mile ride. I rode with the plug for about 500-600 miles and then deciced to remove the the tire and have a plug patch (mushroom patch) installed at a Goodyear tire place. They charged me $20 just to install the patch on the tire I handed them over the counter. (The stem of the patch plugs the hole from the inside and the mushroom part patches the inside of the tire carcass from the inside.) I now have 6500 miles on the tire and expect to get another 2 -4K (at least) out of it before I hit the wear bars. I have every confidence in this patch. Just for the hell of it I picked at the StopNGo plug from the inside and it wasn't that difficult to "pick" free. The StopNGo plug is only held in by being pinched by the tire and air pressure. There is no cement holding it in. I would use the StopNGo again in a heart beat but not as a permanant patch. (I do my own tire mounting and dismounting from the rims, if you had to pay a shop to remove and do the work probably replacing the tire would be a better option because probably a lot of shops wouldn't want the liability of a repair failure.) By the way, I have since purchased the mushroom "plug patches" at NAPA for under $4. The next time I can do it myself.

Unicycle52