Tuesday Wednesday
is always a good day to dig up an old thread.
I was a believer in the Stop-n-Go tire plugger. (there's plenty of info early in this thread on what it is and how it works). It is a slick and nifty device, and the mushroom plugs look like a great idea.
In fact I plugged a Rear Pilot Road 2 in Denver on our trip last year. Nice hole from a screw, damn near the middle of the tire. I then put 7500 miles on said tire w/o any problems and it never, lost more than a lb of pressure in a month. I was *SOLD* on the Stop-n-Go.
Until last week. The weather finally broke here, so I pulled the bike out, checked the pressure (both tires were a little low but that was to be expected), and rode to work for the first time in 4 months.
About a mile away from work, my bike was handling like *****! Turn in was hard, and squishy. IT was a very, very windy day with 45-50 mph gusts so I kind of blamed it on that. I checked the front tire when I got to work and all was well.
Around Lunch time a buddy stopped by my office and said, "Dude, your rear tire is FLAT".
@%!#@$!!@#$
I finally broke away from work around 4pm, got out there, found my original hole and sure enough the plug wasn't there. No problem I thought, I'll plug it again, and I did.
Hooked up my $7.99 stripped down Wally World Pump. Let her rip for 10 minutes. Checked my pressure 10lbs. Hooked it backup waited 10 more minutes, checked pressure 10.5 lbs. WTF...
Closer inspection revealed YAH (Yet Another Hole), this time a little closer to the side wall, but not on the side wall. That also explained in my mind why the original plug came out. Loss of pressure and shape, and that plug just aint gonna hold. No problem I thought... I'll plug that too, and I did with the Stop and Go plugger.
I pumped up the rear, to 40PSI. That's what I normally run (Max-2).
And rode home ~30 miles.
At home I checked the rear. Warm, it had only 18lbs. In fact I could hear the tire leaking. Took a peak, and damni if both plugs were not there.
So I reached for my other Christmas gift last year out of the toolbox:
https://www.tirerepairkit.com/
I had already used it to plug a car tire, and I plugged both of the holes. Pumped it up to 40lbs and let it sit over night. In the morning still 40lbs. (actually 39.5, but I probably let that .5 out).
I had already ordered tires, but there was still plenty of tread on these PR2's after 9500 miles. Anyway I'll cut to the chase.
I mounted new tires last night. When I removed the old one the 3 musroom plugs were there bouncing around the inside of the rear. The nealy sticky strings did exactly as advertised. A nice big knot, which after the tires were heated up had bonded with the tire. A much better and more prermanent fix.
Anyone want to buy a slightly used Stop-n-Go?
