Experts weigh in and/or dog pile....???

Jim, thanks for the link on tire plugging, good video. Never seen it done, heard of it done, or knew one could do so... Probably because all my bikes, so far, have had tubes in them !

Do you have to pay somebody to plug/patch it, or do you have the tools to do your own? If you have to pay somebody to do it, I'd just get a new tire. Tires are often cheaper than labor.

I'd do your own, and use online vendors when local vendors want to charge $320 for a tire. Then I'd change the tire in the street, right in front of the vendor that quoted me $320 for 1 freaking tire.

Is their tire made of recycled condoms from Wilt Chamberlain's hotel rooms, and installed by tire technicians anointed by the pope himself?

I've plugged 4 holes with the sticky worms, some including glue, all 4 leaked about 1PSI overnight.
I don't believe plugs are a safety issue but if I were a dealer I'd talk just like they do and refuse to plug anything.

My new philosophy is:
Plug it,
Ride it,
Patch on the inside when I have the inclination to take the tire off.
I rode almost all season last year with 2 plugs. The leak was no big deal because I check air every ride day.

I always buy online and mount my own.......this was an emergency situation 1200 miles away from home. $250 for tire and $70 to mount and balance.... :huh Even showed them I could get the same tire for $120 on line.............not so much as a blip on the dealers give-a-shit-o-meter.

Plug it.

Less than 500 km on the odo, my rear tire picked up a nail. I plugged it. 3000 km later, picked up another nail.
It was close to the first one, about 5 cm from the first one and close to the side of the tire. I plugged it ... but about a week later when I was lubing my chain I noticed there's a bulge. So I bought a new tire and replaced it. I had plugged tires before, but this was the first time it bulged, I guess it's because the nail didn't go in perpendicular to the tire, it went in at an angle.

Gummy worm plug ought to be way more than enough for that little thing. As for being near the center of the tire, that makes no difference. The plug will work anywhere in the tread including all the way out to the edges where the tread meets the side wall. Gummy worms usually are not slung out of tires. Rather the wet cement lets them squirm into the tire. This usually happens because the worm was cut off flush with the tire. Cut the worn off about an 1/8th inch above the tread. Thus, some of the worm is left to mushroom over and prevent squirm from allowing the worm to retract into the tire. Some people put the worms in dry, smaller punctures for this reason. I use cement as a lube for intallation and as an adhesive seal when it cures. A worm installed this way can be ridden on right away without having to wait for the cement to cure.

Aside: There is a long standing argument that plugs in a sidewall are an absolute NEVER. I have plugged sidewalls to retrieve myself from remote and considerably more hazzardous problems. Once the initial crisis is over, I won't ride on such a plugged tire. One does what one has to at times.

I have done track days on a plugged/patch Dunlop Q-2 on the back of a ZX-14. I think you would have been fine.

Every damn time I put a new rear on my Uly, it seems, I pick up a nail or something. Goopy ropes'll do ya. I was running a set of Pirelli Scorpion Trails off piste and picked up a rock....plugged it with goopy ropes and went another 4K miles. Your Uly has a a power outlet, and I assume you have some sort of storage. Get the goopy ropes get a 12V pump, and yer good to go.

Thanks Jim

First I cleaned it:



Then I pulled it:



Nice one huh? :huh

Then I reemed it! And just so everyone knows I was thinking about Jimmy V the entire time I was reeming.....



Then I plugged it with extra copious amounts of rubber cement.



Hit it with a little heat from the heat gun since still have the front end torn apart so no ride yet. Waited about 45 minutes while I fixed some of the wiring that was done previously and my OCD would not allow it to stay like that, and aired her up. Sprayed some soap and no bubbles. Gonna check it again later on today. And yes I did cut the pig tails off.........

Thanks for everyone input.

Ken

I'm going to add one more thing. all of you who give testimonials of how long you rode on a plug or how it never leaked. you are all wrong. as i said before."a plug is an emergency repair" unless the tire is dismounted it cannot be properly inspected for damage that is not apparent from the outside.leaking air is not the problem, a zipper type blowout is. be safe, dismount the tire and fix it right.

Okay I think everyone who said it was safe to plug meant one of these>>>

I may use the one you have there as a way to slowly get from the gas station to to a real tire repair shop.

And we believe you are wrong, so we are even!

Jim

Nope, string plugs are just fine, IMHO!

I've run as many as 9,000 miles on a plugged tires, plugged dozens, and only had one fail where, in an emergency, I had to put two plugs side-by-side. By fail I mean is slow leaked down over night.

Jim

I am with Jim on this one.

Besides nail pulled straight out and was not bent so I am thinking not much, if any interior damage.

Would love to drop rim off at stearlership within 100 miles and have an interior patch put on. But most, if not all, will not do it because they scream "liability" but what I hear is.....hey buy this tire that we have marked up 70% over what you would pay from AMT/Rocky Mountain...etc. :huh

or


Take tire off and take it to tire repair shop........I have changed 100's of dirtbike tires......do all my changes on the KTM.......but am not in the mood for the cussing and drinking that will ensue after taking a low sidewall sport touring tire off of a 17" rim.....No...just no.

I don't believe any of us were giving "testimonials".
What we were doing was relating actual experiences.
If any of those were wrong, the posters were lying.

I have way more faith in these guys than you do.

I have had more than one near new and some not so new tires get punctured. I've plugged every one of them and rode the life of the tire without incident.

And, in the unlikely event that a plug fails it is not going to be a "catastrophic blow out". It is simply going to leak just like it did when the original puncture happened.
Do you really think an internal patch plug is going to reinforce the tire? The only difference is more internal surface area to seal. If a rope plug is a tight fit it will be just fine.

as i said.999 times out of 1000 a plug may be fine. it is not an acceptable permanent repair. if you want to repair a tire like that on your own bike that's fine. to each his own. but that doesn't make it a good practice or one that should be recommended to others. it is not safe in a car tire,why on earth would anyone think it's o.k. for a motorcycle. a plug patch is an approved repair for nearly all brands of tires(on the tread face) a plug is not approved by any manufacturer.I usually don't wear a helmet i would never recommend not wearing a helmet to someone else,nor would i tell someone i haven't needed one so it must be o.k.
long as I'm ticking people off I'll just add i would never run a darkside either.

Stu, all that is IN YOUR OPINION! Many have a differing opinion. When someone states their opinion as if there is no other valid opinion, they lose credibility.

MANY of us have the opinion, backed by years of experience, that string plugs are a perfectly safe permanent fix.

Jim

Double plug it if you have to.

http://www.bcsportbikes.com/forum/showthread.php/146628-Plugging-a-tire-photo-essay