Hey, doing some cost and maintenance research. Do Ducati Monsters have tubeless tires? If not, is it possible for a tubed tire to be repaired on the spot by any tire store without removing the wheel, or do I need a truck to come by and hauld me to a proper bike shop?
Most bikes that need tubes have wire spoked wheels, but not all bikes with wire spoked wheels need tubes. I can't think of one modern motorcycle with non-wire spoke wheels that needs tubes. In 20+ years of riding Ducatis I've had one flat tire and a repair kit wouldn't fix it. (ran over a metal shard that cut the tire) If I were trying to estimate maintenance costs on a Ducati I don't think tire repair tube vs tubeless would figure in to my calculations. Tire repair costs over the life of the bikes has been insignificant. REPLACEMENT costs is a different story entirely. By the way - I was at the Ducati shop in Seoul a few years back. I still can't believe they didn't/don't have any "Ducati Seoul" T-shirts advertising their shop. No self respecting English speaking Ducati fan would leave the shop without one!
How about the sport classics with spokes? There are a few tubless spoked wheels out there but I don't have a clue if these are. But yes, I'm certain all the cast wheel monsters are tubless as stated before.
It would seem that way until I'm 300km+ away from a bike shop that has the correct tires and knows how to remove a tire on a ducati to repair it, assuming it was a tubed tire. Otherwise its a HUGE bill to get a truck, load the bike and bring it back to Seoul or Busan.
So you WANT tubed tires? If a shop can remove a tire from Honda they can remove it from a Ducati. You may want to carry a socket for the rear hub if it's a single sided swingarm (not sure which model Monster you're thinking about). They probably won't be able to balance the rear wheel but it will be good enough to get you home. If the tire gets punctured, you can fix a tubeless one without removing the wheel from the bike. If the tire is slashed you're out of luck whether it has a tube or not. You CAN patch a tube without removing the wheel from the bike, but I typically wouldn't bother. If getting to a Ducati dealer in general is an issue, again it wouldn't be tires that would concern me. I've only been to Korea a couple times and have never ridden there, but I guess I just don't understand why it's tires you'd be worried about on a Ducati vs any other brand. Unless the bike has 16" wheels like a 750 Sport or Paso or something, tires will be the least of your worries. There's nothing special about Monster wheels or tires compared to other sporty bikes of the era.
The worry was that if it was tubed id have to take it to a select shop that knew what to do and not a common shop that services scooters and small bikes because chances are theyve never worked on a ducati a tubed tire garauntees the tire needs to be removed. A tubeless tire can be repaired by any bike shop or tire shop in minutes. Yes i would lile to get a swing arm.
my 2007 yamaha XT660X supermoto required tubes. i ran tubeless tyres, michelin pilots, but had to fit tubes into them,. does affect repair costs, i got a flat on the yamaha and put a new tube in cost £20, had it not been running tubes it would have been a new tyre. hardly significant enough to put you off buying a bike though. ive actually never had a flat tyre on a bike myself in 9 years. the yamaha had its flat when i bought it lol