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Had a flat Monday

rollo3076

Active Member
I had a flat Monday evening on the way home. Luckily I had not gotten out of the parking lot very far. As I was waiting for the wrecker driver to call me back for directions, a very nice gentleman pulled in on his bike and offered to plug it and air it up for me. It is really great that fellow riders look out for one another. Now, my question is, how long should I run with a plug in my rear tire? My dealer suggest that shouldn't run it no long than it takes to get it home or to the tire shop. How about a patch, or, just putting in a tube? I appreciate everyones opinions and ideas. This is where I get my education about my ride and many other things. thanks
 
Your dealer is absolutely correct. You should ride it from home to the shop and replace the tire. You only have 2 tires and with the demand put on motorcycle tires why run the risk of a repaired tire???? You will gain nothing by repairing tire just putting off the inevitable, and next time you might not be so lucky....
 
It would be risky not to replace the tire. It would be irresponsible for anyone here to suggest trusting a tire that has been repaired. That said in the old days no one thought a thing about patching a tire and replacing the tube.
 
If I could not afford a new tire, my bike would be parked....Its eazy enough to get hurt without taking Any more risk than unnecessary..My 2cents

May I add something.....Thanks....My wife and I just had 4 new tires installed on her car...If she gets a flat on one of her new tires. there is no way I would let her drive on a plugged or patched tire period....I would not even want to ride my bike with someone that has a repaired tire.....Dont mean to go on but can you imagine a tire letting go in a turn at speed........OK ..Im done...
 
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I had a flat Monday evening on the way home. Luckily I had not gotten out of the parking lot very far. As I was waiting for the wrecker driver to call me back for directions, a very nice gentleman pulled in on his bike and offered to plug it and air it up for me. . . . . .
Now, my question is, how long should I run with a plug in my rear tire? . . . . .

This subject has been covered to exhaustion on just about every bike forum in the past. Some folks (the minority of replies) will still run a plugged tire on a bike till it wears out (only if it's a tubeless cast wheel). For laced wheels with tubes it has been always recommended to replace the tire on a bike.

And "most" replies will say to replace the tire on a bike regardless of tubeless or tube, cast or laced. So far I have always replaced mine (on the bike), even though I've driven thousands of miles on a cage tire that was plugged. It's just that with a bike a blow out can be so much more dramatic and life threatening than in a cage.

On one of my flats I also had a nice gentlemen offer to blow up my tube enough to get me to the shop. I thanked him but declined. I did not want to ride a pumped up tube with a Semi on my rear. Besides my insurance covered 3 tows a year is only $20 premium. It's funny while I was waiting on the tow a guy came out of the store and said "I guess you guys don't have a spare on those things". I pulled out my insurance card and said this is my spare, it fits nicely in my wallet. He laughed.
 
This subject has been covered to exhaustion on just about every bike forum in the past. Some folks (the minority of replies) will still run a plugged tire on a bike till it wears out (only if it's a tubeless cast wheel). For laced wheels with tubes it has been always recommended to replace the tire on a bike.

And "most" replies will say to replace the tire on a bike regardless of tubeless or tube, cast or laced. So far I have always replaced mine (on the bike), even though I've driven thousands of miles on a cage tire that was plugged. It's just that with a bike a blow out can be so much more dramatic and life threatening than in a cage.

On one of my flats I also had a nice gentlemen offer to blow up my tube enough to get me to the shop. I thanked him but declined. I did not want to ride a pumped up tube with a Semi on my rear. Besides my insurance covered 3 tows a year is only $20 premium. It's funny while I was waiting on the tow a guy came out of the store and said "I guess you guys don't have a spare on those things". I pulled out my insurance card and said this is my spare, it fits nicely in my wallet. He laughed.

I had a similar experience. I had just put new rubber front and back on my bike and came out of work to an almost flat rear. A guy in the shop offered to inflate it so I could ride to the dealership but I opted to flat bed it. 200 bucks for the tow to me was worth the piece of mind rather than risk the 60 mile trip to the shop wondering if I was gonna blow out! That and once I got it to the shop they paid for the tow because the tube was improperly installed!

As far as car tires I have run on a plug.....had a front time pick up a small nail in the center of the tread......but when I had it plugged I asked them to rotate the tire to the rear......figured better to have it in the back in case of a deflation!
 
In 1979 i had a flat on the rear at 70 mph i was thrown down the road and bounced off the side of a bus
i was in the most part ok as i had been wearing good gear and i was young enough to bounce and shrug it off although i was sore for a week or 2
i do not want to experience that again so if in doubt replace the tyre

Brian
 
In 1979 i had a flat on the rear at 70 mph i was thrown down the road and bounced off the side of a bus
i was in the most part ok as i had been wearing good gear and i was young enough to bounce and shrug it off although i was sore for a week or 2
i do not want to experience that again so if in doubt replace the tyre

Brian


I love how you guys spell "tyre":s
 
I have my opinion about plugging a tire. But I'll keep it to myself.
Also it's been mentioned on a car a front blowout is worst than a rear,
It's the other way around, Besides blow outs are rare now days unless your running extremely low PSI, And on a bike you should notice it long before it gets to that point. Now if you have tubes all bets are off.
Just me now i wouldn't buy or own a bike with tubes.
 
I seem to be in the minority on this one. I have and will ride on plugged tires. Last one, shop put a mushroom plug and new tube in. Rode close to 4000 more mls before I replaced it
 
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