Tyres: to tube or not to tube?
 

Hi all,

What is the concensous amongst the wise travellers on the issue of choice or tyre type? as is tubeless or tubed for ease of puncture repairs in the 'wilds'??

I know that the specific tyre make has been looked at in detail on other threads, I'm after a more general overview on which way to look for a RTW on an Africa Twin??

Many thanks in anticipation...

My personal choice is tubeless as on my V-Strom, you can prefill the tyres with Slime or some other and just remove the nail and it will self seal or you can use a plug without having to take the wheel off. A tubeless tyre will deflate slowly when punctured but a tube can go down very quickly.
Don't forget that if a bike has spoked wheels, except big BMWs,then you are stuck with tubes.
Cheers
Ian :thumbup1:

The Africa Twin needs tubes...unless you've changed the wheels!

Tubeless rules!
 

Argentina-Alaska: February 2007

Scroll down to my blog entitled 'Bang Bang Bang! Its a puncture'

If I'd had tubed tires, I'd be probably dead. Probably.

Tubeless rules!

....and they say that there are no stupid questions? I'm always happy to prove such sayings as wrong.....

Tubes it'll be then... if I do buy an AT to go on (still practising on an Transalp)... my Aussie mate will wet himself when he see's this thread as we were discussing such 'complexities' on the phone when I suggested I knew of a pool of information to assist (the HUBB)... and he had me convinced that you could get tubeless tyres for a TA...

I live and learn...... (and thanks for the help)

Now I'm really confused; great site and blog Mike... Does that mean I can get tubeless for a TA?????

Its really pretty simple- I think with the Africa Twin, you're stuck with tubed tires. (I have a GS so its tubeless).

Crazylegs,
Spoked wheels are for tubed as the spoke fittings in centre of the rim will let air out. The exception being BMW GS rims where the spokes are fitted to the outer edge of the rim.
The wheels for tubeless tyres are mostly cast alloy.
There are some spoked wheels with a deep centre section with a rubber seal to stop air escape past the spoke fittings, the Africa Twin does not have them.
Cheers
Ian:thumbup1:

Thanks Mike and all....

No yet bought the bike for the 'big trip' so all good info to make an 'informed' choice....

I'll now travel the many tyre threads of the www.....:scooter::scooter:

Cheers

Is it possible to use tubeless tyres with a tube on a bike ? In the past I had to fit tubes to a car with alloy rims, because they would not hold their bead seal going around bends, and would deflate completely suddenly. Last alloy rims I ever had.. Until this BMW. Sadly that too leaks between the tyre and rim ( only on the front) For me at least, riding/driving since 1960 evrry time ( twice) I have had tubless tyres combined with alloy rims they have failed. Certainly the alloy rims and tubless tyre setup will accept tubes, but I am not sure if there may be a difference of form factor in the bead, fitting tubeless tyres to spoked rims. if that is an ok thing to do, then you at least could use tubeless tyres on theh AT with tubes. The tubless tyres seem less flexible than tubed, but that may just be changes in materials across the board since i had Triumphs.

Edit, teh new Triumph Bonnevilles come with tubed tubeless tyres on spoked wheels, but as they are built that way, maybe teh bead on teh rims is different?? i just do not know.

yes you can!
 

Hi,
My Dommie uses a tubeless tyre, but all spoked rims has to use tube, so just fit the tube in the rim, it shouldnt be any problem. Most new tyres nowdays are tubeless & if you have a sport rims youre LUCKY & if not youre tubed.... (even if youre tyre says its tubeless)
Like most of us out here...:(
It has been agreed by everyone on the HUBB but....

one day.......

I met a mechanic that uses some kind "secret" formula to fill all the holes in a normal spoked rims!
As a results =
TUBELESS SPOKED RIMS!! :clap:
He's a traveller too & have done many miles on his original DR800 spoked rims with no nightmare... hes done it on some easy riders too &
he's asking for $100 for the modfication...

But Im just not convinced yet. Any Ideas/suggestion/oppinion?

:scooter:
Ride Safe/Save/Sober

It is possible to fit tubeless tires on tubed rims (with tubes). On some tires (eg TKC80) it impossible (at least for me) to see the difference between the tubed version and the tubeless version.

There are some bikes which have spoked rims which can be used tubeless, from memory:

Aprilia, CapoNord
Honda XL600LM
All BMW boxer-GS (not G/S)


BMW has x-spoked rims. The spoke enter the rim beside the tire:
http://www.actiontouring.com/pic/tlrim.jpg

If you have (or can find) hubs for your bike that has room for 40 spokes it should be possible to use the BMW-setup.

You can fit tubes in tubeless tyres in an emergency but I think the tyre manufacturers state that the heat characteristics are different and a tube in a tubeless tyre will overheat which increases tyre pressure which in turn reduces the tyre footprint on the road which then effects the grip.
Get some moose inserts for your spoked wheels like the Dakar boys.
Cheers
Ian:thumbup1:

exscuse my ignorance........
 

Not suited for touring, but here it is:
Michelin Off-Road Motorcycle Tyre Accessories

ahhhhhhh..........
 

ahhhhhh, all is clear now, you meant Mousse, as opposed to Moose!
and you did in fact type 'moose', so no wonder google had difficulty and I was left wondering the heck a large north American Herbivore had to do with Motorcycling, apart from the fact they stray onto roads at night and play chicken with bikers.......................

Martyn

??...i run tubes in my tubeless rims, and i run tube-type tires tubeless. Being tubeless is all about the rim, not the tire. I've never had a tube tire fail or un-seal running tubeless, and i've never had a problem running tubes in tubeless or tube type tires on my tubeless rims...wow, say that 10 times!
Tubeless is the best, but always carry a spare tube! Just in case you cut the tire and a patch or plug won't hold.

Hmm, the tire-fabricators don’ agree on that one. Check this (“click size and pattern info”):
Continental Tyres UK

TT=TubeType
TL=TubeLess

Okay, fair enough. Most of us sleep better when we follow the rules :) Ironicly, the only tubeless tire that failed on me running on a tubeless rim was the TKC-80. Two front blowouts in one day, both at 120kmh! I then stuffed in a tube, picked up a nail an hour later and had my third...go figure! I run tube-type scorpions, tourances and Saharah 3's tubeless on tubeless BMW (Behr??) and Buchannon Sun rims, wore them all out without a problem. The Tourance received plugs, the rest got lucky. This is on a fully loaded R100GS. Works for me, but to each their own.

Try THESE, never get another puncture!
 

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/e...torcycle-1.jpg

all I can say is. mmmmmmmmm Donuts! me want some!:thumbup1:

Martyn

Much safer, IMO, especially on highway riding. :mchappy:

Well, i must say the idea of running a flat tube in a tubeless rim is quite brilliant! Wish i'd known that before and will be preforming mods on my 1200GS shortly.
I had the front wheel on my old GS built and sealed by Woody. The seal is just silicone wrapped in packing tape. After i blew a tubed tire (My third in a day, see above) it destroyed the sealant. Now i just run the front tubed until i try to seal the wheel another time.

tyre balls/ tire balls
 

Hey patrick, any idea of the email addy of the guys that do those balls?:thumbup1:

I for one am willing to say they r for offroad use, then test em on road, off road etc. seeing as 70% of my riding here in Southern Spain IS offroad I aint exactly lyin..:innocent:

Martyn

Doesn't the R12GS have the Behr perimeter spoke tubeless wheels on it?

Correction!!!!
 

I've screwed this up....

...Yikes! Another good point LOL! I'm sure i would of picked up on it before i drill holes in my expensive Behr rims, but the idea does have its merrits.
On my old GS i built a custom WP front end Ala KTM, including the wheel and brakes. Woody build me a front wheel with oversize spokes, RAD Eagle billet hub and Sun rim from Buchannon (sp) Rock solid and almost indestructible! The sun rim is built with the safety bead for tubeless, and was sealed as mentioned above, but the silicone failed. Woody would surely make good on it, but the bikes in Ecuador now. As far as sealants go, i would try a marine adhesive called Sikoflex...it's the shit!!

Well, I think after all of this it must be clear as mud for Crazylegs. :eek3:I spelled the moose bit wrong but thinking about it you could always use moose shit to fill the tyre, it can't be much worse than everything else that has been suggested.:rolleyes2:
I would go with what your bike is designed for, if it's got tubes you can get heavey duty ones and carry some slime tyre sealant as an emergency.
I had slime in my mountain bike tubes and only needed to pull the nail or thorn out and re-inflate the tyre, I put tyre sealent in the rear tyre of my magna 750 tubeless tyre after pulling a nail and it lasted with normal pressure checks for two weeks and only then because I fitted a new tyre because it was worn anyway.
Just remember that anything you do in an emergency is only for the time you take to get to where you can make the correct repair.
Cheers
Ian:thumbup1:

Yes, this has gotten a bit Muddy!

Molly, the key to a tubeless rim is in the design. They have a "Safety bead", which is why they are such a bitch to break loose. The Sun rims have this safety bead, but rims like DID and Excell don't. Not sure if it's a good idea to run these types of rims tubeless?? Let us know, huh?

You are right, that is why I bought a bike with tubeless tyres. Taking a tyre off in the desert is no fun and I have had to do that on a CR250.
Necessity is the mother of invention but as I said, emergency repairs are only to last you to the first chance of a real repair.
Cheers
Ian:thumbup1:

I agree! To run tubeless it is best to have a safety bead and x-spoked rims.