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emergency tube/tire repair

Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 7:19 pm
by Skypilot
I have done some significant rides with tube tires and know how to do it but teaching is different.. This link is a good starting point. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50717 There are other links worth checking out on my tire page http://www.ginsucity.com/klr650tirepage, yes I am that freakin anal. Sorry The important things to think about are the following. When you need to do it you will probably not be at home. Learn to do this, and practice doing it, with what you carry. Do it at home when you change tires just to see if you can do it with what is on board. Some tire irons that can be packed will work though bigger is better but bigger is harder to carry, try different ones if you can. Breaking beads is not that easy all the time but you don't need a fancy tool. This link shows how to do it anywhere but know you can do the same with some long branches found in the woods and a tree stump or rock to wedge it under. The method is the thing to learn from this site. http://www.webbikeworld.com/t2/bead-breaker/motorcycle-tire-bead-breaker.htm You will pinch a tube. It is inevitable and most likely to happen 4 bazillion miles from anywhere. A pair of tubes is great but you should also have a small patch kit. The $3 one from Big Box Mart will usually get you home although there are better ones You should patch tubes with some air in them so they are in the right shape even if not in their fully inflated size. You don't want to stretch the tire far from the point at which the patch was put on. It will either rip off or deform the tube so it fails somewhere else. The patch kit probably has instruction on how to use it You probably want rim saver unless the bike is already good and scraped up, in which case you are riding rather than posing on it which is good. Rim savers are a few bucks but some card board will work in a pinch. When you first try Co2 cartridges you will realize they don't hold enough to be a reasonable solution in many cases. A bicycle pump works although the tiny ones that attach to bikes take longer. The $12 12volt pump from Big Box Mart works but you will want to rip the case off of it and change the plug to something that works for you. If you do this BE CAREFUL. They get way way hot. The nice one you can buy has the fancy case on it so you don't melt a hole in the pavement. That is a pretty good solution although there are others. A regular bike pump got me through many tire repairs when I was in AU. It was strapped to the green duffle bag that served as my luggage in those days Unless you have a center stand you don't have a way to hold the bike up. Put it on the side stand then tip it up on a wheel and the side stand putting a stick under the swing arm or fork end. DON'T DROP THE BIKE ON YOURSELF, it hurts,,,, a lot. Trust me on that one. Doing this a few times will make you as much an expert as you ever need to be Good luck Skypilot [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]