First Flat....

[Gilfy650a]

I had my first flat tire tonight, I came out of church to leave and i saw my rear tire was all low and stuff. Then, i walked around to the other side of the bike the tire had that "flat tire buldge look" so to be sure i took out my handy tire gauge out of my toolkit and sure enough the stick didnt budge.

I went inside and told them the situation, and i called my Dad and Stepmoms house, and luckily my Dad was home "he works out of town so its rare that he is home". He drove out and we filled it with a portable air pump, and then i rode it to a shell station very carefully. At the shell station we patched it, or plug would be a better term to use there.

Is there a way i dont have to replace the tire? Right now i'm not in the "richest condition" and i dont have the money to buy a new tire.

Is it safe to ride on it like it is, with the patch and all?

[Sev]

I'm just glad that it happened to you in a parking lot. Rather then at 100km/h like has happened to some people.

[Gilfy650a]

Yeah for serious

[red66stang]

I just had one of those 90mph flats last week.... Anyways, I was told that you shouldn't plug a motorcycle tire, only patch it. Maybe someone more knowlegeable will chime in.

[Slap-Bassist531]

do u have a tubeless tire?

[gsJack]

I had a rear puncture on my 85CB650SC some years ago. Was just riding down a city street and heard a bang bang bang that sounded like a broken transmission. Stopped and saw a piece of steel that had fallen from a scrap truck sticking out of the rear tire. It was bigger than about 1/8" square and sticking out a couple inches. Would have gone instantly flat if I had pulled it out so I rode it slowly home and pulled it out.

It was an almost new Dunlop K491 touring tire and I plugged it and the tire was still on the bike when I traded it on the 97 GS500 over 20k miles later. I never rode over about 75-80 mph then and wouldn't have continued to use the tire later on when I was riding considerably faster at times in the mountain twisties.

I've plugged about half dozen rear tires in the past 21 years and over 300k miles and never lost a plug. It's not recommended and I wouldn't suggest anyone else do it, but many do. Your bike, your life, and your choice.

[Gilfy650a]

hrmmm to answer your question, it is a tubeless tire. Kenda is the brand and Challenger is the model. http://www.tiresunlimited.com/ALL%20TIR ... a_k657.htm

So patch it eh? Is that where they dismount it and patch it from the inside of the tire?

I know on my car I got a flat a while back, I plugged it and I have done like 3 autocrosses on the tire since then, probably not the smartest thing I've ever done but it seems to hold well enough. It would seem to me that it would be super more dangerous to do that on a bike, as it could blow in a turn or something.

I'll look into getting it patched, i suppose $25 for mounting and balancing again is less than 80 bucks for a new one...

[old-n-slow]

If the plug has been properly installed and is holding air, I wouldn't get into a huge hurry to patch it. maybe wait till winter then have it done. A plug can introduce imbalance to a tire causing a spot that wears more rapidly than the rest of the tire but usually it's no big deal unless you will be racking up multi-miles.

[Gilfy650a]

Is it still ok to push it in the turns on a plugged tire? By all means my definition of "push" is nowhere near that of the majority of you.

But still is the plug safe for sporty riding?

[Toyuzu]

Better safe than sorry, right?

On the other hand, if the plug fails, the most plausible scenario is a slow air-loss. Plugs that work when first installed don't tend to suddenly cause an instantaneous, complete loss of air. They leak slowly.

I would think if you keep a close eye on your air pressure, you should be okay. (I worked in a tire shop for a couple of years, but we didn't handle motorcycle tires.)