Front Flat!! X 2

[audijunky]

What a weekend I had. 300 miles down to roanoke VA from northern VA all back roads. Great ride. stayed the night. Got up at 8 , got on the freeway(81 north) for about 1 hour 45 mins. Pulled off freeway onto smaller country road (33) got about 10 miles on it and my front end starts vibrating and bouncin like crazy. Im in the back of the the pack so signal for a stop. Pull into a lot and it goes down to the rim. SH-T. Buddy thinks I am stopping cause the engine till he looks down. So 6 of us, 5 bikes we got the tools we need. Put some fix a flat in, still leakin. Go grab some cinder blocks behind a building one was skinny and barely fit between 2 and 3 header pipes., got the front end up. buddy goes for a ride and luckily theres a autozone 1/4 mile up the street. Pull the wheel off, caliper off, pry off the tire, pull the tube. find the hole, It is on the edge of one of these two impression rings about the size of a nickel on the outside of the tube. The tube is 4 months old. tire is a year old. So I feel around inside the tire and find nothing. I am thinking this f-ing tube came like this from the manufacturer. Whatever no biggie. Buddy got a patch kit from autozone, patched it up put it back together and were off . hour and 1/2 tops. go another 15 miles, stop to eat. tires fine. get on another road (29 north) doing 70-75 everthings good. Go about 30 miles on 29 and we come to the point were I split off from everyone(route 3 east) still 1 1/2 hours from home. 3 miles after I break off the SOB goes flat again!!!!! THis time it deflates in a heartbeat . luckily I was only going 45., So I let off gas and turn it ever so slightly to the left heading for the shoulder. NExt thing I know I am about 4 feet off the road dirt biking it!!! Shoulder of the road slopes away from road and the bike is just going where it wants. Finally come to a stop right above next to a concrete wall with a 4 foot drop off..HOly HELL that was close. Now I am in the middle of nowhere, with no one and a cell phone on its last battery bar. Long story shorter It took about 4 1/2 more hours to get myself and the bike home. Thanks to My Pops. He had a friend that had a truck and the rest is history.
Anybody ever run into defective tubes??

[egsols]

Didn't even know you could get tubes on 79's.

[audijunky]

Well the front rim is off a honda CB550, but I did run a tube with the stock wheel as well.

[mastan]

Well, I don't know if I've ever had a defective tube, but I've had plenty of flats. It's scary as hell being stuck in the middle of nowhere with a flat tire. I had three in one summer! That's when I decided to try Ride On tire sealant. I've not only not had a flat in three years, but the tires haven't lost a single lb of pressure. It's great stuff and I highly recommend it.
Glad you got home OK.
Mark Stanton

[skids]

Re: Front Flat!! X 2

I had a new tube go flat about 48 hours after it was mounted in a new tire. It flattened instantly as I watch it, standing beside it in the garage. The rim lock pinched it according to my tire guy.

Originally posted by audijunky

Anybody ever run into defective tubes??

[audijunky]

I am glad I made it too. thank god for cell phones. I cant figure this one out. still need to pullit again and find out where the hole is the second time. funny thing is I had put about 200 miles on it with this rim/tire/tub combo. Plus the first half of the trip.?????

[fredintoon]

Why fit the orphan?

Hi Audi,
your first flat could be a tube defect or a partial installation nip that finally let go. most likely cause of the second flat is that the kerbside patch job lifted off.
Did you install the Honda wheel just for looks? If so, like my mother-in-law used to say, "pride must be pinched." If you installed it for necessity, you gotta do what you gotta do to keep rolling but best you find another artillery wheel. Putting the stock wheel back in with a tubeless tire on it will solve the problem.

[audijunky]

IIRC my stock wheel had a tube in it. it was the original tube I used when I first got the new tire on.
I used the honda rim cause it is spoked, and I counldn't find an XS650 spoked wheel at the time.
the rim didn't have anything to do with it as the hole was on the outer edge of the tube. the tube part that makes contact with the tire. Maybe I can a pic. of what I am talking about and post it up. I was just wondering if this has happened to any one else.

[fredintoon]

Hi Audi,
back when I used tubed tires, yeah. 3 times in 50 miles. Removing, repairing and reinflating with a hand pump by the side of the road. On the last repair I finally found the nasty little piece of jagged grit inside the tire that was poking little pinholes in the tube. Unlike modern bikes, the '53 BSA has a QD rear wheel that comes out in 5 minutes or less, or I might have given up and phoned a tow truck.
"the rim didn't have anything to do with it" you say? Not so! If you hadn't swapped in a wire-spoked wheel and as a consequence had to use a tube in the tire you'd've been able to run a tubeless. That you also ran a tube in the stock artillery wheel? Please say the bike came that way?

[luischia]

Once I was riding and suddenly flat rear tire, after pushing the bike like 2 miles, get to a house, talk to the folks, and they agreeded to live the bike there for a couple of days.

Tire was pretty worn, so I got a new tire, new tube, and took off the rim, took everything to the tire shop, new tube, new tire everything perfect.

After installing everything head back to my house, barely made it, stopped in front of my house to open the garage door, and there it goes flat again. Pushed the bike to the driveway. Took off the tire, and back to a different tire shop.

This guy was pretty sure that there was something on the rim causing the pinch on the tube, check 100% the rim, nothing was found, we put some thick duct tape on the rim just to play sure, put the tire together again, everything good.

Went home, installed the tire, next day morning, flat again.

At this point I was out of myself with this flattening madness

Took the tire again to the tire shop, the guy told me, that probably will be the tube, the thickness on the tube was not thick enough, so once it was inflated, the tube wall was almost nothing, and in that condition anything can cause a flat tire, so at the end, we fitted a #12 tube from an automobile tire, he took like 45 minutes just setting it up correctly, and the issue was finally solved.

long story short

Defective tubes

[fredintoon]

No tube is good

Hi Luis,
that's my point, tubes are bad. They get pinholes in 'em for a thousand different reasons and right away go flat on you. Yes, wire wheels are prettier, no argument there.
But given the choice between a beautiful wire wheel that of necessity must have a tubed tire on it that will go flat immediately you pick up a nail vs my cast artillery wheel with a tubeless tire that can run for miles with a big ol' nail stuck in it and be plugged without taking it off when I get home, guess which one I'd choose?

[snowdog51]

tube

the only thing i would use with a tube is a wheel barrel . most old bikers have a story
or two like that. tubes s===. never ever reuse a tube,
as ever bill

[olebiker]

As an olebiker I have some stories but who in H--- would listen to them. Lets just say I hate spoke wheels. I hate tubes but man I love my XJ.

[fredintoon]

spokes and spokes

Dammit man!
The only wheels that don't have spokes are the solid disc wheels you see on showbikes. There's cast aluminum wheels with straight spokes on XSs and cast aluminum wheels with swirly spokes on XJs and theres some crossovers too.
OTOH there's wire-spoked wheels built up from a separate rim, hub and wire spokes. And an XS650 wire-spoked front wheel will plug straight into an XS11.
So olebiker, which kinda spokes do you hate?

[audijunky]

Yes my bike came with a tube in it on the stock front wheel, so naturally I figured I had to ron a tube on it. And I did , and it worked fine with the aluminum stock front wheel.
I am wondering how the wheel has anything to do with it when my hole(s) were on the tire side of the tube.