toml@rlgvax.UUCP (Tom Love) (05/10/85)
in the previously posted notes on fixing tubeless tires, no one
has mentioned plugging the hole. i have successfully done this,
and to be honest, i think i would trust a plug a lot more than i
would one of those aerosol tire sealant jobs.
assuming you can find the hole, and that it's on the bottom of the
tire and not the sidewall, plugging is a simple operation. basically
you use a hook-like thingy to poke a piece of rubber about the size and
shape of a crayon, covered with glue, half-way thru the hole, let the
glue dry, trim off the excess rubber, re-inflate, and away you go.
motorcycle shops sell the plug kits, as well as the "spare-cylinder"
pumps someone mentioned in a previous posting (these can be used on
single cylinder bikes as well as multi-'s, as long as you can turn the
motor over with the starter or your kick). a plug need not be viewed as
a temporary fix - i've put many thousands of miles on plugged tires,
with no problems (though you ought to keep an eye on such a tire).
the main advantage to this approach, over some of the others mentioned,
is that you don't have to take the wheel off.
i strongly recommend that anyone going anywhere where they could be more
than a mile from a gas station carry a plug kit and pump. it can save
you a big pain in the butt.
i also recommend that you make sure that your pump can be used with your
engine. on my first experience with a flat i was prepared with the plug
kit and pump, which i'd never had out of the package. however, i quickly
found that the pump was useless on my 83 nighthawk 650 - access to the
sparkplugs is so tight that i couldn't screw the plug-replacement adaptor
part of the pump all of the way down, and thus couldn't get a seal good
enough to pump air. the moral is - try it in your driveway before you
have to try it on the side of a rural road in the middle of illinois.
tom love
computer consoles inc - office systems group
reston, va
{seismo | allegra | ihnp4} !rlgvax!toml