Tire Repair
Yep... carry a "kit" that includes a good hole reamer, lots of string plugs (the mushroom plugs doon't hold for sh!t IMHO) and a large tube of vulcanizing rubber adhesive. Also you need a pair of pliers to pull out the nail or what ever punctured your tire. Ream out the hole really well then put a squirt of the rubber goo on the hole and some more on the string plug and push the plug all the way through the hole with the special tool provided in the kit, add more goo and pull it back out half way. Add more goo to area around the hole and string plug. Disengage the plug from the string plug tool, wait at least 15 minutes (20 is better) for the adhesive to set up, and carefully trim the plug but not all the way down to the level of the tread. You want the remaining plug to be just a bit longer than that. Try not to disturb the plug in the hole. I carry a new single edge razor blade in my kit just for this use so I can trim that plug easily. Now you have to air fill the tire. You have several choices; CO2 cartridges (you will need alot of them, 10 is the minimum), or an exhaust port filler device. These are nice because as long as your bike will run, you can produce air... and... they are very compact. The downside to this device is you have to pull a couple of chome parts to get to the plug port. The third option is to carry a 12 volt compressor. They take a bit more storage room but they are getting smaller each year and they are not expensive (available at Wallmart or any auto parts store). I carry a small compressor that plugs into a 12 volt power source I have wired up on the handlebars as a power source for my radar detector. Filling a completely flat tire up to the 36 psi range will take about 10 minutes. Don't fill it higher than that as you don't want to spit the plug with the air fill.The nice part is... if your tire plug is leaking, you can stop occassionaly and top off the tire without dismantling any parts... I do not reccomend the products like fix-a- flat in a compressed can... they inject a slimy inner layer inside the entire tire and if it does not work... you can forget trying to plug it... a plug will not set up and hold in the slime! Most dealers in the U.S. will not repair a motorcycle tire. It is a question of liability. Their standard remedy is to replace the tire... I disagree but would not gamble with any body elses safety other than my own. I have a tire changer in my home shop and prefer to pull the wheel, strip off the tire, repair the hole with a patch from inside the tire carcus (these are very secure) and i guess i'm too cheap to discard a tire that has lots of miles left on it....
good luck!
probability ?? past experiences ??
