What do (or will) you do when you get a tire puncture?

[davidji]

Do you get flats?

When you get a flat tire, do you repair it road side? Do you carry the tools to do so? Do you replace the tire or continue to use it?

Are you certain if you've got inner tubes in your tires or not? I see a surprising number of people who read tubeless on the sidewall of a tire, and assume there's not an inner tube inside. If it has cast wheels, that's a pretty good bet. If it has spokes, and isn't clearly a tubeless spoked wheel setup, not such a good bet.

A lot of people seem unprepared for flats. I hope this thread will get some who haven't prepared for them to do so.

Having roadside assistance is valid preparation, if you can reach it, and they'll come to you. If you've got inner tubes, it might be the most appealing option.

 

[Tally Whacker]

I carry the necessary tools to fix a flat, and have used them on a number of occasions.

This goes for both tubed and tubeless tires, but I have to say that tubeless is far, far easier.

 

[sckego]

Plug kit with gooey strips, a roughing tool, and a fork tool. Also a pair of pliers - have you ever tried to remove a puncture-causing object from a tire, or tried to get one of the gooey strips into the fork tool, without pliers? Good luck. And an inflator with a few CO2 cannisters, enough to get sufficient air in to get to a gas station. All told it's probably $40-$50 worth of kit, and packs small enough to fit in the teeniest of undertails. Saved my day a few times, and that of other riders who weren't so well prepared, as well.

 

[kurth83]

My goto is to call AAA, I have the moto towing option.

Fixing a flat at the side of the road in rush hour isn't really my thing. If I did country leisure riding far from home, I could see carrying a flat-repair kit, and a few more tools too.

 

[Gary856]

I've had 3 punctures (1 screw, 1 nail, 1 wood splinter); none of them leaked much on the road, and I didn't see them until I got home. Plugged them at home.

The other one was a 4" deck screw thru the sidewall and unrepairable. Had to tow the bike home and replaced the tire.

 

[Blankpage]

Who's riding a bike and don't know if it has tubes or not.
Currently I don't carry anything. When I get a flat I'll reassess that carefree approach.

 

[davidji]

My goto is to call AAA, I have the moto towing option.

Fixing a flat at the side of the road in rush hour isn't really my thing. If I did country leisure riding far from home, I could see carrying a flat-repair kit, and a few more tools too.

I've gotten 3 flats commuting. For the 1st I phoned AAA, repaired the tire, phoned AAA again to cancel and rode home. For the others I just repaired the tire.

I only seem to get punctures in the rear, but if I do get a flat on the front of my Africa Twin at commute time, I'm calling for roadside assistance. That wheel still has a tube, and patching a tube really isn't my thing. Especially at commute time. I don't carry all the crap to patch a tube unless I'm going somewhere.

I got my 1st motorcycle flat entering Jenner along the coast. I didn't have cell reception there, but I did have a plug kit. Some get cell service there, some don't. You may not need to be too far from home to be out of cell range. I wonder how long it would take for roadside assistance to get there?

 

[fubar929]

And an inflator with a few CO2 cannisters, enough to get sufficient air in to get to a gas station.

How many CO2 cartridges do you carry, what size is your rear tire, and how much air pressure do you end up with? If you haven't tested your inflation setup, you might be surprised at the results! I know I was...

 

[davidji]

How many CO2 cartridges do you carry, what size is your rear tire, and how much air pressure do you end up with? If you haven't tested your inflation setup, you might be surprised at the results! I know I was...

If you can even get the tire to operating pressure once, it's still gonna suck if you have to inflate the tire first to find the leak, and then want to inflate it again after you fix it.

Or for your second flat. I had to do two tire repairs one trip. It may never happen again. But I'm glad I had my Motopumps Airshot. I keep one under the seat of each bike.

I used to carry mini bicycle pumps. But actually having to use one cured me of that.

 

[fubar929]

If you can even get the tire to operating pressure once, it's still gonna suck if you have to inflate the tire first to find the leak, and then want to inflate it again after you fix it.

:thumbup Once I saw how well CO2 cartridges worked, I switched over to a MotoPump. I've got the Mini Pro. It works pretty well, as long as you've got ear plugs and realize their 5-minute inflation claim is complete bullshit...

 

[Kornholio]

Call BMW's roadside assistance. I've got tubes on a non-ADV bike with no center stand so I'm pretty much fucked when a flat hits.

 

[kuksul08]

I carry one of those rope plugs and a pump, and pliers. Anything beyond that and I'm calling for help.

 

[ScottRNelson]

How many CO2 cartridges do you carry, what size is your rear tire, and how much air pressure do you end up with? If you haven't tested your inflation setup, you might be surprised at the results! I know I was...

I don't rely on CO2 cartridges. A small hand pump never runs out of air. I carry a cheap Slime electric pump that I can plug into the Battery Tender plug. I'm in the habit of dropping air pressure off road and like to pump the tires back up when I get back to the pavement. Takes a few minutes.

I have a bag with all the tire changing stuff for tubed tires. I've used that stuff to change tires on my XR650L - at home - to make sure I can actually do it. Supposedly that would have also worked the my KTM 990, but it was really, really difficult to break the bead on the rear tire of that thing. My new KTM has tubeless tires, so I should probably throw the Stop-n-Go plug kit in that one. I'll do it later today.

Riding on paved roads, I've only gotten flats twice. On the first one I parked the bike, bummed a ride back home from another rider who was passing by and came back with a truck to get the bike. The other time I called a friend with a big trailer to come rescue me.

Oh wait! There was that one time in the 80's while riding with a friend where I took the whole rear wheel off, rode on the back of his bike into town while holding it, and went to a tire store to get it patched and pumped up. :laughing

 

[bikeama]

Do you ride any distance away from town? If you do carry everything you need and try it in your garage. I used to carry tubes when I had bikes that used them. Had one flat and the tube had moved from several bikes, got old and was cracked WTF. Someone stopped and gave me a tube. I hope Karma was good for him, he would not take any $$ said it was payback.

I now carry what I need to plug a tire and any special tools needed if I need to take a wheel off (Ducati). Also, carry a pump. Have used several times once for myself and the rest of the times for others.

Something to think about. A friend added 90 degree stems to his ST1300 rear. The cheap rubber pull in style, not steel with a nut. rubber cracked giving him a flat on Monitor Pass. At speed, the stem bends back to the rim and the rubber will crack over time. Between 5 of us, we had enough tools to remove the rear tire and load the tire on a Goldwing for a trip to Woodfords and have a new stem put in. My friend now carries a spare tire valve stem.

 

[SFMCjohn]

... always remember to take a pic ... :gsxrgrl

good advice to practice by mounting yer own
tires at home so you’re ready ... I’m lazy, so I pay
to have that done, and therefore fixing a flat in the wild
is always an adventure ... :toothless

oobus and RightCoastBias providing moral support on the way to a BARF rally
while I provided amusement with my general ineptitude ...
RCB loaned me his cool Slime pump
and prolly saved me an hour in the heat instead of using my little
hand pump ... :thumbup

we carry cheap Napa string plugs on our street bikes
to capitalize on Murphy’s Corollary (if-you-have-it-you-won’t-need-it) ...
best part of carrying a plug kit is coming to the rescue of a stranded fellow biker ... :laughing

 

[NoneMoreBlack]

I carry a plug kit and electric mini pump (and bottle of fuel) if I am planning to find myself somewhere with no cell service. For everything else I have AAA moto coverage.

 

[ScottRNelson]

best part of carrying a plug kit is coming to the rescue of a stranded fellow biker ... :laughing

That is the only time I've used my plug kit. :cool

 

[Map8]

Used a patch kit and mini-electric pump four or five times with great success. Only tire I couldn't patch got a long slice in the middle of the carcass and no plug would fill it or gooey strips would fill it. Had to call for a ride home from Forresthill for that one.

 

[J-Boat]

So what’s the best repair kit to carry around? What do you recommend? Gotta link?...

 

[mrmarklin]

If on the road I would call a tow truck. At home, the same.

I ride Harleys and there is not centerstand. :wow