1
Why not to use tubeless tyres on rough dirt roads Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:54 am
rawdonball
Gold member
"I was looking at that wheel and have a go at straightening it, a rubber mallet or block of soft wood and a 16oz hammer.
The BMW wheels are quite soft compared to the Japanese wheels and will straighten easily. I have done 4 or 5 now and all came good without any problems."
I was very glad to recall having read above comment by RickG when I realized I had removed too much air from front tyre in order to improve my chances on the sandy parts of a track South of Coral Bay WA. By the time I became aware of the unusual noise of the Heidenau on the harder sections. the front was almost completely flat and the rim was far from round! So bad we weren't even tempted to try the ONE can of emergency tyre inflator that we had.
We left the bike where it was and reversed the back up vehicle 100m to the crest of a rise to maximize our appreciation of the 360 degree distant horizon of nothingness - pitched tents and camped so we could 'sleep on it'! The only vehicle in 14 hours came through before sun up at 0530 ish. I heard it coming so was up and about - ready to explain our predicament. It slowed but was obviously not keen on stopping - windows all remained tightly sealed so I took pity on the four occupants by shouting "good morning" and giving a thumbs up. I guess 10 days on the road in the Ozzie outback works the opposite way to my imagination when I haven't seen a mirror for the same period.
As it was we had a copper drift and a half pound hammer which proved sufficient to do the necessary panel beating. This was after finding that the tube type tyre had been fitted 'tubeless' by Suzuki in Midland / Perth in November last year. Anyway, we were able to inflate the thing again with a hand pump and found that slight leaks on apparently undamaged sections of the rim would seal up when these too were subjected to the hammer and drift treatment but with intensity below that required to deform the alloy. We didn't even have to use the spray can of gunk and it has held pressure for the 900km to Geraldton. The experience did make us revise our route selection and we back tracked about 15km to rejoin the bitumen instead of persevering with the corrugated dirt road directly south.
Can anyone hazard a guess as to why/how the shock treatment helps to seal the bead?
Why didn't we simply fit one of the spare tubes we were carrying for just such an occurrence? Yes well - let's just say some people plan more comprehensively than others!!!
The BMW wheels are quite soft compared to the Japanese wheels and will straighten easily. I have done 4 or 5 now and all came good without any problems."
I was very glad to recall having read above comment by RickG when I realized I had removed too much air from front tyre in order to improve my chances on the sandy parts of a track South of Coral Bay WA. By the time I became aware of the unusual noise of the Heidenau on the harder sections. the front was almost completely flat and the rim was far from round! So bad we weren't even tempted to try the ONE can of emergency tyre inflator that we had.
We left the bike where it was and reversed the back up vehicle 100m to the crest of a rise to maximize our appreciation of the 360 degree distant horizon of nothingness - pitched tents and camped so we could 'sleep on it'! The only vehicle in 14 hours came through before sun up at 0530 ish. I heard it coming so was up and about - ready to explain our predicament. It slowed but was obviously not keen on stopping - windows all remained tightly sealed so I took pity on the four occupants by shouting "good morning" and giving a thumbs up. I guess 10 days on the road in the Ozzie outback works the opposite way to my imagination when I haven't seen a mirror for the same period.
As it was we had a copper drift and a half pound hammer which proved sufficient to do the necessary panel beating. This was after finding that the tube type tyre had been fitted 'tubeless' by Suzuki in Midland / Perth in November last year. Anyway, we were able to inflate the thing again with a hand pump and found that slight leaks on apparently undamaged sections of the rim would seal up when these too were subjected to the hammer and drift treatment but with intensity below that required to deform the alloy. We didn't even have to use the spray can of gunk and it has held pressure for the 900km to Geraldton. The experience did make us revise our route selection and we back tracked about 15km to rejoin the bitumen instead of persevering with the corrugated dirt road directly south.
Can anyone hazard a guess as to why/how the shock treatment helps to seal the bead?
Why didn't we simply fit one of the spare tubes we were carrying for just such an occurrence? Yes well - let's just say some people plan more comprehensively than others!!!
__________________________________________________
'88 K100RT, '86 K75C, '05 Yamaha TTR250
