Flat tyre

[Jayneflakes]

I have a nail in my front tyre. :(

One inch from the centre of the tread, the nail is still sat there, looking at me going :laughat:hahaha, I broke yur tyres!

I am an unhappy teddy, I have on in growing toe nail on my left foot, so really hate nails of all sorts today. :smt091

Waiting for the wife to help me pull the wheel off and either plug or replace the tyre.

Carol is not hugely keen on plugging them, but has said it may work. If not, it is a new tyre anyway. :?

How much is it likely to cost for these solutions?

[2hys]

i got my rear plugged in september,ive had no probs with it, didn't want to scrubb in a new one through winter, will be replacing soon though as its starting to square off now,

[Sally]

I just plug mine, absolutely no issues with plugging them in my experience.

[Sid Squid]

Most punctures can be fixed - take it to someone who does such things, (ie motorcycle tyre fitters), and take their advice.
I would advise against going to Kwik-Fit or similar, as your tyre is ZR rated usually they will just say no, and as the BS is clear they're not actually wrong, but perhaps a little fussy.
What you need is someone experienced with bike tyres, most punctures are repairable but you need someone with the relevant knowledge to check that the carcass isn't damaged and that a repair is appropriate.
Repair costs vary, I would expect to pay very, very roughly £20.

[mjc]

i just had the same problem- got an inner tube fitted for 25 quid and its doing a fine job

edit- for the motorcycle not the toenail

[barwel1992]

plug it, i had a huge hole (almost couldn't plug it because the hole was that big) and it ran fine for another 2k until i killed the tread on the sides and had to replace it

[Taipan]

I normally take the tyre off and drill out the hole and fit a proper mushroom patch. Or get one of these. (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140390237883)

o6xAzwhRUWo

[monkey]

Wot Mr Sid Squid said.

Please don't be nervous of riding with a properly (shop) repaired tyre like so many people are. It'd be quite good to watch them repair it so you can see just how tough the tyres are.

[barwel1992]

^ i did that, once you see the size of the mushroom bung and how much glue they use all the worries will be gone :)

[jambo]

We've had this discussion a few times but I think it's worth flagging that there are 2 types of repair:

Ones that can be put in while the tyre's on the wheel. These include "sticky string", "Rep & air", and any other bung pushed in. This is what you'll generally want to do to get you to a tyre repair shop. None of these are permenant repairs, almost all are certified to ~50mph / 50 miles. Plenty of people have gone faster and further, but this is not the reccomendation of the company that makes the tyre or the repair kit.

Permenant repairs put in when the tyre is off the wheel. These type of patches are totally different and must be inserted and glued from the inside of the tyre, when it's off the wheel. The tyre is then re-fitted. I did my first 3 track days with this type of repair, and have covered thousands of miles like this. The tyre regains it's Z speed rating.

Jambo

[Jayneflakes]

Thanks for the input folks, we will be popping the wheel into our local guys today, just got to get it off the bike. Thankfully, I can leave it in the garage while the wheel is off and not have to worry too much about it all.

This is my first motorcycle puncture, so it is all experience.

[barwel1992]

cool :)


believe it or not i had my t puncture withing 2 hours of getting the sv ........ bloody typical

[Jayneflakes]

Getting the wheel off was fairly simple, got the bike sat on a stand in the garage now waiting for it to come back tomorrow.

I was surprised by the reaction I got in the Motorcycle workshop when I asked them to repair it. They wont touch them, not just mine but any. So it was off to the tyre place recomended by the bike mechanic, but they said no way in rather less than polite language, which got Carol's back up a little. Especially as they were playing with a tricked up R1 that seemed to have the same problem.

Finally we popped into another tyre place and they had a big stack of tyres for sports bikes sat in the racks. The guy promised that he will have it done by lunch time tomorrow and he was fairly confident that a simple plug would do the job.

Funny, the reaction from the various people we spoke to was not particularly varied. Yet the only person to actually look at the tyre was the guy who is going to repair it for us. How could they know it was unrepairable wit out looking?

We we will find out tomorrow what damage was done to it and if we need a new tyre or not. However, I am thinking that for such a small hole, a plug will do. If it is a new tyre needed, it will have to wait until I get some redundancy pay first.

[Jayneflakes]

Went back to get front wheel today only to find that the tyre had been taken off and then written off! A nasty screw had cut through the tyre breaking the cords that hold it together. In short, the chap said he would not repair it, it needed replacing. New tyre plus fitting £90! :-dd

Oh pooh, just been made redundant, no money coming in, MOT and insurance expires in thirty days too. So bike is now sat in back in the garage with out a new front tyre, until I can afford to replace it. Poo! :(

Oh well. :sunny:

[Sid Squid]

Some more detail:
FYI: BS195 does not allow puncture repairs in Z rated tyres. Of course the British Standards are only recommendations not legal requirements. With only one exception all the major tyre manufacturers say that Z rated tyres are not to be repaired at all, and the one that does says their tyres must be repaired to the relevant requirements of BS195, which is quite specific about the size and placing of repairs that are allowable, again none of this is the law, but nonetheless it's all entirely sensible and reasonable advice.
A repairer that refuses a repair may or may not be unreasonable - all the above must be considered. And considering the legal liabilities, I can't be surprised if a repairer erred on the side of caution.
As you've found, many won't repair a bike tyre, not because it's specifically illegal, but because there is a general lack of clarity in what the specific rules are as to whether any given type of tyre, (by which I mean tyre rating), and the specifics of the given injury to the tyre. The tyre must, and I can't stress this strongly enough, must be examined internally before a repair is recommended or not, and, if there's any doubt it must be rejected.

Also in reply to whether a given screw induced puncture would be repairable:
Not necessarily, the problem with screw punctures is that as the wheel rotates they get wiggled about and being covered with sharp edges often damage the tyre surprisingly badly, add to this that BS195 allows puncture repairs, (where they are allowable - see above), in the centre half of the tyre only, it doesn't have to be that far off centre to be in a very flexy part of the tyre and thus an unlikely repair. Another problem is how the puncture enters the tyre, the further from perpendicular the lower the chance of sealing successfully.

[Jayneflakes]

Given that the main riders of the bike is my beloved and her son, with my going pillion occasionally, (I may sound a bit lame here) I would rather a nearly new tyre be written off as worthless, rather than risk my family getting hurt. It is £90 I can't afford right now, but the damage the guy described made it sound like the tyre would split along the hole, due to the damage that a discarded screw in the road did. If it had been a nail, which at first I thought it was, it might have been repairable.

[barwel1992]

^ how far away are you from warwickshire ?

i have 2 used front tires i can let you have the maxxis one for £20 it has about 1000 miles of tred left, the other one is only subable for the track as it has a few flat spots

[Sid Squid]

Given that the main riders of the bike is my beloved and her son, with my going pillion occasionally.
Indeed, but please do be aware a repair done correctly, which isn't difficult, is perfectly safe. Of all the punctures I've ever had only three were not repairable, and that's immediately obvious when removing the tyre.
I'm in the fortunate position of not having to pay a lot for tyres - and, ordinarily, I still repair them where suitable, it's perfectly safe, the only exception being when a tyre is nearing the end of its life - that's just economics.
Whilst understanding that some people do not have the ability to know when safe is safe or not, I do wonder what those people who would always replace the tyre think is going to happen to their tyre if it were repaired.

Bottom line - take advice from someone suitably placed to give it.

[Jayneflakes]

^ how far away are you from warwickshire ?

i have 2 used front tires i can let you have the maxxis one for £20 it has about 1000 miles of tred left, the other one is only subable for the track as it has a few flat spots

I am in Weston, near Bristol, but thanks for the offer. It is just a matter of patience really. Once I know how much I am going to be paid and how often, then I can sort the bike out, what makes it tough this month is the accumulation of costs and losing my job. I am still taking my test as soon as possible though, so at least once I can afford to repair it I can then jump on and go for a ride.

Indeed, but please do be aware a repair done correctly, which isn't difficult, is perfectly safe.

Bottom line - take advice from someone suitably placed to give it.

The guy who looked at said that the casing had been damaged by the screw and it was not safe to repair. As he was an old mate of Carol's I don't doubt him, it is just annoying because we had hardly worn the tread, it still had moulding marks on it, it was so new!

Thank you both guys for your offers and advice, this is the reason why the org is so good.

I am resigned to the bike being back in the garage again now. Oh well. Time to finish the bar conversion too. :smt077