Tyre repair - is this true?

Hi all, need a bit of advice:

My OH's SV650 has a nail stuck right in the middle of the tread on his new rear (now very flat) tyre. Phoned around a few places to see who could fix it and when. One tyre company which claims to cater to bikes and cars said that the tyre is unrepairable as the SV is too powerful(?) and they do not repair any of them and I would have to buy a new tyre. This was without even seeing the damage or make of the tyre.

Now I have had my own bike (not an SV but still a 650) rear tyre repaired there quite a while ago and thought wtf? I was at work and couldn't really get into a long conversation about why they no longer repair 650 tyres.

Is there something I'm missing, some kind of new saftey or legal thing? or did I just speak to a total monkey who tried to rip me off? Just want to check I am seeing the whole picture before I decide to never go there again, and tell people to avoid the place...

[jambo]

We've covered this a few times before so I'll try and run highlights by:

When a tyre shop repairs a tyre, they take responsibility for it being safe, rather than the manufacturer. In today's society many companies simply won't repair Z rated (high speed) tyres, ragardless of the chances of there being a problem being remote.

Phone around until you find a tyre shop that is prepared to repair Z rated tyres, as long as they remove the tyre, and fit a plug / vulcanised rubber patch from the inside, the tyre should regain it's original speed rating. I've done several track days with professionally repaired tyres

Jambo

[fastdruid]

I know of people who've done trackdays with tyres plugged with one of the 'side of the road' kits before.

Druid

Thanks for the replies and it makes sense now - its a liability thing, but its a bit wasteful if they can repair them and they are safe to use... oh well they're only losing potential customers by not repairing them anymore - cheap repair job vs cost of a new tyre = no brainer.

I did have a look at the temporary repair kits, but the warning to only go 40mph and no more than 250 miles put me off a bit heh

[dizzyblonde]

On the same token if you are a tyre fitter and you plugged a tyre which later caused some accident, and the rider blamed you for plugging it.....you wouldn't want the resposibility for that would you. Better to turn away a repair than have someone shove that potential issue your way.
My tyre fitter refuses to plug tyres, he don't want anyone coming back to him with that kind of crap.

I can see your point Dizzy, it may not be worth the potential headache to repair a tyre and probably not make that much profit off it.

So, what's the general opinion here - if you pick up a nail find someone to fix it and hope for the best? Or just suck it up and buy a new tyre?

[SoulKiss]

Use a Sticky-String or a Bung kit, then head over to Essential Rubber in London.

If its patchable they will do it, cost will be about £20.

They moved to just off the A12, so its easy to get to, just head for Lewisham/Blackheath/Blackwall Tunnel.

Of course there may be someone closer to you, but I don't know of any.

[NTECUK]

I fixed my own as I work in a car shop regualy did 140 on the gpz 900 and never went down that was sometime back when we had hot repair kit . I'd patch my own with a glue one now. But if it failed I won't sue myself . 6 months inside if your at fult if you mess up as we'll as £50,000 fine max ...

Originally Posted by fastdruid

I know of people who've done trackdays with tyres plugged with one of the 'side of the road' kits before.

Druid

Yep me, on my heavy sprint , in fact i done just under 3k miles on the plugged tyre.

Btw, motorcycle tyres are strong for obvious reasons, with just a plug in what's the worst that can happen, it's loses pressure ??? It's not going to cause a blow out, certainly not a sudden loss of all the pressure.

Refusing a tyre plug on liability grounds is in their interests, in a lot of cases people will just replace the tyre so they ultimately sell more tyres.