Ride tale with a wrenchy twist at the end.....

[philbytx]

Ok, so we were out on our usual Monday morning ride, on our way to lunch at Coopers in Llano, when halfway through an 80 mile ride, as we approached an intersection we noticed our penultimate rider lagging behind. We all pulled off on CR152 (small country road) and his R1200GS front tyre was flat. I and a couple of others checked the tyre for "foreign objects" and found none so they pulled out a portable inflator and got to work. All this time I am sitting on his bike passenger seat so that the front tire was up in the air. I asked if they checked the tire valve, Yup! is ok said they. Noone had a proper motorcycle pressure gauge on them except me (they had either straight or 45 degree chucks) and, after some pumpage, I checked the pressure with my 90 degree motorcycle gauge and it was 17.5lbs. Waited half a minute, it was 15lbs....they throwing water and spit all over the tyre, no leak found. So, being anal and all, I decided to physically check the valve by moving it around and saw the damn thing has cracking all around it and so I gently moved it again with some spit on it and saw it bubbling out of the cracks. Well, you can easily repair most flats at roadside but not so a valve!!! Fortunately, he had roadside assist through his RV policy. So, after an hour of screwing around with checking, calling his RA etc, 4 of us decided to head out to our lunch leaving him and a noble volunteer riding companion to keep him company. They ended up flatbedding it 50 miles home....

 

Lesson one : Change the bloody valve at every tyre change, cheap insurance.

Lesson 2. Use a stubby rubber or metal stemmed valve, NOT a long 2" rubber valve stem, especially on a GS!

Lesson 3. Ageing 2' stems and those heavy pressure monitoring caps do NOT go well together. Use a simple lighweight METAL cap on your valves.

Lesson 4. Those set poundage caps are, IMHO, too large and also a lazy man's tool. It is WAY better to check your tires visually and your pressures MANUALLY before every ride.

Lesson 5. Buy yourself a good motorcycle tyre pressure gauge that has a 90 degree bend on it!

 

Here endeth todays lesson......

 

 

Oh! And the BBQ Cabrito, with Charro Beans and the Blackberry Cobbler at Coopers in Llano are still most excellent !

 

[tallman]

yada yada

without pictures...

 

One advantage to having tires done at a shop (BMW) is high speed balancing and new stems.

 

I can't beleive how many people post here that their tires don't need balancing.

Thousands of tires and maybe a couple that didn't need balancing when high speed used.

 

[philbytx]

Hey!

We were all too pissed off to take pictures. Gorgeous day to ride, sunny and 55 and only 6 of us on the ride so we were "bookin'".

 

IMHO, a flat tyre is what it is, crap happens, but re-using an old valve stem (he thinks prolly on 3 sets of tyres!) is nothing more than a self inflicted wound !

[tallman]

Agreed.

 

They will fail so why risk it?

 

[Matts_12GS]

Yeah, I think I remember someone who had a problem in the middle of nowhere with a valve stem...

 

 

[Nice n Easy Rider]

Yeah, I think I remember someone who had a problem in the middle of nowhere with a valve stem...

 

But at least that someone didn't have to be towed the rest of the way to San Diego!

[g_frey]

I usually change valve stems every 90,000+ miles on car, truck, or bike. So far no problems in 43 years of driving. When I worked for Firestone I regularly replaced good valves with good valves? My 04' 1150 RT valves are original with close to 90,000 miles on them so I am looking for a new set. I checked them about 7,000 miles ago. It always amazes me when people report these going bad in short amounts of time. NO idea why it happens.

[g_frey]

On the need for balancing all I can tell you is that my mileage figures with balancing are close to my mileage figures without. Plus no hopping, vibrations, pulling, etc with the seven sets that I have not balanced. Nails and screws through sidewalls not included of course. This is on bikes and motorcycles only, all of my trucks have required balancing at various times. Some very badly required this service to the point of being undriveable. But come to think about it I have not checked that is still necessary either. The only reason I stopped with motorcyles is an "old timer" told me he never did it anymore.

[KDeline]

 

I can't beleive how many people post here that their tires don't need balancing.

 

 

I'm one of them. I have not balanced a tire in more then 15 years simply because I did not have the part to balance the single sided swing arm rear wheel. Never have I noticed a difference in the ride or wear. Also I question the logic since more then 3/4 of the internet tires I buy does not have a mark on it to align with the valve stem. TBS I don't ride 100mph nor am I a canyon carver, so that could be part of it.

[Calvin (no socks)]

Coopers in Llano..Great Texas BBQ....

 

 

oh, and carry an extra stem.

[tallman]

Ken,

I read this frequently.

Not arguing, but, when I look at the tires being spun for high speed balancing it is obvious that nearly all require that.

Our service manager has nearly 40 years of BMW experience and says he has rarely seen a mounted tire that didn't.

I'm sure many will chime in that they don't balance them and never have a problem.

I just know what my eyes tell me watching the wheels go round and round.

YMMV.

Best wishes.

[KDeline]

What is the high speed in high speed balancing? I wonder if most of us go fast enough to notice? I don't know enough to say either way. If I was not so cheap I would buy the part and start balancing just because I have a balancer.

[tallman]

Ken,

static balncing where the mounted tire is allowed to find heavy side and then you compensate with weights opposite is what most refer to as "balancing".

This is what the milk crate/stand approach will allow you to do.

High speed involves a tire machine that spins the tire at certain rpm's and determines the weights needed to compensate.

I don't have any data to support the "need" to blance high speed but it is what I've always done and will continue to do.

Best wishes.

[Paul Mihalka]

To continue the hijack of a ride tale: I worked at Bob's BMW when we got the high speed balancer. We tested freshly static balanced wheels on the spinning balancer. Differences were minimal. Main advantage of the high speed balancer is that it is MUCH faster for the technician to do. It tells you right away how much weight to put where.

I use the "milk crate" method. On the front I use the wheel axle with a bearing on each end, same outside diameter, different inside. For the rear I use a Marc Parnes adapter with the axle hole punched out to 17mm and use a old /6 axle and bearings that I already had. No milk crate - I'm high-tech. I use two jack stands.

[eddd]

What are these "tyre" things you keep referring to?

[Twisties]

I don't see a need to change a valve stem every tire change. I think tire wear is related to miles, and valve stem failure is related to time. A valve stem should be good for a couple of years. If you are low mileage rider, then maybe you only change tires every three years. Change the valve stems. If you are like me, I change tires two or three times a year. I inspect the valve stems. They still look new. I don't see much reason to change them out each three times a year. It's a pain.

 

I carry a spare and tire irons and a pump and sticky threads and enough tools to mount and demount a wheel. Enough already!

 

There was a valve stem recall, or thread about a batch of bad valve stems on the board a couple of years ago. I wonder if your guy had one of those. I couldn't find the thread in a quick search.

[lawnchairboy]

"I wonder if most of us go fast enough to notice?"...