Tube tire ISDT trick

[Sparkle]

I read that old-time ISDT riders could patch a flat in 5 minutes.....

There's a lot of tricks to know about flat tires on motorcycles. To me they area dreaded problem, and I take great pains to run off-road with good rubber and full inflation and a good deal of care. There is one trick I've used on several occasions that I haven't seen mentioned, probably because it's only applicable to smaller bikes. But it works on big slugs too, especially on the front. I suspect I'm not the only one in this group that's used this method but here it is anyway.

......You need a tire patch kit, a mountain bike tire pump, and tire irons.

Not always, but most of the time a tire goes flat becasue it's been penetrated by a sharp object (nail, screw, KLR debris, ordiscarded BMW part). Usually you can even see the object, or at least the holein the tire itself. Use a little spit if you have to. If you can, pull the object out, and mark the spot.

Find a berm, bush, bank or stump that you can lean the bike over on. (Cushion it with your new Joe-Rocket jacket). Lean it enough so the weight is off the wheel and the flat tire can be rotated by hand. Propping thebike up is not an option because you're going to do some forceful levering.

Remove the valve stem nut, loosen the beadlock and using tire irons break the bead with the wheel still on the bike. After the face bead is broken the bottom side will be easy to break too.

Pull the bead facing you outof the rim and pull the tube out carefully. Use the mark you made to find the hole and patch normally with an emergency bicycle patch. You won't be able to remove the tube, but you can turn it to suit you. Do a test inflation.

Tuck the tube in carefully, and tire-iron the tire back over the rim, inflate and away you go.

Oh....don't forget to tighten the beadlock and pick up your jacket.

Frankly, I think the 5 minutes might have been BS..but at least you don't have to disassemble the bike and it's worth a try.

Sparkle

[ruskin]

I saw a picture of Costas Mouzouris in Cycle Canadarepair a flat that way.

It was the dual sport test ride issue where that Manny character broke his collarbone.They duct taped his shoulders back and kept on riding. Manny was the guy who put 250 c.c.dirt bike front end on a Yamaha Fazer 550 inline four.

See ''Madness in the woods'', March 2007 issue.

[Sparkle]

ruskinrider wrote:
It was the dual sport test ride issue where that Manny character broke his collarbone.They duct taped his shoulders back and kept on riding. Manny was the guy who put 250 c.c.dirt bike front end on a Yamaha Fazer 550 inline four.


Hi ruskinrider:

Wow...Manny must be related to Cletus.

Sparkle

[tobster]

Hi, knowing little about flats on motorbikes (haivng never had one) is a mountain bike patch adequate? Ive repaired lots on my mountain bike so know the procedure pretty well!

Is that whatyou guys generally carry as back up?

+ I need to pick up a set of tire irons but cant find anyone with any in stock, any ideas? im in maple ridge but distance is no object

Cheers

[old trials guy]

try the folks at Maple Ridge Motosports...I saw some there a couple of weeks ago.

otg

[tobster]

Great, I will stop by tommorow, I tried Orca and Modern with no success, fingers crossed, thx OTG

[Lonewolf]

I fixed one the other day for a guy we were riding with. Glad I carry the tools needed to fix things like this or our day would have had a premature ending. I wish more people would carry at least some basic tools when riding. Being self sufficient and being able to get yourself out of the bush is just as, if not more important than being able to get there in the first place...

I learned to patch tubes back in the day when dealing with mountain bikes and in the last year and a bit have learned the tricks around mounting and un-mounting tires by doing my own tire changes in the garage with only my trail tools (also a great way to make sure your toolkit has everything you need for when you do get a flat on the trail)

With a little practice it is a task that can easily be be performed on the trail with little fuss. I can remove patch and install a rear tire now in about 40 mins.

Tools I carry:

3x Tire iron/wrench combo's (22mm fr axle, 32mm rr axle, 12/13mm rim locks etc)
1x Front tube (should patching not work, tear etc)
1x C02 Inflator & 4-6 C02 Cartridges - buy them bulk from MEC.ca for cheap ;)
1x Small patch kit
1x Crescent wrench
3x Wrenches 8, 10, 12mm
1x Spark plug socket
1x T-Handle socket tool 8, 10, 12mm
1x Tire pressure gauge
1x Set folding allen keys
1x JB Weld Quick
1x Gerber Multi-Tool
1x Bottle of T3's, advil, tylonol etc
Tape, Wire and a Hoseclamp

If i cant fix the bike with this kit then it dosnt deserve to be fixed in the woods...

[Lonewolf]

tobster wrote:
+ I need to pick up a set of tire irons but cant find anyone with any in stock, any ideas? im in maple ridge but distance is no object

Consider ordering yourself the Motion Pro T6 Tire irons that fit your axle nut sizes. They are a lil spendy ($20 each) but super light and it saves carrying another wrench or two to fit your axles.

[tobster]

Thanks thats all good advice, Ive got enuff bits to strip the bike but nothing to reapair a flat with as yet (the important bit). I hate carrying excess gear but I now pack a first aid kit as well, a good friend of mine had to be airlifted to hospital after a bad mountain bike crash, that was 4 years ago and hes still having surgery and cant walk unaided.

Theres always the not so fun side to everything unfortunately, goes without saying that we should all be prepared to deal with as many potential problems as possible/reasonable, especially if you dont know people you are riding with.

Anyhoo on a lighter note, it seems that we are all such nice, well prepared, and capable people, that even if someone was to turn up, half drunk, on a bike with slicks and wearing speedo's we could probably handle it :D

[Sparkle]

tobster wrote:
Hi, knowing little about flats on motorbikes (haivng never had one) is a mountain bike patch adequate?

All I've ever used is bicycle tube patch kits. I pick up a fresh one every year just to make sure it's fresh...

On tire irons, Ionly carry one (toolkit size), but what I did was takemy toolkit 6 inch crescent wrench and heated the end of the handle up red-hot (at the end with the hole) and bent it in a vise the same angle as a tire iron then smoothed the end with a flap-sander. Kinda two tools in one.

For another I use an old one I've had for many years....came with a 1967 Jawa/CZ..It would be easy to make something like this with just some steel bar and a grinder. The spoke-hook is highly recommended.

Sparkle

[Proudman]

Thiis thread got me thinking about the ideal repair kit to take along on my 2008 Kawasaki KLR650.

I stole Lonewolf's list and posted it for comment at
http://www.dualsportbc.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=8281&forum_id=8&jump_to=73815 so I wouldn't clutter this thread.

I don't have a lot of time left to getready so advice is appreciated.