austin
Well-Known Member
Had a puncture on the V85 last weekend. Not too far from civilisation so phoned recovery, went to a cafe and waited. And waited, and waited a bit longer for a taxi as the recovery vehicle couldn’t take us both due Covid. 3 1/2 hours after phoning bike and us both back home.
next day, I read the manual and the rear wheel is easy to remove. 5 mins of fiddling with my motion pro bead breakers and bingo off it pops and few mins later the tube is in my hands with a very obvious hole and the nub end of screw is poking through the tyre carcass. New tube fitted and the tyre goes on easy peasy without using levers. Sorted. The old tube now has a patch that is holding but is in reserve as an emergency spare.
But it took an hour plus in total in the garage at home using old mats to protect the rim. But I did use only tools I carried on the bike including a compressor, although I did discover the real need for a 8mm Allen socket rather than a weedy lever and wasn’t carrying a spare tube (but a patch would have worked).
Last puncture I had on tubeless tyres took about 10mins at the side of the road to plug and reinflate and cost about 10p for the plug instead of £15 for a new tube. My conclusion is that tubeless tyres really are less hassle.
options seem to be: new tubeless wheels from Kineo or Alpina. Cost is megabucks - basic kineo wheels over £2k the pair. Err, no.
Bartubeless is a system where you send off wheels to Italy and get a system that seals the spokes (standard wheel rims are Tubeless otherwise). Sent via Central Wheels cost is £300 for both. Takes 3 weeks with 4year guarantee.
Central Wheels do their own sealing system. Cost is £120 per wheel but only 1year guarantee.
DIY: buy some of the right sort of sealant and tape to seal your own wheels. There’s a few that have done it on the V85tt Facebook page and someone’s done a video so I know what to buy and what’s involved. Cost about £50. But success is not 100% with a few people recommending adding a tyre pressure monitoring system (fancy dust caps and a Bluetooth monitor) for reassurance and monitoring. Add another £100 or so. Tbh I reckon I would easily f*** up a diy option so not really considering this, especially as the super sticky silicone is a bigger to remove if it goes wrong.
The grumble aside, has anyone got experience of any of the above or another option. I could just stick with tubes of course and practice my tyre fitting technique.
next day, I read the manual and the rear wheel is easy to remove. 5 mins of fiddling with my motion pro bead breakers and bingo off it pops and few mins later the tube is in my hands with a very obvious hole and the nub end of screw is poking through the tyre carcass. New tube fitted and the tyre goes on easy peasy without using levers. Sorted. The old tube now has a patch that is holding but is in reserve as an emergency spare.
But it took an hour plus in total in the garage at home using old mats to protect the rim. But I did use only tools I carried on the bike including a compressor, although I did discover the real need for a 8mm Allen socket rather than a weedy lever and wasn’t carrying a spare tube (but a patch would have worked).
Last puncture I had on tubeless tyres took about 10mins at the side of the road to plug and reinflate and cost about 10p for the plug instead of £15 for a new tube. My conclusion is that tubeless tyres really are less hassle.
options seem to be: new tubeless wheels from Kineo or Alpina. Cost is megabucks - basic kineo wheels over £2k the pair. Err, no.
Bartubeless is a system where you send off wheels to Italy and get a system that seals the spokes (standard wheel rims are Tubeless otherwise). Sent via Central Wheels cost is £300 for both. Takes 3 weeks with 4year guarantee.
Central Wheels do their own sealing system. Cost is £120 per wheel but only 1year guarantee.
DIY: buy some of the right sort of sealant and tape to seal your own wheels. There’s a few that have done it on the V85tt Facebook page and someone’s done a video so I know what to buy and what’s involved. Cost about £50. But success is not 100% with a few people recommending adding a tyre pressure monitoring system (fancy dust caps and a Bluetooth monitor) for reassurance and monitoring. Add another £100 or so. Tbh I reckon I would easily f*** up a diy option so not really considering this, especially as the super sticky silicone is a bigger to remove if it goes wrong.
The grumble aside, has anyone got experience of any of the above or another option. I could just stick with tubes of course and practice my tyre fitting technique.