Obvious follow up question to what air compressor to inflate repaired tyre is what tyre repair to use. A very nice man came to our rescue last night with "sticky string" and having trawled t'internet, I found the 'Stop & Go' mushroom plug kit which looked straight forward. What do other folks swear by ? Andy
A definite grey area this one, (npi) I can't recommend any motorbike tyre repair method hand-on-heart. Some of the repair kits involve a process which makes the hole larger initially which is a step in the wrong direction in my opinion. I found the 'splurge' filled pressurised aerosols to work successfully many times in the past, but only if the wound is very small and I never trust or try to repair a tyre that has been penetrated in a trough rather than a peak.
I hear what you say Chris and don't neccessarily disagree but when needs must you have to make the best of a bad job. The sticky string got us home which at 10 o'clock at night was all we needed. Hardest part of the repair starts today - getting the rear wheel nut off ! Andy
Whatever the method, you will eventually have to go to a tire repair station to do a proper job. I've used the sticky string method twice with absolute success (although both times there was a compressor nearby to get the tires filled with air. I've never used the CO2 canisters. But in your case it's gonna be easier since you are going for a mini compressor as well). The second time it was on a friend's bike, that made it through the whole day on a track! So I guess you can say it works ...
Okay guys, punt taken. Dynaplug Pro for Carole to carry in the Diavel and Stop & Go mushroom kit for my top box. Thanks all. Andy
I had some success with Slime a few years back. It fixed an almost new tyre with no problem. I did a track day on that tyre and ran it to the end of its life with no problem.
I have used the mushroom kit with CO2 canisters successfully in the past.If I remember correctly at least 2 canisters were needed to get the tyre up to pressure.One can buy the CO2 canisters reasonably cheaply from Evans Cycles. The kit I have comes in a small pouch,this can easily be stored under the seat or in a small tank bag/bum pack.
On my recent treip around France, 2 of the group got rear punctures. The 1st was quite a big hole and he already had slime in the tyre that failed to plug it. A can of tyre weld came squirting out of the hole as fast as it was put in. One of the group had one of these kits, which is basically a rubber bung that you cover in glue and force into the hole with a t piece handle. Some of the plug sticks out of the tyre, which you cut off. It worked a treat and the tyre lost no pressure over the course of 5 days. Rep & Air Motorcycle Puncture Repair Kits Tubed Tyres | eBay 2nd puncture was repaired with another kit I haven't seen before. It was a screw type fitting that was screwed into the puncture hole and snapped off when it reached a certain torque. It was a smaller hole and the tyre was deflating over the course of a few hours. The screw in plug was quick and easy, but the tyre lost abour 8psi each day on the trip. This could have been because the hole was right on the edge of a groove though. No 1 gets my vote.
I always carry a tube of Crafty Plugger around with me, as have been caught out too many times before commuting through London. Buy Crafty - Crafty Plugger UK
Stop & Go kit, plus these.. Nippy Normans - Search Results MotoPressor 12v Tyre Inflator Flaig tyre pressure gauge
A potentially very useful thread Andy, I hope more and more people find it and add their experiences of the different 'get you home' methods. Worth noting that the Nippy Norman kit above has a review raiting of 4 out of 5 stars by six purchasers but none of them have used it yet!
It has a screwdriver type tool that has an eye on the end, like the end of a needle. Through this you thread a piece of the tar covered string/material that comes with it. You push this in the hole, turn once then pull out and snip the material, and remove the tool. Takes 30 seconds tops. I plugged the rear tyre on my 200cc Vespa and rode around with it for over a year like that.
Having been in the breakdown business for more years than I'd like to admit, nothing wrong with plugs. If they hold pressure, run them until end of tyre life, no problem. Ex patrol colleague of mine has put 3 in on occasion for big holes, worked fine razzing around the Ring and the ride hom for him.
Okay so time for an update. On our second day in central Wales, Carole picked up a puncture in the rear tyre of her Diavel. I had the Stop & Go mushroom kit in the top box so time to use it in anger. Initially the only negative was you needed to turn into the Hulk to get the insertion tip through the puncture hole. Once you did, the whole process was really simple and got the plug inserted. Very small leak from the off but when the tyre got hot the leak seemed to seal. Stopped for an icecream on the sea front about 20 minutes later and bugger me, Carole had picked up a second puncture about 90 degrees from the first. Mushroom kit came out and second plug inserted a bit easier. Practice obviously helps. Had a similar issue with the second plug in that it initially had a very minor leak. Checked the pressure over the rest of that journey and the 160 mile trip home the next day and although I added a bit, it looked pretty good. Seriously hoping the repair is going to last as the tyre is only 6 weeks old. Anyway, Carole went on a 170 mile jaunt today and when I was putting the bike away I could hear a hiss. Suspecting another puncture it turned out to be one of the plugs inserted in Wales leaking quite badly. Okay, out with the mushroom kit and have another go. 3 plugs later the hole is not sealing. Right, out with the Dynaplug sticky string then. Overall the whole process was so much easier than the Stop & Go but because the sticky string diameter is quite narrow, it did take 4 strings to seal the hole but seal it most definitely did. End analysis, the Dynaplug is very expensive but beat the Stop & Go hands down for ease of application and plugging the hole. Just ordered one for me plus a couple of packs of refill sticky strings and hang the expense. Andy
