Transcript (sort of)
I saw a video recently of a BDR trip where a guy rode 60 miles round trip to the nearest town with a wheel strapped to his back to get his buddy’s tire fixed because they couldn’t repair it themselves. I know that seems crazy, but it could happen to you if you don’t learn to work on your own tires before you venture out. Trail side in the middle of nowhere is not the place to learn you don’t have the tools or skills to fix your own tire problems.
In this video we’ll cover four things that will help you replace a tire or repair any kind of flat without drama. First is the fundamental things you need to know to work on tires. The second section covers tools, both in your shop and those you carry to avoid being stranded. Third is the parts and spares you’ll want both in your shop and on your bike. Number 4 is how you use your tools and fundamental understanding to change tires or fix flats without struggling. And then I’ll show you one bonus tip to give you pro-level results no matter whether you’re working in your shop or in the middle of a trackless desert.
#1 The first thing you need to understand is how the design of wheel rims enable you to lever a stiff, un-stretchable bead onto a rim that is larger in circumference than the bead. Every wheel rim (other than two piece rims, which are not typically used for motorcycles) has a valley in the center of the rim called the drop center. The bead of the tire fits tightly on the step next to the rim and is reinforced either with steel wire or some super-strong fiber. The circumference of the drop center is, of course, quite a bit smaller than the circumference of the bead. You cannot stretch a bead onto the rim unless the remainder of the bead is in the drop center which reduces the effective circumference of the wheel to about the same size as the bead. If the tire bead is well lubed you can lever the bead on with even short, wimpy tire irons–if and ONLY if you keep the rest of the bead in the drop center. When you see someone struggle to get a tire back onto a rim it’s simply because they didn’t lube the bead well enough or are not keeping all of the bead except for the section they are levering in the drop center. That’s all you need to do, you don’t need an expensive tire machine. Just a bit of understanding and some tire lube.
That brings us to #2–Tools. I have an absurdly large collection of tire tools collected over the 60+ years I’ve been wrenching on bikes, but the tire irons I carry on my bike are cheap, light, and they’re aluminum so they won’t ding most rims. They have box wrenches on the ends. One has both a 10 and 13 mm box, and the other has a 32mm box with inserts that reduce it to 29 and 27 mm so you can remove most axle nuts or adjust the chain. I tested them to 60 foot/lbs of torque with no significant damage.
Some people swear by tire irons that include a bead breaker. First of all, if you apply good tire lube and just work your way around the rim with the tire iron, the lube will seep into the bead area and just a bit more levering will usually break the bead. In stubborn cases I prefer to use my feet or a motorcycle kickstand for breaking beads. I also carry a bead buddy, which both keeps the bead from chasing around the rim when you remount the tire, and also keeps the bead in the valley at the center of the rim. And finally I always carry tire lube that lets the bead slip into place and also helps seat the bead once you have the tire on the bike. Some people recommend silicone spray lube, but a persistent lubricant is a terrible idea. Even days later if your tire is not at full pressure it can let your wheel spin inside the tire, turning an air down or slow leak into an un-repairable ripped out valve stem. I carry a small ziplock bag with a shop rag that has a healthy dab of NoMar tire lube. Add water and squish it around and you have a pro-quality tire lube. A small tub of No-Mar will last your entire life. You can also use the solution like soapy water to locate a pinhole leak.
I also carry a combination battery-powered compressor/jump starter/power bank/flashlight. It’s a bit bulky though it fits nicely in my tank bag or in the side pocket of my Mosko Moto R10 bags. Not only is it a great tire inflation tool that accurately reads your tire pressure and shuts off automatically when it reaches a pressure you set, but I’ve used it to jumpstart a 6.7 liter diesel engine as well as my husky 701. I leave it plugged into my USB outlet so it’s always at 100 percent when I stop for the night. The LED flashlight could probably run for a week or two–I’ve used it as a camp light for hours without seeing any change in charge level. You’d think I’d be satisfied with that, but I also carry three CO2 cartridges and a tire inflation adapter. Because shit breaks. I’ve never used the CO2 cartridges, but they are tiny, and I hate being stranded by random failures. And I carry a prop stand which can be used in conjunction with the kickstand to hold either the front or rear tire off the ground. It’s much lighter and more compact than a center stand.
Topic #3 is spares and repair kits. Two of my dirt bikes are tubeless, two have tubed tires. If I had a choice they all would be tubeless. The most common flat tire by a huge margin is a puncture in the tread of the rear tire. The ability to repair that with just a plug that takes moments to install is too good to ignore. Plus tubeless cross-spoke wheels with straight spokes that have the heads in the rim and nipples in the hub like this VMX aftermarket wheel from my KTM 390 ADV are much stronger, stay truer, and are easier to repair than traditional spoke wheels. The only benefit of traditional tubed spoked wheels is that they are cheaper.
But hey, Mr. Tubeless tires, what if you get a sidewall rip that can’t be plugged? Well, first I’d stare in amazement at a flat that is rarer than winning the lottery. And then I’d install the spare tube I always carry. Which I also carry on my tubed bikes–because when a rear tire goes flat you’re likely to tear the valve stem out unless you have good rimlocks. You can’t patch a torn out valve stem. I carry just a front tube which will work for both the front and rear tire. No, I don’t buy heavy duty tubes, which I consider pure marketing bullshit. they don’t offer any benefit and make it much harder to install or repair tubed tires. And I never use slime or any other magic liquid that’s supposed to plug flats. You can’t repair a tube with slime in it. it makes a mess and doesn’t work. If I was riding hard enduros or rallies, I’d use mousses, but they are brutal on pavement or higher speed dirt sections.
I carry a tube patch kit always, because even though I’ve changed or fixed hundreds of motorcycle tires, I’m still capable of pinching the tube with a tire iron. If you do pinch the tube you’ll need a patch kit when you stop swearing and kicking things. My tube patch kit includes three CO2 cartridges and the tire filling adapter which I mentioned in section 2. While it might be belt and suspenders since I carry a compressor, these suspenders pack tiny.
For my bikes with tubeless tires I carry both the typical sticky string plug kit (because it’s tiny) and a larger, more complex mushroom plug kit, because it makes a permanent repair. Again, belt and suspenders, but I hate getting stranded. The mushroom plug kit is amazing because you can install the plugs without dismounting the tire. I put a tiny dab of tire lube on the plug, and then the installation tool compresses the mushroom through this little tube and extends the plug a graduated distance into the tire carcass. When you pull the installation tool out it seats the plug and you can cut it off flush. I have a Conti TKC70 tire on my KTM 390 ADV that has more than 10,000 miles with a mushroom plug installed. I’d show it to you but I can’t spot it from the outside–its that well integrated into the tire.
Topic # 4 is a demo of how to fix a flat or change a tire. I’ve seen far more people do it wrong than do it right. First you need to break the bead, meaning you need to unstick the tire bead from the edge of the rim. Tubeless tires present a little extra challenge because there’s an added rim on the inside of the bead that keeps the bead in contact with the outer rim–one good reason that simply sealing spoke nipples with tape and goo doesn’t make a good tubeless spoke wheel (besides the simple unreliability of a sealing hack). My favorite method of breaking beads in the field is to just use tire lube and work tire irons in as far as they will go and wiggle them–the lube penetrates deeper until most of the bead is lubricated. It becomes increasingly easy to work the tire irons in, and finally just pressing down on a deeply inserted tire iron will pop the bead away from the rim. My second favorite way is to use body weight–put the wheel on the ground with your folded jacket under it to protect the bearings, and step on the tire. If that doesn’t work I generally take the sprocket off to keep from damaging it and I use the weight of the bike, concentrated on the kickstand to force the tire away from the rim. It’s a bit clumsy, but it works. If that’s not enough then you sit on the bike with the kickstand on the tire, which is even clumsier unless you enlist a buddy to help you, but in a pinch, that will pop even the most stubborn bead.
Now lube the bead and rim copiously with more tire lube solution. Push the bead down into the drop center in the middle of the rim, and either secure it with a bead buddy or use your knee to keep it there while you lever the bead over the rim on the side opposite your knee or bead buddy. Work your way around the tire a bit at a time until you have the bead completely off the rim. If at any time it takes excessive force to lever out the bead, check to be sure the bead on the opposite side of the tire is still in the drop center and push as much of the bead into the drop center as you can. Having the bead in the drop center effectively reduces the diameter of the rim, making it much easier to get the tire off.
Repair or replace the tube, add a little air to make it easier to get it completely into the tire and feed the valve stem through the hole in the rim. Start putting the tire back on by levering the tire onto the rim close to the valve stem. If you have a bead buddy, insert it to keep the bead in place, or just leave one of your tire irons in place and keep it pressed down to stop the bead from slipping off. Once you have about half the tire on pay attention to keeping the segment already installed deep into the drop center. If it starts getting hard to lever on the bead, check to be sure the already installed bead is well into the drop center. If it isn’t, levering on the tire will get harder and harder.
Once you have the tire on you need to seat the bead. That simply means inflating the tire until the bead pops up against the rim. If you’re using a good tire lube that will happen well before you get to typical inflation pressure. Usually, a well lubed motorcycle tire will seat before you reach five pounds of pressure. There is usually a line on the sidewall that should be an equal distance from the rim around the tire. Finally, adjust the tire pressure to the correct value. You shouldn’t need to, but you can over-inflate the tire about 50% to get the bead to seat. If you can’t get it to pop into place with whatever you have for inflation tools it doesn’t mean you can’t ride the bike. It might thump a bit on pavement but the bead is likely to seat itself as you use it, especially if you’ve used enough tire lube.