Tyres, Brakes and Suspension » Where better to have a puncture ………..

…………. than your own garage.

This evening’s job was simply to wash the bugs off the bike, but I couldn’t push it back out of the garage because the rear tyre was totally flat.

All was ok after I parked it last Sunday after a 200+ mile ride.

I could not find a nail in the tyre or any other damage at all.

But a soapy bubble test all round the tyre immediately found a microscopic (just joking) pin hole in the middle of the tread.

Out with the Stop & Go kit.

It was very difficult to push the plug tool through the tyre as I suspect that a steel reinforcing wire was obstructing the probe.

Got their eventually and only took 2 shots to land the mushroom plug.

Fingers crossed to enjoy a test ride tomorrow.

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Well done with the plug, you deserve a good ride out tomorrow after that!

Happy to report the plug held up 50 psi overnight so hopefully I can get a few thousand miles out of the tyre.

BTW this is a needle in the pin hole puncture.

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Always nice to be able to fix at home rather than on knees at side of road.

I’ve recently purchased the airman pump from Nippy Norman and combine this with the glue string type plugs for the following reasons.

The pump weighs in at the same as about 6 metal gas cylinders and even this quantity proved just enough to inflate a 180 tyre to about 22 psi just enough to limp to nearest garage so I would estimate around 12 required to get to full working pressure making the pump a practical alternative. The pump simply connects to battery using crocodile style clamps and is well packaged and easy to carry.

I select the glue string as opposed to mushroom plugs for their capability to botch fill even the worst hole such as the damage done by 3 inches of hack saw blade once removed, gets you out of trouble until final fix feasible.

All fixes come with advice to travel at 30 no more than xxx miles blah blah blah, but so far I’ve never had any real problems just by being aware and check on regular basis. I plugged a tyre while on a track day in Ireland and continued on track then rode back to UK and carried on until tyre was due replacement, against all advice but it proved a point that a repair can be durable.

Had a similar problem picked up a metal staple, whilst bike in garage at home, checked tyres before a ride and rear down to 15psi, found staple and pulled it out, air escaped quickly, but on centre stand.
I thought about trying to plug with same kit as you have, but called bmw assist, they offered to recover bike to dealer for new tyre or plug it with the BMW temp repair kit, opted for the later, and then later booked bike in for replacement rear tyre.
As decided I wasn’t prepared to take chance of plug failing, especially having seen how quickly it went down after I pulled a small staple out! Although I think the mushroom type would probably be better than just the strip that bmw Technician used, also he recommended max speed 50mph and 100 miles I think, might have been 60 mph and 200 miles!
Anyway steady ride out and all ok, then took to dealer for replacement tyre.

I replaced the tires on my RS soon after I received the Stop-n-Go tire plugger kit. I practiced plugging one of the removed tires with the kit. Good thing because I didn't read the directions and had much trouble with it. After a couple of tries I broke down and read the directions and figured out what I was doing wrong. All in the comfort of my shop instead of on the road, possibly in the dark. The only other time I have had to use the kit was when I discovered a flat rear tire on my R1100S when attempting to go for a ride on it- again in my shop. I also used the inflator pump in the shop to figure that out-no problems. The gauge on the pump was surprisingly accurate!
Better in a controlled environment than out in the "wild".

Frank