Replace inner-tube on rear tire.

Well I got a flat - I don't see anything obvious on the tire at all but they are tubed.

Local shop is quoting me $200 for fixing it which is bullshit but they claim 3 hours labor.

How easy is it to replace the tube - any tip/tricks would help?

Cheers
Rich./

 

Tube, really? I had always assumed the stock wheels were tubeless, but I guess when you assume...

Tubed rims and tubeless rims are a little different because of the shape of the bead - but in concept are pretty much identical. I routinely change my own tire's on my DR650, which is a tube type rim - it can certainly be challenging. You will need a bead breaker and tire irons, and it's not a bad idea to have rim savers and a valve fishing tool on hand as well.

Breaking the bead: particularly on the rear tire, it can take some doing. I use a product on the trail side called the motion pro bead pro for this task, and it works quite well. Other techniques I hear about and have limited success with: use the kickstand of another bike, use a c clamp, use a vise, wedge tire levers and stand on them.... Purpose built bead breakers are much easier than all of these methods.

Once the bead is broken, it's just a matter of spooning off one side of the tire with your tire irons, pulling out the tube, and looking for the source of the lack. You will want to make sure that your tire doesn't still contain the culprit!


Another thought - is it a rear flat? Perhaps they were intimidated by the shaft drive unit and added a few hours to price you out. One of the several local shops has a $20 flat rate for tire installs if you show up with just the wheel.

 

A local shop charged me $34 a piece two weeks ago to replace and balance tires on my '89 Virago. These are tubeless, as are XJs. I brought in the wheels. It took me about half an hour to remove both wheels. Took about an hour to reinstall them (including cleaning up and re-greasing splines, axle bolt, speedo drive, etc). Took them about an hour and a half from when I dropped them off until when they were ready for pickup. BTW, I checked with a couple of other shops as well. One wanted $45 per wheel. The other wanted $24.99, but they weren't open on Saturday, when I needed to get the tires installed.

So, my first recommendation would be to shop around, and my other recommendation would be to see why there are tubes in your tires.

 

So I believe the stock tires are tubeless. I'm not running stock though - I'm running dual sport tires on the MSTSM ( see showcase).

Front - Bridgestone Front TW101 Trail Wing 100/90H-19 Blackwall Tire - 055891
Back - Duro Rear HF904 Median 130/90S-16 Blackwall Tire - 25-90416-130-TT

I got them tubed because any no one will repair a tubeless tire and going off-road there's more chance of a puncture.

I actually got a another shop that's going to do it for $30 + the tube so I'm just going to do that. Don't need the headache but thnaks for the info - I learnt something

 

That's a good price. IIRC, local shops here were charging about $5 more for tube tire work, plus the tube and rim liner.

 

Just left my local Yamaha dealer with a brand new rear tire mounted on the rim. Dunlop D404 to match the front, $100 for the tire and $35 to mount and balance.

For some reason their was a tube in the old tire, it was installed by a different dealer couple of years ago. The tire was losing air overnight and was almost wore out, so figured it was a good time to replace. This shop did not use a tube.

 

The only thing you need to fix a tubeless tire is a plug kit (even sidewall tears can be patch temporarily with such a kit) and an air pump (a bicycle pump will do if you want your repair kit to stay compact.
The only thing you need to fix a tube is tire irons and a patch kit (in addition to an air pump).
You're a motorcyclist. Get to learning those repair skills and tell your crappy local shop to eff-off.

BTW, you don't need a tube in those tires when mounted on tubeless rims. The tubes will help to keep the bead seated when you air-down the tires for offroad use however.

 

I agree that learning to do this on your own is important, particularly if you are going to be riding the bike off road. For tubed tire's, it's a good idea to carry an extra tube along with what kmoe mentioned. For most off-road bikes, you can just carry the front tube - which could be used in the rear in a pinch as well. I Already mentioned the bead breakers from motion pro - they also work decently well as tire irons, and you will very happy to have bead breakers... They are forged aluminum, so they are light, and they are compact for carry. On my dual sport, I carry a front tube, valve fishing tool, the motion pro bead pro, a patch kit, folding money (can be used as a tire boot for a sliced tire), small bicycle hand pump and a 30psi max range pencil style gauge. This all fits in a wolfman fender pack.

 

Yeah I went with the tubes for that reason. I also agree that I need to learn how to do this and I appreciate the advice. Did get it done for $40 by Loudoun Motorsports Leesburg, VA so props to them.

 

if you don't do any long distance high speed riding, just put some "Slime" in there and you'll never have another flat or slow leak

 

My bicycle tires disagree. Slime works about 3/4 of the time. The other times it makes a mess.

 

Spot on. I work at a bicycle shop, my assessment is that slims is garbage In a tube. We probably fix 100 glass flats a year where the user had slime in the tube, so it doesn't equal a real solution. Works ok in tubeless setups, like cars... But if your are looking for sealant, latex based sealant are much much better than slime - like stan's tubeless sealant (ammonia which carries latex)

 

if it wasn't for bad luck, wouldn't have no luck at all
stuff works fo me

 

They ended up only charging me $40 cos the guy said the job too less time than he thought. Pretty awesome honesty. These guys will get all my business from now on.

 

I'm wondering what size tube you ended up using for your front tire. I just got the Bridgestone Trail Wing 39 & 40 for my bike the rear tube size was easy enough to find but Im having trouble finding the right size for the front.

 

is there a reason you want a tube? the rims are for tubeless if that tire is tubeless, your good to go

 

It's a tubed tire. He needs to use a tube to be on the safe side.