I know nothing about dirtbikes but am helping a buddy of mine to fix a flat on his dirtbile. It's an older Yamaha TTR (I think) used for messing around on the family farm. Long story short, there are a lot of locust trees in the pastures where they ride and they pick up thorns fairly often. Is there any type of product out there anyone uses to help mitigate puncture damage? I'm guessing it's probably better to just deal with the flats as they happen. My sense is that most of those products are more mess and work than they're worth, but I figured I'd ask. The current wheel is flat and has a huge "knob" in it where someone in the past must have injected some foam or something in it. Wer're going to have to cut the tire off the rim to remove it I think. So 2 questions: 1. Is there any way to deal with frequent punctures or is that just a fact of riding? 2. As far as tires for just messing around Iowa pastures and light trails, does anyone have a suggestion for replacement tires? Thanks all!
As kids we would take old leather belts and line the inside of bike tires with them to stop the thorns from giving us flats. Worked like a charm.
Put a new tube in it and put some Stan's Notubes sealant in it. Common solution for areas with goatheads (Idaho/UT/Cali). Slime also works.
Much smaller than traditional tubes so they'd get hit less often than standard tubes. They also take green slime pretty well as a backup....
you do the double tube method... simply cut the existing tube valve stem out then run a razor around the ID of the damaged tube so you can wrap the new tube with it. A replacement 3mm tube is cheap and you can pump it full of slime or favorite sealant. Also while you have it apart be sure to check the drop center for spokes poking thru. Also ditch the rubber band & use some tubliss tape on the drop center after youve cleaned it well. That tape is awesome at keeping the nipple/rim area clean for the $5 a roll it costs. It wont contract, move, or break like the rubber ones do
The principal of the tubeliss system is the small high pressure tube so to speak ONLY holds the tire bead to the rim. The other air inlet inflates a tire designed to use a tube that doesn't have a innerliner to hold air like a tubeless tire does. So for me that doesn't work and I hate slime, but the good news is Nitro mousse tubes are more accessible now along with the Michelin product. I'm not sure if the distributors are still importing the Pirelli mousse since Covid fucked up that supply chain.
These foam cores don't come in 14-16" rim sizes. Would you just get a NM21-220 and cut it short for the mini?
I thought someone made the smaller ones? It not check into tire balls and yes cut down a larger mousse but I'm not sure which one give me a minute
For a 12-16 inch tire the off road guys servicing the GNCC etc. would cut down a 21 mousse in like 3 sections to fit it into the tire
Scott Summers the off-road legend and his dad/bro developed these and they make them for small applications https://www.tireballs.com/collections/motorcycle
nifty that you can tune the feel... just a lil pricey vs other options. If they last 3-4 tire changes then it would give tubliss a run for the money
