On our way home from the RPM rally we planned on stopping by the Alpine air strip to do a high speed stability test of our saddle bags but while we were parked in Angels camp I found this thin slice in my front tire and decided not to.
When I got home I cut away the flap of rubber from the slice to see how deep it went.It went much deeper than the skyping and I didn't really get to the bottom of the slice.I got lucky it didn't blow.
Quote from: T Legg on October 15, 2019, 01:10:11 AM
When I got home I cut away the flap of rubber from the slice to see how deep it went.It went much deeper than the skyping and I didn't really get to the bottom of the slice.I got lucky it didn't blow.
Inspect that very closely. It appears as if it may occur at the seam where the tread is bonded and may, in fact, be a manufacturing defect.
My son said he thought it could be a defect as well because the slice doesn't extend all the way across the middle.If it is a defect it will be third bad sport demon tire I've had in the last year.One had a sidewall bubble,another had exhibited severe dry rot on the sidewall at six months of use 2500 miles and the tire was less than two years old by the manufacture date code.This tire is coming off now and thanks to the new front end I received from Pete's former parts bike (sorry Pete) I will be putting a different 17" tire on now.
Well I now have my fourth Pirelli Sport Demon Tire experiencing premature failure. I found a little split about 1/5" long . It is leaking air at a very slow rate I haven't had to add air since I installed it. I don't know if it's a defect or if I have run over something that cut it. I'm wondering if anyone has used a hot patch on the inside of a motorcycle tire. I'm afraid using a plug on slice like that would split the slice wider and I don't know if plugs are safe for 100 mph + speeds. Does anyone have experience with motorcycle tire repairs? I'm going broke replacing tires every fifteen hundred miles.
Oops the pictures.
An FJ is a big, heavy bike with a lot of power. I don't think a front tire is a good place to experiment with repairs. I plugged a brand new tire on a GSXR one time, just to get me home. Put a new tire on the next day.
It got me home, but I wasn't interested in a Z rated tire with a plug in it.
Ted
Back when I was young and stupid, and wasn't afraid of anything. I plugged a back tire and ran it all summer. On my fzr1000. Many extremely high speed runs. Still not afraid of anything. But not young, or as stupid. I would only use plugs to get home.
If I ever get back to the turbo bike. I really want to get it over 200mph. Tires are really the thing I'm most worried about. I've taken the fzr1000 to 187mph. On new tires.
Sound advise from Ted and Giantkiller.
Put a price tag on what you think your life is worth and I bet it's way more than the cost of another tire.
Live to ride another day... replace the tire.
Like others, I was also young, dumb and lucky.
I ran multiple plugs in my GS1100E and with a ring of cord showing, would ride at triple digits, usually not at 100%.....
Looking back, I feel blessed.
Skip's Place was a bar I would frequent. I'd put a masterlock in the front rotor to keep "patrons" from moving my bike.
I forgot that lock more than once, much to the entertainment of the other "patrons".
Moving on to that tire, replace it and never look back.
You've justified another brand, I like Avon Spirit ST, others probably have other suggestions, it's harder to find a bad tire than a good one anymore.
https://www.avontyres.com/en-us/tyres/spirit-st (https://www.avontyres.com/en-us/tyres/spirit-st)
Tires are wear items, no worries.
The rope type plugs can dislodge. Once properly seated, the mushroom cap plugs can not.
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71qSZZLk-TL._AC_SL1500_.jpg)
I wasn't planning to use a plug especially since it is a slice rather than a round puncture hole.I wouldn't trust it at speed either. I remember Pat having to plug his rear tire at the last RPM rally and was wondering if it was considered to be safe. In the old days at least they used to do hot patch repairs from the inside of the tire that was considered to be very safe on automobile tires but I haven't heard of that being done on motorcycles and I've never driven at 150 mph in a car so I don't know if it would be safe on a bike. I already have a new tire on the way . The slice in my rear tire and the previous slice in my front tire do not look like normal punctures I wonder if they are defects in the tire. If I didn't do regular close inspections of my tires I would never noticed this small hole the leak rate is so slow that the tire pressure has not dropped noticeably in several months since I put the tire on. I leaked more air from the last tire from the bead seal. Before I mounted this tire I used superfine steel wool on the rim lip to clean it up and that greatly reduced air leakage from the bead seal.
No repair on a slice, as the carcass flexes the cut can or will widen.
https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/tire-repair-plugs-should-you-use-plugs-on-motorcycle-tires/ (https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/tire-repair-plugs-should-you-use-plugs-on-motorcycle-tires/)
When i was young i also was dumb now im 52 and im a little wiser but still dumb if you take a look at the pick i took of my tire today .i have been riding on plugged tires many times before and never had something bad happened.
i did however had a exsplosion/blowout on my rear tire driving at 180 kilometers on higway 30 years ago on my 1100 (that was fun) and that tire was not plugged!
i have ordered a new pirelli sport demon 10 days ago but still not arrived.
This tyre i plugged about 6000 kilometers ago had a nail in it .I has not leaked air and the plug is still there and has tolerated high speed.
Quote from: giantkiller on April 26, 2020, 08:15:55 AM
Back when I was young and stupid, and wasn't afraid of anything. I plugged a back tire and ran it all summer. On my fzr1000. Many extremely high speed runs. Still not afraid of anything. But not young, or as stupid. I would only use plugs to get home.
If I ever get back to the turbo bike. I really want to get it over 200mph. Tires are really the thing I'm most worried about. I've taken the fzr1000 to 187mph. On new tires.
Most of the 200+ mph runs are actually made on quality street tires. The heat build up getting up to speed over a mile or so tends to overheat actual "race" tires. Right now I'm running Michelin RS on the race bike - as recommended by Ransom Holbrook - fastest "nitrous only" bike at 252 in 1.5 miles and 244 in a mile (Hayabusa of course).
Remember having to fight to get a bike shop to patch a tire. He did it, didn't recommend it, wouldn't give me a receipt and said it was all on me if it went boom.
Only considered the patch as the tire was nearly new; less than 500 miles.
Anyway rode really careful for a bit and then, as you might expect, forgot all about it and enjoyed the summer.
Had no problems the entire life of the tire.
So it is possible to get a solid repair with today's wonderful tire technologies.
Maybe it all comes down to how much you care to rely on your luck.
Quote from: andyoutandabout on April 26, 2020, 11:48:59 AM
Remember having to fight to get a bike shop to patch a tire. He did it, didn't recommend it, wouldn't give me a receipt and said it was all on me if it went boom.
Only considered the patch as the tire was nearly new; less than 500 miles.
Anyway rode really careful for a bit and then, as you might expect, forgot all about it and enjoyed the summer.
Had no problems the entire life of the tire.
So it is possible to get a solid repair with today's wonderful tire technologies.
Maybe it all comes down to how much you care to rely on your luck.
It reminds me how attorneys have screwed us all.......
Someone had a patch/plug fail, sued, won, and now we all pay.......
Think "grass in the road" tactics
Quote from: andyoutandabout on April 26, 2020, 11:48:59 AM
Maybe it all comes down to how much you care to rely on your luck.
... says the guy with the BloodRunners avitar! :good:
I live on the edge
:bad:
Quote from: T Legg on October 15, 2019, 01:01:37 AM
On our way home from the RPM rally we planned on stopping by the Alpine air strip to do a high speed stability test of our saddle bags but while we were parked in Angels camp I found this thin slice in my front tire and decided not to.
Similar one here, just thought I'd run over something sharp but it's just an odd way it's cut
That is very similar to the slice that was on my front tire.all three slices don't involve the edge of the water grooves. The one on my rear tire is inside the lowest surface of the tire but no marks around it. I'm leaning more to these being a defect. How deep does the slice on your tire go? I love how the sport demons handle but with yours included that makes three tires with slices I had one with a sidewall bubble and one that had severe sidewall Dry rot at 1200 miles and only two years from the date of manufacture. Between that and the average three thousand miles until they are completely bald makes these tires expensive. With three fj's with 16" wheels it's a bit depressing.
Quote from: T Legg on April 26, 2020, 08:02:43 PM
They average three thousand miles until they are completely bald makes these tires expensive. With three fj's with 16" wheels it's a bit depressing.
Maybe consider going to 17 inch wheels and use modern radials. :pardon:
Fred
What about the Avon 3D storms?
They come in 17 and 16 sizes
Your right Fred .I have the front forks and stock 17" fj front wheel but I need to do the rear wheel at the same time and I don't like all the problems with the brake caliper mounting.I need to start researching my options. Andy I need to check again but I don't think Avon makes the rear tire in the right size.
I bought my brothers 70 Buick gs stage 1. He had changed the rear end. And the one he put in had higher gearing. Speedo went to 120. But the needle would keep going all the way around too park. My other brother was a cop. And he clocked it @156mph. I was always worried about the tires on that car too.
When I was eighteen I had a 1970 Pontiac tempest with a ys400 motor. It started out with a little turbo 350 transmission which I blew up twice. then I put a turbo 400 tranny and blew up the rear end so I borrowed my brothers 4:11 positrac rear end with his m-50 rear tires.those tires were so wide that if I took a corner too hard I could watch strips of rubber flying off the tires from the fender wells cutting into them I ended up breaking the posi rear end while burning off my tires.It gave one hop and then cracked the pumpkin housing from the axel tube to the cover plate. I kept the tires and put a ten bolt rear end with 267 gears and put a four speed Muncie transmission in.with those gears you could drop it back into first gear at fifty miles an hour and burn the tires off.the speedometer was no longer accurate but there wasn't a day I didn't do well over one hundred with those gouged out tires. My wife made me park it when our second kid was born along with my street bikes. It is still sitting at my old place where my daughter lives now. The poor thing needs a little paint and upholstery and it's probably time to change those tires.
.
Quote from: T Legg on April 26, 2020, 09:03:36 PM
Your right Fred .I have the front forks and stock 17" fj front wheel but I need to do the rear wheel at the same time and I don't like all the problems with the brake caliper mounting.I need to start researching my options. Andy I need to check again but I don't think Avon makes the rear tire in the right size.
Hey Travis, in that case, there are 2 easy options - use the GSXR wheel with the GSXF caliper/mount that allows for a top mounting, or go for the YFZ 600 R (Thundercat) option which keeps the FJ caliper, torque arm and keeps the top mounting.
Two easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy ways to a 17" back wheel and good, modern-sized radial tyres :good2:
Quote from: T Legg on April 26, 2020, 08:02:43 PM
That is very similar to the slice that was on my front tire.all three slices don't involve the edge of the water grooves. The one on my rear tire is inside the lowest surface of the tire but no marks around it. I'm leaning more to these being a defect. How deep does the slice on your tire go? I love how the sport demons handle but with yours included that makes three tires with slices I had one with a sidewall bubble and one that had severe sidewall Dry rot at 1200 miles and only two years from the date of manufacture. Between that and the average three thousand miles until they are completely bald makes these tires expensive. With three fj's with 16" wheels it's a bit depressing.
I haven't checked how deep it goes yet. Didn't want to hack into it while still using it :biggrin:
Tyre code on wheel is
DOT XE KX E478 4916
not happy with the date as it is dec 2016 manufactured and it was only bought March 2019
I figured slicing away the flap of rubber didn't really make the tire any worse than it was. I never trusted that tire over a hundred again but I did continue to ride it until I wore the back tire out. Here are pictures of what it looked like when I pulled it off,inside and outside. No signs of the slice from the inside.The code on my tire is DOT XE KX E478 3717. Forty weeks newer than yours. The new split I have on my rear tire is different. It started out at about 3/16" long. In the name of science I decided to ride it to Carson city and back.It wasnt a twisty ride but I took it up to about 115. The split seemed to widen a bit and grew in length to 5/16".It was still only leaking a small bubble every few seconds. I found the hole when I was readjusting the chain tensioners to realign my wheel that was off center. It had caused my chicken strips to be wavy. Once again in the name of science I rode it up and down the twisty road to virginia city three times without stopping ,about fifty miles in all of hard corners and got the tire very hot but never went over 85. When I rechecked the tire (I also checked it several times during the ride)I found no changes to the split. My chicken strips went back to a straight crisp line though. This rear tire split though much smaller than the one on the front seems to be a prelude to disaster . It will be interesting to see what it looks like on the inside. I know it goes all the way through.
I think both of your DOTs say it came from the same factory, but this info ahould be checked. I suggest you both write to Pirelli.
My pirelli arrived today :yahoo: week 42 year 2019 and probably from different factory.
Look close at your new tire.Since the sidewall bubble the first flaw I found I look very closely before I install my tires. It isnt easy to find the flaws even after you know they are there.
Quote from: Old Rider on April 28, 2020, 08:27:59 AM
My pirelli arrived today :yahoo: week 42 year 2019 and probably from different factory.
Same factory.
https://www.pirelli.com/asset/index.php?idelement=6990 (https://www.pirelli.com/asset/index.php?idelement=6990)