Tire plugging kits

Look if I did get a flat, I would use these "fixes" to get me home if I lived close enough or to the next motorcycle shop for a new tire if I was on tour.

And there is no way I'd be running my Porsche GTS at 190 mph with a plug.

I've had two flats on a motorcycle. First was when I was 16-17 on my brother's CB450 Blackhawk. I used to "borrow" it when he was not around and took it for short rides. One ride I had a slow leak a few miles from home but was able to slowly ride back to the garage and park it before it was flat. I generously pointed the flat out my brother so he could get it fixed. My second was on my FJR a few years ago in Broadus, MT on our way to Spearfish. The tire was near the end of it's life and took three sticky strings to plug. I rode it the 110 miles to Spearfish, but kept my speed down and stopped to check the pressure a few times; had to add air twice. Bought new tires from Bigjohnsd in Spearfish.

I recall that when John Ryan was staying with us in preparation for his Deadhorse to Key West ride he had more trouble grtting to Deadhorse than heading south to break the record. First trip north he got iced out and could not get up Atigan Pass. Second try he had a flat near Coldfoot. It was a nasty slice that took him seven sticky strings to get it to hold air, sorta. He made it back to Fairbanks and replaced the tire. Had he had mushroom plugs or some of the other plugging tools, I doubt it would have held air at all. He finally made it to Deadhorse on a third attempt, but punctured his oil pan south of Deadhorse and was towed in. Luckly, there are some mighty fine welders in the oil fields of Prudhoe and they fixed the oil pan for him. John was not sure how long the engine ran without oil before he got it stopped, but the bike made the run with no engine issues.

Good discussion and arguments for carrying more than one solution for flat repair. I'll be updating my tool kits.

I saw this on FB and thought it might be of interest especially for those of us with tubeless adventure bikes.

I think this might have saved me some serious time and effort after my rear tire was cut by a sharp arrowhead like rock on the Dalton Highway in 2019.
https://www.gluetread.com/store/p33...ct7LZ_3E27d97whjDPFk32k-UufszqgAHZ0PGtfPoAoB0

I read all their disclaimers about "Not for Motorcycles" I still think it might be worth having in a real pinch.

bigjohnsd said:

I saw this on FB and thought it might be of interest especially for those of us with tubeless adventure bikes.

I think this might have saved me some serious time and effort after my rear tire was cut by a sharp arrowhead like rock on the Dalton Highway in 2019.
https://www.gluetread.com/store/p33...ct7LZ_3E27d97whjDPFk32k-UufszqgAHZ0PGtfPoAoB0

I read all their disclaimers about "Not for Motorcycles" I still think it might be worth having in a real pinch.

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https://www.gluetread.com/
An interesting approach.

Best,
DG

GREGFEELER said:

I have tried and tried to appreciate Ryan FNine and I still find him self-important, condescending, and biased much of the time.

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Ironic. I find him self-deprecating, modest, and unbiased to corporate influence. Interesting how two people can see polar opposites when viewing the same thing.

I find Ryan’s video blogs funny, entertaining, and informative, (I actually learned how to use the tire repair kit I have on my bike that I’ve never had the “good fortune” to use in this video.)

I also think Ryan is the voice of the generation of riders, that we, the MOA, if we can set our biases and preconceived notions of what a rider “should be” aside, need in our club.

rangerreece said:

Ironic. I find him self-deprecating, modest, and unbiased to corporate influence. Interesting how two people can see polar opposites when viewing the same thing.

I find Ryan’s video blogs funny, entertaining, and informative, (I actually learned how to use the tire repair kit I have on my bike that I’ve never had the “good fortune” to use in this video.)

I also think Ryan is the voice of the generation of riders, that we, the MOA, if we can set our biases and preconceived notions of what a rider “should be” aside, need in our club.

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Reece,
To be clear, I have always been a strong supporter of reaching out and building bridges to Millennial, and younger, riders. You have seen my presentations to the Board about the Custom Bike culture going back six year, and more (and am still waiting for some initiative there). My opinion of Ryan FNine is totally a personality thing in how he comes across to me. But, more over, I think this tire plugger video is a perfect example of how many of his "tests" and "evaluations" miss the mark and don't provide accurate data.

GREGFEELER said:

I have tried and tried to appreciate Ryan FNine and I still find him self-important, condescending, and biased much of the time. But worse, I don't think his test criteria in this case is valid. Let's break this down.

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FWIW-

1. Drilling a hole into a tire is not a valid way to create a tire puncture. On occasion you will get a clean puncture like that from a nail that went in at a perfect 90 degrees to the tread, but most punctures the hole is a ragged mess because of the way the nail, piece of wire, glass, ragged metal, etc. went into and came out of the tire. So, he should have tested ragged holes with each of the plug kits and done so with a mounted tire he could inflate to check for air retention. Just inserting a plug/patch doesn't mean it's going to hold air.

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I know the head of a municipal fleet maintenance shop that has a cordless drill in the fleet maintenance truck. On small holes, the hole is drilled to the appropriate size for inserting the plug. I had never seen it but when questioned, he said "it allows the plug to be inserted without the radial steel tearing the plug". I think he has a point as in most "common" tire plugging that I have done, it's the second plug that works out- due to the actual hole being enlarged.

2. Pressing into the tire plug with a rod bears no analog to riding a plugged tire on the highway. In fact, as we all know, the centrifugal force of the tire will try to expel tire plugs so he should have figured out how to spin the tire while the tire was deforming under load just as it will be when being ridden. I see no validity in the "push" test he did.

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I have never considered a "plug" wanting to escape due to centrifugal force.....theoretically I guess it's possible.

3. He criticizes the mushroom plugger because in his opinion it's overly complicated and over priced - which is personal bias and has nothing to do with the performance of the product.

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Never have used the mushroom plugs. The patches I like the best are installed after a procedure from the inside- pulled from the inside. These are not practical on the road.

4. At the end he makes a statement that sounds like he will run a punctured tire (bike or car) with a rope plug until it wears out, which is something I wouldn't do or recommend, as it is in fact dangerous.

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I have never had a rope plug be it Safety Seal or Tech-2-Way fail. They have always lasted until the tire is/was changed. Like a lot of things, I think most things have a disclaimer nowadays .

I have used both the rope and mushroom pluggers and found one is better than the other for a given situation. I've use the glue from the rope pluggers on the mushroom plug at times to fix a hole nothing else would - which is why I carry both types of pluggers. In the end, it's your bike and your choice.

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For sure

OM

Where I live the rocks in my driveway or on the roads could dislodge an unglued mushroom plug inward. A bit of a freak occurrence maybe but certainly possible. I have had it happen. So now if I use a mushroom plug I also use glue. When I get a thorn or nail in an almost new truck or car tire I do not run right down and get a new tire. Bikes are different but for them it still "depends".

GREGFEELER said:

I have tried and tried to appreciate Ryan FNine and I still find him self-important, condescending, and biased much of the time. But worse, I don't think his test criteria in this case is valid...

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rangerreece said:

Ironic. I find him self-deprecating, modest, and unbiased to corporate influence. Interesting how two people can see polar opposites when viewing the same thing.

I find Ryan’s video blogs funny, entertaining, and informative, (I actually learned how to use the tire repair kit I have on my bike that I’ve never had the “good fortune” to use in this video.)

I also think Ryan is the voice of the generation of riders, that we, the MOA, if we can set our biases and preconceived notions of what a rider “should be” aside, need in our club.

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There are definitely as many impressions/reactions as there are people, and I agree with both of these differing impressions, to some degree.

First, I agree that he has a "self-deprecating, modest, and unbiased to corporate influence" presentation, however, I honestly feel that most of that is done for the camera. Don't think there isn't a degree of acting going on. It's like saying that "Reality TV" is something approaching reality and not scripted/directed/channeled in specific directions and tones.

I do believe that he shuns "corporate influence" but, I also feel that he wears that as a self-proclaimed badge of honour and at times manipulates the presentation and material to suit his narrative. Don't forget that he is paid to do this by a corporation and, I'm sure, gladly takes their money. He may well say that all the products that FortNine carries in a specific category are poor-to-useless (I've not heard him slam all), but he is getting paid to do that isn't he?

I find the majority of his videos entertaining and of interest but have seen him make so many bone-headed, poorly thought-out tests that have little to no validity that I no longer trust his methodology and have to resort to using common-sense which is from time to time lacking in his videos.

My three most frustrating examples were his very poor test parameters for 1) waterproof gear, 2) Comms systems, and 3) most glaringly of the R1250GS.

If you haven't seen his R1250GS rant, here it is below, where claims the bike is jerky in power delivery, etc., etc.
I have a 2019 R1250RT, and I've ridden an R1250GS all day in the dirt and on a race track, I've read and watched most professional reviews of the BMW 1250cc ShiftCam engine, and not once run across anything to make me believe the dribble that Ryan tries to sell in the video is anything other than fake. Virtually everyone has stated that it is extremely difficult to identify the switch (shift) in/of the cams and that the power delivery is very smooth and linear. That was certainly my experience with the 1250 engine while logging over 6,000 miles in dirt, track, mountains, and highways in less than a month on my R1250RT and an R1250GS.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cG8Z6RAaHb8" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

To get a better comparison of his lack of unbiased reporting, watch his 2017 review of the KTM 1290 Adventure R where he waxes about liking its 160HP and contrast that to him saying that the R1250GS has too much power for the dirt and is wasted (both have far more HP than anything needed for the dirt trails).

As I said earlier, he does some good work, but he also does some that I really feel is bad. YMMV

I find his presentation to be entertainining, the subjects he takes on to be appropriate and he does provide some very useful information, sometimes. His testing methodology, however, is sometimes sophomoric in its approach. Even I, with my 45 year old BS in a science (I can't quite remember what field it was in... alchemy, perhaps) know that his testing is insufficient to reach any reliable conclusions. One video that stands-out in this regard is the one he did on fuel stabilizers. He would be well served to get some advice from a qualified professional in developing his testing methodologies and in some cases even conducting the tests.

I walked into a big multi-brand moto dealer (Honda/Yamaha/Kawasaki) looking for a tire patch kit. I was told they don’t sell then because there is too much liability in case a patch fails. However if I was 18 and had $18,000, they would gladly sell me a 200hp Yamaha R1, and never even check the motorcycle endorsement on my license. Different views on what constitutes liability.

That's funny!

My experience with mushroom plugs has been bad. Used one on a very hot day on a Montana Interstate. It never really sealed the hole and had slow leak such that I had to add air almost every exit. The hole wasn't that big because I had to use their reamer to enlarge it to the right size. I finally found an auto parts store and bought some bacon strips. Problem solved. I couldn't believe how easy it was to push the mushroom into the tire. I'll never use them again.

rickdm said:

I walked into a big multi-brand moto dealer (Honda/Yamaha/Kawasaki) looking for a tire patch kit. I was told they don’t sell them because there is too much liability in case a patch fails. However if I was 18 and had $18,000, they would gladly sell me a 200hp Yamaha R1, and never even check the motorcycle endorsement on my license. Different views on what constitutes liability.

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And so would the manufacturer of the motorcycle. That is a joke!