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[dkw12002]

....in my rear tire last evening. I drove a bit on it flat to get home anyway and took the tire in to AF1 racing this morning and they had a new tube installed in 15 min. 

You know how when you reposition the drive belt you have to slant the wheel a bit toward the right side to have enough room to slip the belt back on the sprocket? Well it was either that opening up the brake pads a little more or the grease I put on the axle which had very little on it I noticed, but anyway, the bike is easier to move in and out of my garage now. It seems to ride better than before too. I mean before the flat tire. The thing that's nice about this bike is that you don't need to adjust the drive belt when changing a tire cause removing the rear wheel does not alter the belt position. Just put it back the way it was and the belt will be exactly the same as it was too. The belt is adjusted using motor mount bolts, not from the back like with other motorcycles. Anyway, my Zero is a 2011 S, so if your rear tire is not spinning like it should, it might need a little axle grease or brake pad adjustment.

[manlytom]

funny that dkw12002

 I pulled a nail out of my tire laste weekend. wanted to go for a quick ride and just saw the nail in there. The tire still had pressure OK so I played with the thought to run it to the dealer (15km away). Looked at the wheel closely and concluded that I can do it myself, pulled the nail out and so far have not lost air pressure  When looking at the belt etc. I was considering to loosen the belt tension by moving the motor backwards. Good to hear that this is not needed it seems. Reminds me as well to stock replacement tubes.

by the way my 2011S does roll easily and no problems. Maybe a very slight noise on the rear brake touching the disk, but no groves in the disk or so to indicate a stone or other problems.

[rotoiti]

Apologies for hijacking the thread

Speaking of tires and nails in them. Does anyone know if 2012 DS has tubes? I have seen conflicting info on this subject. I would like to know before I collect a nail in my tire...

[protomech]

Most spoked wheels have tubes, and I believe the DS does as well.

[Richard230]

If you have spokes in your wheels and do not own a BMW or Moto Guzzi, you have tubes in your tires.  Tubes mean that you can run low pressures in your tires without them coming off the rim, but you also run the risk of a nail causing a flat without any warning that will deflate your tire in seconds.  If that happens you have to get out of traffic very quickly.

If the nail did not tear the tube, you might be able to temporarily seal the leak using a large tube of Slime so that you can get back home, assuming that you have a small bicycle air pump with you to re-inflate the tube.  Otherwise you will have to remove the rear wheel, break the tire bead and remove one side of the tire from the wheel, pull the tube out of the wheel, install a patch or a new tube, re-install the tube, remount the tire and replace the wheel to get going again.

If you have tubeless tires, like the Zero S or Empulse R, all you need to do is to plug the tire to seal the leak with a commercial tire plugging system, re-inflate the tire and be on your way.  That is why I really like tubeless tires. Not only are they easy to repair, but when they do pick up  a nail, they deflate very slowly and it may even take several days for the leak to be noticed. Plus, they are easier to mount on the wheel and tend to run cooler, weigh less and you don't have to replace a $15 tube when you change tires.  I was very happy when I noticed that the Zero S came with tubeless wheels.

[craigq]

If you have spokes in your wheels and do not own a BMW or Moto Guzzi, you have tubes in your tires. 

Pssst, Husaberg, KTM, a couple of others have tubeless spoked wheels 

[dkw12002]

But Richard, don't some people recommend not trying to repair a tubeless tire except to get home or at the dealer to buy a new one? My car tires are tubeless and whenever I get a  puncture in one of those, they always sell me a new tire. Is that as sales gimmick? I did find this: http://www.examiner.com/article/motorcycle-101-patch-or-replace-that-punctured-tire

[Richard230]

I hate to say it, considering all of the industry advice about not riding far on a plugged tire, but I have plugged several new tires (if your tire is going to pick up a nail, it will always do so when it is new) and they have held air for the life of the tire - which has been as much as 6000 miles. I have never had a plugged tire fail.

I plugged the rear tire on my Yamaha FZ1 a couple of years ago. I ran that tire down to the wear bars and the plug held without leaking air.  I have tried lots of plugging methods, but the best system seems to be the cheap auto radial tire strips sold in auto supply stores.  They are a real bitch to insert into a steel belted tire, but if you can do it they will last for the life of the tire, in my experience. The wost system was the one that came with BMW tool kits. It seemed to be designed to fail after about 50 miles. They no longer provide a tire plugging kit with their new tool kits, which frankly suck, compared to the stock very high-quality tool kits of 20 or 30 years ago.

[rotoiti]

If you have spokes in your wheels and do not own a BMW or Moto Guzzi, you have tubes in your tires. 

The dealer claimed the DS has tubeless wheels.

[Richard230]

If you have spokes in your wheels and do not own a BMW or Moto Guzzi, you have tubes in your tires.  

The dealer claimed the DS has tubeless wheels.

I am pretty sure the dealer is misinformed or confused. If the wheels have spokes and are not cast wheels, like the "S" model, then they will have tubes. There are a few wheels with spokes on the market, such as used by BMW, which fasten the spokes to the outside of the rim, or attach to the rim without going through it, such as Moto Guzzi uses, but these wheels are very expensive (I think the BMW wheels sell for something like $800 each) and relatively heavy.  Plus, they don't come in the sizes used by the DS. Most likely your dealer was just thinking about the cast wheels used on the "S".

[Electric Cowboy]

I had the same thing happen to me, I took the wheel off my bike outside a ducati dealer and rode my electric scooter to a honda to get the tire and tube replaced.

[craigq]

My turn for a nail today. Far enough from home that I called a flatbed tow truck.

Now the decision to replace only the tube or the tire and the tube, won't know until I take it apart and check out the inside of the tire...

[dkw12002]

It's a dangerous world for tires out there on the asphalt jungle. Right after I punctured my tire, I started collecting items laying on the road around my area that could puncture a tire if you rode over it. Mostly, I gathered them as I was walking my dog, but a few I would spot on my bike and stop to pick them up. I have 23 pieces of stuff...nails, screws, and bolts mostly. I would stay away from new construction if I could. That's where most of the stuff comes from.