Ducati Monster Forum

Found mine yesterday.  I didn't pull it out, but the bike is at home.  Seems the nail went in kind of sideways into the centerline of the tire. 
I'm going to get another rear tire, my front has about 40% life left.
Anybody put in a plug or pull the nail?  If the tire still holds air without the nail, my guess is its integrity would be severely depleted.
Just curious for some more input, fun times.

IZ moves across the country

;D

personally I'm not a fan of plugging a tire unless it's to get to the shop to replace it, no matter how much tread is left.  I'm always wondering when it will fail and for that reason alone I don't enjoy the ride.  you only have two wheels so double your chances of staying safe on new treads, IMO

That just happened to me last month... Got a nail in the rear tire and I ended up buying two new tires... I took the rims in myself and had them swap them at the shop. The funny thing was, when they took the old ones off, they asked me if I wanted to keep the rear since it had lots of tread left... DOH!

Best part was, 3 days later I had to switch tires on my cage too... it was an expensive week, close to $1200 total in tires haha :)

I get a new tire.

i plug and patch it.

I've generally had the luck to catch a nail, screw, or an allen wrench in my tire near the end of its tread life so I plug it and get to the shop when I can.  I find that a plug in the middle is less noticable than one on the edge since you can feel the difference the little bump makes when you are cornering more than when you are riding straight.  Plugs in any part of the tire have held for 500 miles at least.

Probably the definitive hole-in-tire threads of the board.

http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=31587.0 (http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=31587.0)

http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=16707.0 (http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=16707.0)

Personally I plug them. YMMV.

I carry a patch kit to get home then replace.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I cuss a lot.

 [laugh] [laugh]

I'll plug it tonight if the plug kit I have will work (it's the regular kind with the resin coated gummy stuff like licorice sticks) and order some tires online.  Does the tire really have to be plugged from the inside or could it be done for a temporary fix from the outside?
I'm down a car for about a month and this is making me crazzzzy sharing one truck with my wife and no bike!
 
I'll be curious to see if it even leaks air when I pull the nail out or not.

+1 on get a new tire

I had picked up a screw in my rear tire a while ago....i just replaced the tire ( i was gonna need a new tire anyways so thank gawd for timing)

Wouldn't a PM to IZ answer all your questions on this topic?

 ;D

All three flats I've gotten on the bike I've plugged with the standard licorice stick. and had no problems with it (just make sure to trim off most of what's sticking out of the tire.)  A patch on the inside would work better as a long-term thing if you're going to keep riding the tire.  I'll guarantee it leaks air when you pull the nail unless it's pin-sized. 

Plug is with a plug that kinda looks like a mushroom with a shrunken head. I got a huge nail in my tire 2 weeks after i got the bike, not even a 500km on it. Still riding with the plug 12000km later. No issues at all.

I plug and patch in my car, but not my bike.  I replace on my bike.  A slow leak on a moto can cause much more serious handling problems and be more dangerous IMO.

I let IZ know he missed one.

+1 replace the tire. Catching a flat / having the plug fail at speed on 2 wheels not as cool as doing it on 4.

So the choice is easy, 50% say plug 50% say new tire.

 [thumbsup]

After riding on a new tire for about 100 miles, I had this happen a few seasons ago.  Luckly, it only got the top patch and nothing else.  I pulled it out and was able to use normally.
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2804/4477059775_6e125758c4.jpg)

Patch on the inside works great for me. I have two of them on my rear tire right now, and have for the last 2000 miles. No problems with them at all.

pull the nail, it may or may not leak if it didnt go straight in, or if it was a broken nail to begin with ( i get alot of those)

the proper way to do it is to plug it from the inside. many many people have done it from the outside and put thousands of miles on it.

i just did both because mine was fairly large. if you have a kit with its own glue, buy another one. 9/10 times the little small ass pack of glue is weaksauce.

If I remove the intruder and it leaks, new tire.  If it ain't leaking, nothing to fix in my opinion.  On my cars, I'll patch from the inside.

Last time, I also plugged my tire from the inside. Rode for a while with no problems at all. Finally replaced the tire when I had a trackday coming up, just to be sure.

New tank, handle bar, rearset and cans = $3,500 or so

New tire is $150 ish

$3500>$150 it's cheap insurance

If i pull it out and it lets air out it's time to put a new one on

I believe standard practice is to take a IZ_ picture of it.

I broke standard practice this time, regretfully, no pictures.
I pulled it out, it was the top half of a nail in sideways similar to the above picture, but only an entry hole.
It haven't lost any air pressure in the back tire, but I've lost a lot of peace of mind about it.

Y'all worry too much. Even if the plug utterly fails at some point it's more likely to be a leak than a catastophic blowout.


If I still had a duc I'd be buying up these punctured tires left and right and running them until they were completely shagged just to prove it ain't that big a deal.

Plug & Ride

If any one has tires with nails in 'em you can send 'em my way. [bacon]

On the street, plug it and ride, 

When it happened to me, I asked around my MC friends and not one could ever recall an instance a mushroom plug failing, not even a friend of a friend story...  but I did get a few had stories of multiple plugs in 1 tire and still going strong

My record is six.



On a cross country trip.





Before I started.  ;D

^LOL^

You are a brave man.  I would not attempt that.

It's been a few days now and the air pressure is holding fine.  What do you guys think about that?  I can't plug the tire if it's not leaking. 
I'm getting mixed responses from people, some saying I should change the tire anyway and some saying just keep riding.  I don't want to be stupid and: end up on the asphalt because of the tire that took the nail, or buy new tires when I have perfectly fine ones with life left in them.
 

   I used to run a tire till You could see the air in it!  plugs, patches, duct tape, whatever. I can afford tires a little easier now but still wouldn't change one for a small nailhole. If YOU are not confident in YOUR tires, then You better change them, I have proven to Myself that a plug or patch is just fine for a small hole with minor cord damage. just my .02

If you pulled the nail out and the tire is holding air give thanks to the motorcycle gods and ride on.

+1.  I get a lot of nails in my tires, unfortunately.  I'm not coming near the performance potential of these tires on the street, so I have no problem riding with a patch.

Do you live near or ride with IZ?

just bite it and buy a new one.  bike tires are not like car tires.  you can plug them, but since they are not flat, i would not trust it.

most places will not plug within about 1 inch from the sidewall because of the rounded area -- the whole of the motorcycle tire is rounded, so...

Patch plug.

-Jeff

.... I had a new perelli with 700 mi on it that got a screw in it (yes my tire was litterally screwed); I was told plugging wasn't safe; I got the plug and worried for the first 200 mi; 2500 mi still going strong ....after 200 miles of worry, I thought the new tire guy was just trying to sell tires; or cover his liability ass; some shops will not plug tires; they say liability; I say they want to sell tires ...what may happen is some fibers may be cut, a mushroom plug is designed to be installed from the inside and compensate for this; right?

my 2 cents ...

I just googled the mushroom plug:

(http://www.hayabusa.org/forum/attachments/general-bike-related-topics/111494d1219477192-back-norcal-moto-paradise-never-gets-old-img_1634_tire_plug.jpg)

It seems my tire repair guy used a different plug, the patch inside the tire had a diameter of about 2", and was glued in. There was also a small cilinder that filled the hole, like the narrow part of the mushroom plug. Anyone know these type of plugs?

that's a standard plug that is applied from INSIDE the tyre.  the mushroom plug is shoved in from the outside (hence the shape)

the type you have is superior, imho, because it has a far larger surface area which is glued to the inside surface of the tyre.

the small cylinder is part of the patch.  the hole is reamed smooth and the cylinder is put in with vulcanizing glue on the cylinder and flat portion.

i am not a fan of patching motorcycle tyres, but i would want that patch over one pushed in from outside.

if you pay shipping, sure. 

 [thumbsup]

If the nail is in there and not leaking too much air - I ride it somewhere to get it fixed. Otherwise I use the licorice strip plugs to get me somewhere. At which point I then get a proper plug installed from the inside and ride the arse off it.

I've done two plugs in the one tyre; the general rule regarding multiple plugs is if the holes are cutting the same bit of belting, then that's bad (cause the belting will be substantially weaker). Otherwise, get plugged. :P.

I've noticed a number of responses in favor of plug and patch, and was wondering how many here would buy a used tire that had a nail in it, but lots 'o deep tred, and then simply plug and patch.

Anyone?

Bueller?

If it's in the middle of the tire, I pull the tire and take it to the tire store down the road.   They use vulcanizing patches, clamp them all down until they are adhered, and $6.00 later, I'm down the road.   If it is off to the side, towards the sidewall, I get a new tire.

It's just a bike guys, not the image statement a lot of people seem to think it is.   It's just a tire.

Yeah, not really sure where that's coming from given the context of this thread.    ???

I would without hesitation.

actually, come to think of it, if the nail was directly in the center, i would patch/plug it. 

depends on price, type/brand of tire, and amount of tread left.   [coffee]

Some people seem to think that since it is a Ducati, they must do the most expensive things possible to it, ie; $150 grips, race compound tires, change a tire because of the way it looks, refuse to patch a tire because of some idea that it is the poor mans way to do it, lots of that shit going on. At least, that is what I'm seeing.    Maybe you see it different.

The only posts I've seen about changing a tire involve safety, not looks.


And unless you're doing something really bizarre I've yet to see one where a plug/patch was obvious.

+1

Well, if you say you've seen that sort of thing, then I believe that you in fact have seen it.  But I haven't seen it at all.  Sure, I've seen some spend lots 'o money on their bike, heck, I have.  But I don't know anyone who is spending money on bikes and mods BECAUSE it costs a lot of money.  Rather, in my experience it is done in spite of the cost because, well, for many reasons, not the least of which is a moth to flame type reaction to really beautiful moto stuff.

This is from years back, brand new Metzler, didn't even have the nibs rubbed off the center yet.  Found someones lost keys stuck in it.  Plugged it to get home, and it held and held, ended up riding it out.

Unless around toward the sidewall, plug, patch whatever.

my .02 and I have fixed AL LOT of tires in my time.

I take the bike home, pull the nail out, remove the wheel, partially remove the tire, install a patch on the inside, reinstall everything, and then ride on the tire until I see cords.