[Tommie]

Anyone heard of a process for laced wheels that allows tubeless tires to be run on them without a tube? My dealer mentioned this to me as an option to running tubes in my tires on my Ultra Classic.
Anyone had this done and if so what was the cost?

 

[Markcuda]

So, on my 03 road King Classic with the wire wheels, will the tires be tubeless or tube:confused?

 

[Tommie]

If you have wire (laced) wheels, you will have tubes in your tires. They look great, but are more prone to going down in a hurry if you have a flat, unlike the tubeless tire going down slowly. Something to think about when you are zipping down the road slightly over the speed limit.

 

[Markcuda]

Tommie, thank you for the reply Yes, I do like the looks of the wire wheels.

 

[ziggyhd1]

There are some aftermarket laced wheels that allow tubeless, J&P has 'em.So maybe thats what the dealer was talking about.

 

[Tommie]

My dealer was talking about sending my wheels to Dallas to have something done to them so I could run tubeless tires on them. I will have to ask him about this the next time I am over there.

 

[dawalta]

Tommie,

He's probably talking about American Wheel which is in Denton (about 25 miles or so N. of Dallas). American Wheel manufactures lace wheels that run tubeless tires. They have a process of sealing up the spoke holes with some kind of sealant. As it's been told to me......they place a flat 'disc' on either side of the wheel. One of these discs has a hose attached so they can create a vacuum inside the wheel. They spread the sealant around the inside of the rim and the vacuum 'pulls' the sealant thru the spoke holes. That's as it was explained to me by someone that went there and bought a set of wheels and was able to watch the process.

There's another place in Gainesville, Texas (another 30 miles north of Denton.....just barely in Texas). They apparently have a similar process.

I'll be your dealer suggested sending your wheels to American Wheels and have them do the process but I'm not sure it works that way. I think their wheels are designed so that they can do it.

For what it's worth......I've heard people talk about them losing air. But I believe that American Wheel guarantees that they will hold air.

 

[Tommie]

Thanks for the information. I will ask my dealer if that is who he is talking about. Sounds like something to consider having done. But so far, I have put 6,800 miles on the laced wheels with no problems. Just depends on how expensive the process is.

 

[JimmyK]

Ok, I have to ask. Why do you want laced wheels that run tubeless tires?

 

[Tommie]

Heck JimmyK..........I've been told it is much safer to run tubeless tires.
Tubes blowing out going down the highway can be a nasty experience.
So I have been told.

This might be a good question to ask all the folks on this forum.

 

[JimmyK]

OK, now keep the thought going.... Why would a "tube" blow out going down the Highway?

Seems to me a tube will lose air slower than a tire without a tube.

 

[Tommie]

Ok............been told but never experienced it and hope I never do.
Get a hole punched in a tube and the tire is completely flat in 30 feet. Not much time to break and get off the road when doing 75 mph.
Get a hole in a tubeless tire and it goes down nice and slow.
Anyone out there had any experiences with tube tires blowing out?
Pros and Cons of tubeless vs. tube tires.

I know there sure is a bunch of rubber on the interstate left by big truck tires blowing out and most of them look like most of them have tubes in them.

Heck............I'm confussed now for sure!

 

[Rocko]

New here so bear with me. Had a tire(tube) blow last October on 1A in Daytona going about 35 MPH packing wife. Pop flat, that fast no idea why it blew (no holes in tire) could have been something in the tire but, I couldn't find anything, just 2" tear in tube. In regards to tubeless spoked wheels there's a company in CA that will convert your existing laced wheels to tubeless for not a lot of money (plan on sending mine out when snow flies) address is http://supersitegte.com/wheelworks/door/hope this info helps.

 

[Markcuda]

Rocko, the link won't open for me

 

[Rocko]

Sorry try http://www.supersitegte.com/wheelworks

 

[Tommie]

Thanks for the reply and link Rocko. Anybody else have some tire blowout war stories to share with us?

 

[dawalta]

Well......I had it happen YEARS ago. Picked up a nail while riding one Saturday afternoon about 70 miles from home. Riding thru a State Park with my wife on the back. Stopped in the park to see some sites. Came back and the rear was flat......big nail in it. I never noticed it while riding so it had to go down slow. I'm probably one of the lucky ones. (for those that would ask......no, I don't think anybody put it there).

I think the big plus for going tubeless is the advantage of being able to fix it immediately with a plug repair kit. However, with that said, I've also heard stories about riders hitting road trash (like large pieces of lumber, etc) and tube tires surviving. Supposedly because a tubeless tire could pop the bead and immediately loose all air whereas the tube tire would not. So I've been told. Kinda hard to believe but what do I know. Don't know if it truth or Urban Legend.

 

[Rocko]

I don't know if that's true or not but, I do know if I hit something big enough to to pop a bead on a tire (and don't crash) I 'm not really careing if it's tube or tubeless I'm parked until the pucker subsides!

 

[Buzz]

I have a laced wheel 73 sportster, suposedly with a welded two piece rim, it needs a tube but it has a tubless tire on it. About 5 yrs ago I was keeping with traffic on the interstate doing 70ish and slowly I began loosing speed so I gave it more gas eventualy I figured somthing was wrong pulled off to the side and seen I had a flat and rode it to a gas station to make a phone call and trailered it home. It seemed the rust that built up on the inside of the rim and wore away at the tube. No big deal just buffed the rust out painted the inside of the rim and got a new band to place over the spoke nipples and havent had a problem since.

 

[Tommie]

This is good stuff! Keep it up folks. Any more tire / tube issues out there we should be aware of? Let's hear those war stories.
Heading to Ruidoso NM this morning for the bike rally up there. I'll be back.............