Tire Repair Kit

[darcym]

I've got this kit in with the tools for the bike.
http://i5.tinypic.com/20jsndt.jpg

I have no idea what this stuff does, other than the gold cylinder which I assume is compressed air. I almost threw away the blue mesh thingy, until I saw it in this picture and figured it has to have some purpose.

Does any one know or have a link to instructions on how to use this, should I ever have a flat and need it? Would be nice to know what goes where ahead of time, rather than fumbling with it in the dark somewhere.

[NZPOM]

Apologies for the long post. But hopefully it'll help!


School Play Drama

The lights go out. Silence. (pause). BANG! As the lights go up, the drama teacher hastily re-takes their seat having just set off a starting pistol. This is Macbeth, but set in 1930’s gangsterland New York. Bizarre?

Despite the various explosions during the show, none of them reminded me of the loud BANG that came from the back wheel as I made my way to school that evening. At the time, I thought it was just a stone being ricocheted from underneath the tyre. Umh, I wonder how far that flew?

The play over, back to the bike and all kitted up ready to roll. The boss had already gone in the car, with me confident that I’d pass her on the motorway. Push the bike off its stand. Roll it forward a few feet (just a little check to make sure all locks had been removed). Blimey, this is hard work. Must be the broken tar seal in the car park. Lean bike onto sidestand and walk around it.

Bugger! Now I know what that BANG was, as the back rim rests heavily on the deflated tyre. Bugger again. Ring boss to tell her to turn around – her mobile’s switched off. Bugger for the third time.

OK, think. Ouch, that hurts. I’m too close to home for the AA to help. It’s too late to ring anyone with a trailer to pick us (me and the bike) up. It’ll be half an hour or so before the boss realises that I didn’t beat her home, and she won’t want to drive back to pick me up. Think again.

It’s a BMW for heavens sake. BMW’s come with a puncture repair kit. Great! But hang on a minute. This is the first puncture I’ve had in twenty years of riding, so my experience of fixing punctures is, err, nil. Oh well, first time for everything.

It’s dark but fortunately the school security lights provide pretty good lighting to work under. It doesn’t take long to find the offending item poking its shiny little head through the half worn rubber. (Keep it clean please). Pliers? Make mental note to John Glasswell to recommend pliers are included in tool kits in future. Spend the next twenty minutes trying to pull this metal object from the tyre. The 8cm metal shard falls to the ground – no wonder it went bang. OK, now let’s fix it.

First - rip open the little plastic packet. Next – gather up all those bits that fell out and rolled into the darkness. Instructions? Kiwi blokes wouldn’t need these, but I’m not a Kiwi. Unfortunately the kit also lacks a magnifying glass which would help read the small print.

So let’s get started. Coat the funny shaped metal tool with the blue glue, push this into hole and wiggle. Yeah right, as if this is really gonna work? This is supposed to apply sealant to inside the tyre as well as through the hole. Next, take one of the funny rubber plugs that look enormously big and in no way in the world will these fit through the hole, and hook it onto the metal tool. Fishermen will have an advantage here. Coat this plug with even more blue glue. Now for the moment of truth.

Take the funny shaped metal tool with the huge rubber insert, dripping with blue glue and push it into the hole. Don’t wiggle it this time. Just push it straight in and then pull out the tool. You’ll know whether this part has been successful because the funny shaped metal tool that you’re now holding, does not have the huge rubber plug hanging off it. If it does, it didn’t work.

You glance down at the tyre and you heart stops as you notice half of this plug hanging, like some twisted intestine, out of the hole. Not a very neat job, but hold on. There is another little tool in the kit that you haven’t used yet – a knife! Great stuff, slice off the top of the plug and hey presto – one hole plugged (we hope).

Finally, the fun bit. Take the three little cylinders and line them up so that you can grab each one quickly when required. Fix the white plastic adapter to the tyre valve and take a deep breath before picking up the first of the cylinders. The instructions say to swap these over quickly once they’re discharged they load into the rubber (keep it clean!).

GO! Whoosh. poo. Now you release what that silly blue netting thingy is for. Nevermind, too late. As the feeling returns to your momentarily frozen fingers, you’ll remember next time to use it. One, two, three. You hold your breath. Is the tyre inflated? Can you ride home? How long will it last? Only one way to find out.

After clearing the scene of debris and donning the riding gear again, a tentative tap of the toe on the tyre reveals a little pressure. So, now for the 60kph ride down the motorway, or maybe cutting through town would be better, less frustrating.

For fear of encouraging the tyre to do likewise, you daren’t exhale. It feels like you’ve been holding your breath for a full twenty minutes, whilst picking your way through only the smoothest pieces of road, braking gently, accelerating gently, cornering almost upright – all to avoid undue stress on the patch.

Mission accomplished. We made it safely home.

This record has been totally dramatised and wildly embellished for the purposes of my ego only. There is only a faint correlation with actual events.

The tyre was replaced the next day (thanks Kerry, excellent service as usual) and a new repair kit purchased (only marginally more expensive than just replacing the cylinders). Let’s hope that this won’t be needed for at least another twenty years! About the same time before I want to see another version of MacBeth.


H.P.

[popgazer]

There should be a brochure on how to use the kit in that box.

[Motorrad]

There should be a brochure on how to use the kit in that box.

Oh, but the story was by far more entertaining!

Nice job NZPOM.

[ArtieMS]

NZPOM,
Nice explanation.

BTW does the POM part of your name indicate anything?
When in Australia years ago they referred to the British as Pommies.

[popgazer]

There should be a brochure on how to use the kit in that box.

Oh, but the story was by far more entertaining!

Nice job NZPOM.

I agree, totally !
I realized NZPOM posted his story while I was typing in my post.

[jhelm]

I don't care about the little tire kit anymore....just tell us another story please!

[triggerfish]

So let’s get started. Coat the funny shaped metal tool with the blue glue, push this into hole and wiggle. Yeah right, as if this is really gonna work? This is supposed to apply sealant to inside the tyre as well as through the hole. Next, take one of the funny rubber plugs that look enormously big and in no way in the world will these fit through the hole, and hook it onto the metal tool. H.P.

This morning, I noticed my bike seemed lower than usual and not as bouncy, just before I left my garage. I then discovered a 3-inch nail stuck deep in the middle of my rear tire. The advice about the pliers is sound. It probably should come with the tool and tire repair kits. The funny looking (8-shaped) rubber plugs did look enormously big to fit into the small hole and I sort of proved it later. Putting a lot of faith in the BMW kit, I followed the instructions to the letter and pushed the needle with the cement coated rubber into the hole. After 3 rubbers got torn off the needle and remained fully outside the tire, I assumed the rubbers where just old so I motored a few houses down to a neighbor with a new BMW Montauk cruiser, who was generous enough to lend me his tire repair kit.

After another 2 failed attempts, I'm now down to one rubber thingy which I don't dare use anymore. I'm calling in the cavalry (BMW service center) to get my bike and have the tire replaced.

I'm just glad I didn't get a flat tire in the middle of nowhere. In my incapable hands, the repair kit is useless.

[riceburner]

So let’s get started. Coat the funny shaped metal tool with the blue glue, push this into hole and wiggle. Yeah right, as if this is really gonna work? This is supposed to apply sealant to inside the tyre as well as through the hole. Next, take one of the funny rubber plugs that look enormously big and in no way in the world will these fit through the hole, and hook it onto the metal tool. H.P.

This morning, I noticed my bike seemed lower than usual and not as bouncy, just before I left my garage. I then discovered a 3-inch nail stuck deep in the middle of my rear tire. The advice about the pliers is sound. It probably should come with the tool and tire repair kits. The funny looking (8-shaped) rubber plugs did look enormously big to fit into the small hole and I sort of proved it later. Putting a lot of faith in the BMW kit, I followed the instructions to the letter and pushed the needle with the cement coated rubber into the hole. After 3 rubbers got torn off the needle and remained fully outside the tire, I assumed the rubbers where just old so I motored a few houses down to a neighbor with a new BMW Montauk cruiser, who was generous enough to lend me his tire repair kit.

After another 2 failed attempts, I'm now down to one rubber thingy which I don't dare use anymore. I'm calling in the cavalry (BMW service center) to get my bike and have the tire replaced.

I'm just glad I didn't get a flat tire in the middle of nowhere. In my incapable hands, the repair kit is useless.

without seeing how you were doing it - it's possible you had the rubber bung in the wrong part of the eye-hook?

I've used em about 3 times - worked like a charm each time - first 2 weren't even on my bike!!

[challey]

The one time I had to fix a puncture happened as a result of a machine screw in the tire. After I discovered the puncture and resulting slow leak, I was able to leave the screw in place until I got home. I then took the wheel off, dismounted the tire, removed the screw and used a radial tire patch. I know that some would have replaced the tire (and certainly don't want to start another replace vs repair thread) but I'm convinced that a patch is pretty safe repair method.

This is the ideal situation though - fixing a flat on the road is one experience I haven't enjoyed and don't look forward to. Though quite a few have had success with the standard repair kit, I think I'd feel more comfortable with a plug type repair. One of my acquisions this winter will be one of these http://www.stopngo.com/plugger.asp along with a battery-operated pump like one of these http://www.adventurersworkshop.com/sparrow.htm so that I don't have to rely on the CO2 cartridges.

[Paul Mihalka]

For a battery operated pump I found this one in Cabelas and purchased it. Seems to be high quality, small, light, good storage housing. All it needed is a BMW plug to connect to the bike.
http://cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates ... hasJS=true

[NoRRmad]

I use challey's rig; Sparrow compressor, and a Stop'n'Go Pocket Plugger. I've only had to use the plugger once, but it worked fine, the compressor took maybe five minutes to pump up a completely flat tire.

[Kazushi]

Actually during a trip a friend got a flat almost in the middle of nowhere !
The kit was 2 years old and proved worthless, we managed to get a hold of an oem kit, this one held on for about 100 km and then came off ! we finally sent the bike home by auto club !

I haven't still replaced the kit, I'm not really confident with the BMW kit !
Some shots of our mishap follow:

So let’s get started. Coat the funny shaped metal tool with the blue glue, push this into hole and wiggle. Yeah right, as if this is really gonna work? This is supposed to apply sealant to inside the tyre as well as through the hole. Next, take one of the funny rubber plugs that look enormously big and in no way in the world will these fit through the hole, and hook it onto the metal tool. H.P.

This morning, I noticed my bike seemed lower than usual and not as bouncy, just before I left my garage. I then discovered a 3-inch nail stuck deep in the middle of my rear tire. The advice about the pliers is sound. It probably should come with the tool and tire repair kits. The funny looking (8-shaped) rubber plugs did look enormously big to fit into the small hole and I sort of proved it later. Putting a lot of faith in the BMW kit, I followed the instructions to the letter and pushed the needle with the cement coated rubber into the hole. After 3 rubbers got torn off the needle and remained fully outside the tire, I assumed the rubbers where just old so I motored a few houses down to a neighbor with a new BMW Montauk cruiser, who was generous enough to lend me his tire repair kit.

After another 2 failed attempts, I'm now down to one rubber thingy which I don't dare use anymore. I'm calling in the cavalry (BMW service center) to get my bike and have the tire replaced.

I'm just glad I didn't get a flat tire in the middle of nowhere. In my incapable hands, the repair kit is useless.

[pneuby]

A customer was just telling me of his success with this kit....

http://www.stopngo.com/plugger.asp

He used it on his wife's R1200C, on the road, without having read the instructions or practiced. While it's not recommended of course, she ended up putting four-thousand more miles on the tire prior to replacing it. He's also used it on his car with great success.

[NoRRmad]

I notice nobody has mentioned using the 'rasp' that's included both in the Stop'n'Go and the OEM repair kits. I attended a tire repari seminar at the local BMW dealer once, and the tech said you should work the rasp in and out of the hole (keep it clean, please,) "until your hand gets tired," before putting the plug in. Smoothing and enlarging the hole might reduce the friction, and keep from breaking the plugs.

[R4R&R]

I've successfully used the BMW kit two times but both were in a location that wouldn't have required a call for a tow. A third time I happened to get a flat on my way to work and had to do a roadside repair. At that time I still had the CO2 cannisters to fill the tire but a diffeent style plug. The head mechanic at my local BMW dealer gave me some of those sticky rope type plugs and said to throw away the junk BMW plugs. Anyway, the repair worked a third time but since then I never replaced the CO2 cannisters and bought a small compressor from Wal-Mart and removed the plastic cover. It rides on top of my airbox now and I haven't had a need for it. I hope it stays that way.

[dnat928]

For whatever it's worth, I had to plug my R1150 rear tire recently (picked up a screw - the tire that is...). I used my garden variety plug kit from common auto parts stores. And yes, I did use the rasp 'til my arm got tired - to get the hole large enough to shove in the plug holder. In this case, the plug is a rope like material infused with very sticky rubber. Putting on a blob of glue, and shoving the stuff into the tire makes a gooey mess, but it works. I clip off the remaining gooey plug rope with nippers, then inflate the tire and spit on the plug...no bubbles, no leak.

The plug-n-go looks like it has a more sophisticated plug that the gooey rope - I'll probably buy one of these for future plugging.

I have probably used my gooey rope plugs for half-dozen auto tire plugging operations. All save for one were successful on a permanent basis. The one that hasn't worked was an auto tire that picked up a large chunk of metal wedge material. I had to put three plugs in, it worked for a while, but it started a small leak a few months later. It has been demoted to spare - and I WILL be putting another plug this weekend - and regular pressure checks.