With that many stallions in the stable -it is time to learn how to do tires. Get a set of Motion Pro tire irons and get with it. It is a learned skill to do it fast and without busting your knuckles. Doing it slow without busting your knuckles is within the realm of most dirt bike riders. Without this skill a riding/camping trip can become a disaster/washout pretty easily from any number of causes.
"Leaky" tires always end up going flat sometime during a ride and destroying the tube and sometimes the tire. Either find the leak and patch it or replace the tube.
If you take it in make sure you tell the shop what the problem is and that they need to inspect the tire from the inside. There can frequently be a thorn sticking just into the inside that you can't see from the outside. When I say thorn I don't mean rose, I mean Ocotillo bush, 3-4" long and strong enough to pierce leather, rubber, denim and dang near anything else it gets into. Especially when they have cured in the desert sun.
If you do the change yourself make sure you check for this. It only takes a couple of extra minutes to pull the full tire off and inspect it. Just focus on not pinching the tube while putting it back in.
With 15 bikes (includes kids) in our camp on a busy weekend it's something we do ourselves all the time but you can almost always find a local guy willing to do it for $20 plus parts.
Don't take life too seriously, it's not permanent.
06 Weekend Warrior FSC3200 pulled by 05 Ford F250 PSD 4x4
07 Yamaha YZF450 White/Silver, 05 Yamaha YFZ450 White/Red
94 Husqvarna WXC610, 2008 Polaris RZR 800
Ok I used the soap and water trick. Valve stem area is fine. I found some bubbles coming from the other bolt and nut that sticks out of inside of rim???Dont know what that bolt does? I could tighten it but not really sure what it is for and what I need to do. Appears thats the source of air loss? Thanks for all the help.
code3run wrote: Ok I used the soap and water trick. Valve stem area is fine. I found some bubbles coming from the other bolt and nut that sticks out of inside of rim???Dont know what that bolt does? I could tighten it but not really sure what it is for and what I need to do. Appears thats the source of air loss? Thanks for all the help.
.... other bolt and nut .....That is the Rim Lock Assembly. This needs to be kept tight or the tire can slip on the rim. Air will come from here normally if you air up a flat tire. You need to breakdown the tire and do the soapy water inspection on the tube to find the leak or just replace. I always air up new tubes before installing -don't wan to install a faulty tube.
Thanks for the you tube video. They make it look very easy. I will do it myself and change the tube. Cant be that hard. The video explained the rim lock thanks.
practice with the tire changing. for the first try I would get a heavy duty tube, not ultra heavy duty as they are harder. Take your time and take little "bites" on the tire when putting it back on to avoid pinching the tube. A little baby powder inside the tire helps as does some soapy water on the tire bead. I've changed so many tires/tubes I couldn't begin to tell you how many. I've also pinched my fair share of tubes!
Follow up: I took tire in for repair. He pulled a long nail out that went in through one of the nobbys. New tire tube all for only 25 bucks which is a smoking deal I thought. I Ran a couple errands and returned home to put tire back on and it was flat again! Took it back and he pulled the rest of the nail out fixed it again and all is good.
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