► Tyre choices and emergency repairs

[thomo57]

Thanks folks - have printed out thread and given it to he who sorts out all that sort of thing with my choice highlighted. Whether I get them or not depends I suppose!

Mind you if he wants to eat supper........

GEm
What is your choice?
you can't leave us hanging....

 

[GEm]

I sort of chose Anakees (coz I like the name) but himself says based on the survey stuff I'm getting battlewings.

So he's got salad for supper!

 

[GunZenBomZ]

I'd happily go back to Battlewings. Got some of my lowest foot peg scraps with them. Looking for better lasting tyre's in the long run now.

 

[Fast2Martin]

Anakee's

Hey.
My F800 was delivered with Anakee's, and they've soon rolled 8500Kms. And I think they are good for up to 9000Kms. Perfect On-road tires, and OK for gravel roads. They should take you safely up the road to your farm house in France where you can make him a better salad with at least some kind of meat in it...

Martin

 

[Homer1968]

Roadside punture repairs

Folks what punture repair kits do use on your F800GS. Bearing in mind its tubed so stop and go wont work(How i laughed when i found out. Not. DOH). Im planning to take a spare tube each for front and rear when i go to the pyrenees Its just limping to the garage. All bright ideas greatfully accepted

cheers in advance

 

[v8legend]

How about some tyre levers, and a puncture repair outfit. The puncture itself is easy to fix, it's breaking the bead that's the problem.

 

[GunZenBomZ]

3 tyre levers.

 

[Wookie]

If your in europe id just take whats needed to repair the puncture (levers and repair kit). When went to morroco i tock spare tubes as well (1 set for 2 bikes though) as id heard tubes were a nightmare to source if needed.

w00kie

 

[fireman]

Punctures on the 800gs. Oh what fun!! If your bike is less than 2 years old and you have the free bmw breakdown then get them out. they are very quick but only good within the EU.
For further afield i suggest firstly using "slime" some may not agree but lets you cover distance with a slow puncture. other than that carry spare tubes and repair kit.
The rear wheel is a doddle to take off however the front has to be propped up if you have a bmw center stand.
also as already mentioned the bead of the tyres are a real mare.but once broken the tyres are easy to get off.
if i could give you one tip

Always wrap a rag or old teashirt around the rear sprocket. sprocket rash to the knuckles !!!!! hurts and aint nice on a long ride with tight gloves
If your with other riders use their side stand and weight of thier bike as a bead breaker. fiddly but works for me

one more thing! shower gel or shampoo watered down makes a good tyre lube as last resort. also makes your bike smell nice.
enjoy your adventure

 

[HTB1]

I have used heavy duty tubes with slime for the past 10k (Morocco & Pyrenees) without a problem. If using slime it's probably best to balance the wheels before putting it in that said the balance weights have long since departed! For repairs as others have mentioned.

 

[GEm]

Ok - just back from getting both bikes reshod with Battlewings as ordered by himself at a specialist tyre place. Have to say they said he'd made a good choice. Riding back on new tyres - what a difference. They look nice and clean and fresh as well.

Still fancy Anarchee - love the name. Suppose Battlewing isn't bad but it's not quite as cool is it?

Oh well - back to the dayjob

 

[the beer hunter]

Folks what punture repair kits do use on your F800GS. Bearing in mind its tubed so stop and go wont work(How i laughed when i found out. Not. DOH). Im planning to take a spare tube each for front and rear when i go to the pyrenees Its just limping to the garage. All bright ideas greatfully accepted

cheers in advance

H, when I go out laning on my DRZ I take 2 tubes & 3 levers. Obviously I don't need to point out you'll also need all tools to remove both wheels & a means of tyre inflation.
Between the 4 of us next month I recon we'll be OK if a punture crops up.
I also use Slime, well you're supposed to put it into the tube before you get a puncture but as I'm always throwing tyres into the bike I just carry it with me to try out before I resort to a tube change. Slime can be bought from Halfords for tubed tyres, one bottle does one wheel.

Have you got levers? I can bring mine along if you want - to save you buying any.
I'm bringing CO2 bulbs for inflation & as a back up I'm following a tip taken from Chris Scott's Adventure Motorcycling Handbook.....
..an old plastic bicycle pump - easy to pack & won't damage as easy as a metal one. Just make sure it comes with the correct valve.

I've got jump leads too after I saw how hard it was to bump Carrot's GS & how easy Gadget sorted it, (funnily enough this was at Grainau in the campsite).

 

[santrix]

Levers are of course in my usual kit and rim protectors... as is a stripped down 12v compressor (4.99 from a petrol station) which has all the plastic removed and is now a quarter of the volume.

 

[Dave Ett]

Use one of these to beak the bead - produce 250kg of force:

I sawed about 8 inches off the shaft since it was far longer than I needed, and now it fits in my pannier easily. Cheap to, and available at most DIY shops.

 

[Wookie]

You dont need any extra tools to break the bead. You can use the side stand if your clever

With the bike on the centre stand flip the side stand out, shove the wheel/tyre under the side stand and then pull the bike towards you and hence bring the sidestand down on the tyre and break the bead. It takes a bit of practice and confidence in handling the bike but it works a treat and saves on carrying extra crap

wookie

 

[chrisjk]

You dont need any extra tools to break the bead. You can use the side stand if your clever

With the bike on the centre stand flip the side stand out, shove the wheel/tyre under the side stand and then pull the bike towards you and hence bring the sidestand down on the tyre and break the bead. It takes a bit of practice and confidence in handling the bike but it works a treat and saves on carrying extra crap

wookie

It works most times but is not a guaranteed fix. First time I took off the road tyres on my 800 to put on TKCs, I had to use an enormous G clamp to break the bead. My usual "hammer-in" plastic wedge failed as did the sidestand method. I don't have a Landy so couldn't use the time honoured jacking method, fortunately I had an 18 inch G clamp weighing about 30 lbs that worked.

 

[Dave Ett]

you carry that around??

I did on my Morocco trip yeah. Space wasn't really an issue, and since it splits down into parts it's pretty easy to stash.

 

[twisticles]

The rear wheel is a doddle to take off however the front has to be propped up if you have a bmw center stand.
also as already mentioned the bead of the tyres are a real mare.but once broken the tyres are easy to get off.
i

Agreed on the rear wheel, and on the centre stand its easy to pull the bike over and drop the side stand onto the bead to break it.

For the front wheel I position the bike with a tree/wall on the side stand side. Use a strap to hold the handle bars at full lock opposite the side stand. Put the bike on side stand then put it off centre until its leaning against the wall on its side stand and rear wheel - this has the effect of raising the front wheel up to take off and repair. Putting a stone under the side stand makes it lean further/more securely.

Can also do this trick by taking panniers off and pulling the bike over until the pannier frame is rested on a pannier on the floor.

A big boot was enough to break the bead on the TKC80s

 

[twisticles]

Should add that some tyres (like the conti trail attacks) might need a LOT of air to pop them on. About 50psi! (DAMHIK). Make sure your CO2/bike pump/electric pump has enough welly to do that.

 

[Dave Ett]

As I learned at the Ripley weekend, always use a strap on your side / centre stand to stop them folding while you fanny about. A bike with one wheel off is a bitch to get back on it's stand!