Motorcycle Forums

tyre fix

Most places won't fix it. Thankfully for me, my brother owns a car garage, and can fix punctures

Repairs Yes!

Many car or bike tyre places will do proper repairs using a patch. I've had loads done over the years. You get most in the rear 'cos the front pops the nail etc up to skewer the rear, a rear repair will pass the MOT, a front won't.A brilliant bloke for doing mobile repairs and new tyres in the London area is Jim of 'Cavalry' 07974 260311. 

punctures

THE law says repairs have to be good and safe. So if a manufacturer is willing to issue guidelines for repairing their tyres, then as long as those guidelines are followed the repair would be effectively legal. Michelin, Metzeler and Pirelli have issued their own guidelines which permit repairs to their V and Z-rated tyres. However Bridgestone, Avon and Dunlop's repair guidelines are that you repair their tyres to the current British Standards. British Standards were changed in December 1997 to preclude repairs to V and Z-rated motor cycle tyres. So it might well be worth bearing that fact in mind when you come to replace your tyres……

Here's Dunlop's take on it in more detail:

http://www.dunlopmotorcycle.co.uk/tyres/tyreSafety/

Punctures

Thanks for the info guys - mines a Bridgestone 160/60ZR17 - I guess that makes it a Z rating & beyond 'legal' repair. Bang goes another £110 !!

puncture preventative gunge

I first started using puncture preventative gunge back in the early 70's I think (whenever OKO first started becoming available anyway), after I had a pretty nasty front tyre blowout at high speed. Managed to keep the bike upright and not hit anything, but that's not saying a lot.

Never had a problem with it, early on with tubed tyres, later and currently with tubeless radials. Not using OKO at the moment (dunno what it is, same sort of gunge, but OKO isn't available round here), but I wouldn't even begin to think of not using an equivalent.

One front tyre, when replaced, was found to have 17 punctures in it, and I'd never noticed more than about 1psi to top up when checking pressures.

Safest stuff you can shove on a bike, apart from the rider. I'm out on the bike all year round in all sorts of weathers, often miles from anywhere, and the stuff is invaluable.

Government should be subsidising the stuff and not pissing around wasting people's money with ridiculously stupid EU imposed driving tests imho. It'd make more sense to me anyway.