Friend told me that because spoked wheels have tubes, if you run over a nail or glass or something, you can have a blowout, unlike the tubeless tires on cast or solid wheels.

Is that true? If so, is it common?

Also, bicycle wheels get out of true and the shops will true them by tightening the various spokes. Is that the same for a Harley spoked wheel? Do they get wobbly, and if so does local Harley dealers have the facilities to straighten them?


Blah-Blah-Blah... -L-

Thanks!
Tq

 

I ran over a nail on my old bike which had tubes and it just slowly leaked out air. It wasnt at speed or anything I happened to push it on a bad spot. The tire itself can be used again if the tread is good you just need a new tube. Spokes can be checked and tightened if they are too loose.

 

I've had about 5 flats since my bike was new...1984(spokes) Most quickley droped to the rim.

 

Do spoked wheels have blowouts? Yes. But not because of the spokes or the tubes. Sometimes it just happens. Sometimes you have blowouts on the others as well.

Yes, sometimes spokes on motorcycle wheels need to be tightened and adjusted just like a bicycle.

 

and if you have to get your spokes trued up, i suggest you take your wheel to a local indy that knows how. harley quoted me $700 to true my spokes. i just took it to an indy shop near by and they did it for $75

 

After having a screw in my rear(spoked) tire, I was luckily near home. Realizing I could not have plugged the tire in an emergency, I switched to the mag wheel and took my wire spoked rims off for peace of mind. There are newer wire spoked rims now that are tubeless but I decided to make the change and carry a plug kit and compressor. I have not had to use it so I can't tell how I'll fare until the next flat(hopefully never) and yes spokes do get loose and should be trued by someone who knows how to do it the right way..

 

Both spoked wheels and mag rims running the same tires can get a flat . The big difference is with the spoked wheel you need to take the wheel off the bike , the tire off the rim and put a new tube on . Then you need to put it all back together . With a mag wheel and tubeless tire you can simply put a plug in the tire and pump it back up . MUCH less expensive job . If it happens along some highway far from home you can call a garage and just have them come out with a tire plug and air tank and fix it in no time on the side of the road if you are not equiped to do it yourself . With spoked wheels it requires the bike being brought back to the garage or shop again at alot more expense .

 

my spoked rims don't have tubes..

 

If you run spoke wheels expect to have to check the spokes periodically (5,000 mile service), and expect to have to tighten a few every 5,000 miles or so. I've never had spokes come loose to the point of having the wheel develop a wobble.

Unlike a bicycle wheel, a motorcycle wheel is pretty rugged, and if the rim is out of round, no amout of spoke tensioning will bring it back. Back in '05, I rebuilt both my wheels (spokes had rusted, and could no longer be tightened). Compared to building and truing a bicycle wheel, it was a snap. The factory service manual has pretty good instructions.

 

I love my spoke wheels, but they are a pain in the ***. I wish Harley would go to the BMW style spoke wheels that are sealed so you can run tubeless tires and change a spoke without de-lacing and re-lacing the whole wheel. A huge pain in the ***. But then it would probably cost Harley an extra $4 to seal each wheel and that would seriously cut into profits.