There are no appreciable variables to consider. Same bike and rider. Same riding conditions on average. Same tire. That same tire on the same bike with the same rider will run the tire hotter with more rotational resistance to acceleration and stopping. Therefore it will wear sooner. Again an absolutely dumb thing to do.

Folks do a lot of things to their bikes. Some with knowledge some with ignorance but the wonderful thing is it is their right to do it. If we loose the right to be wrong there will be no freedom left.

In 1955 when most car makers switched to tubeless tire my dad's service garage had difficulty keeping up with folks who bought new cars bringing them in to have tubes installed. It took almost ten years for the practice to end.

Plugging tubeless tires on a cast wheel is easy. Now due to PROGRESS one can plug a HD spoke rim. God bless Harley Davidson.

 

From what I understand ride wright spoke wheels are tubeless. I would love to have there fat 50 spoke wheels. But when I had a American iron horse I went with rc component wheels. Those custom wheels were beautiful. And I think if I ever spend anything close to that on wheels again.,.... well I would have to sleep with one eye open if you know what I mean......lol

 

There are several places that convert spoke wheels to tubeless.
True A nail in a tubeless tire will go flat, the difference is how fast they go flat. Tube type a nail will flatten the tire within a couple of miles, tube type I have driven many home putting air in on the way home.
Personally I carry an air pump and a plug kit.
Here are a couple of places that convert to tubeless.

http://www.motorcyclecruiser.com/sea...tubeless-tires

http://alpinawheelsusa.com/products/...it-conversion/

 

2009 Heritage. The spokes look great and I'm at 37,000 miles on them. No problems.

 

only 53K on my 07.. I just have my Indy check them every tire change and every spring service.. Only had a few loose spokes in the first 10k.. after that they have stayed pretty good

Never had to re-true them..

 

I've never had anything but spoked wheels, and doubt I ever will, unless I buy me a Freewheeler for riding in the snow and ice. And I'd get that with spokes if they were an option.

I'm one of those who can change a tire on a motorcycle himself, but if my bagger gets a flat on the road, especially on the rear, it's not going to matter if I'm tubed or tubeless. I'm **** out of luck either way.

A well-built spoked wheel is a thing of beauty, and Harley's QC standards give me no reason to suspect the viability of the spoked wheels on my '01 Road King (I've tapped all of the spokes for tone and tension - they're fine). Same goes for my '06 Triumph.

These ladies with cast wheels? Yeah, no.

 

I thought the same thing, but, had a flat and plugged it. Would not hold air.

A tow and what do you know, it had a tube in a tubeless tire. SOP

 

I had a Heritage for over five years, and a VTX with spokes for about three. Neither one ever had a spoke issue, or a flat. I also raced bicycles and that was a different story. I have noticed that I had to top off the tube tires more often than tubeless.

 

63k miles on my spokes and no problems at all.

 

DNA wheels are also tubeless. although they had a bad rap about it 3-5 years ago.




Im rocking some right now