This past weekend was perfect for a ride here in Charlotte. I met my group and we were just minutes from starting out when I glanced at my rear tire and noticed what I thought (and hoped) was a small pebble in the tread. Closer look proved me wrong--it was a phillips head screw! Damn, that tire had less than a thousand miles on it. I rode it home and pulled the screw out and plugged it. I kept checking it every few hours and it was holding steady at 40 psi. I did a search on this forum about the safety issues of plugging a motorcycle tire and found about 50/50 favorable and unfavorable responses. I was struggling with replacing it or riding it with the plug in it.

Well, after sleeping on it, I decided to go ahead and replace the tire. My logic was that riding is therapy to me, and how could it be therapeutic if everytime I rode I was thinking about that plug? I figured the stress factor wasn't worth it, and it was worth the $240 to be able to ride with peace of mind, at least from the standpoint of the rear tire. I wouldn't doubt that one of the shop guys probably put a patch on the inside of my tire and mounted it on their bike. If that is the case, I hope he gets many safe miles out of it.

 

I like that way of looking at it. Good choice.

 

I woulda kept the plug in it. But, as you said, you'll be thinking of that plug every time you ride, and I would agree in that case that it's definitely worth getting a new one.

 

If I were around when it happened, I would have bought that old tire from you LOL.

I'm in the 50% that have ridden many miles on plugged tires and never had one fail. And even if the plug does fail, it's practically 100% chance that the failure mode will be nothing worse than a slow leak. A slow leak, although a nuisance, does not constitute a safety hazard in my view.

But I will agree with you, for absolute piece-of-mind, you can't go wrong with a new tire.

 

Well I'm with ya, I just can't ride knowing that I up'd the risk factor.

 

Use Safety Seal plugs and they will self vulcanize and last the life of the tire.

 

I personally think plugging a tire would be fine. But if it happens to me I'll buy a new tire too. lol

 

there is no risk factor

 

If you search some more you can wonder if they mounted it correctly, torqued the axle right, got the belt tension right, pulley bolts, balanced it......they didn't put a car tire on it did they?

 

Internal patch is the safe way to go. Plug and internal is even better.