Hi All, can anyone tell me what are the pro's or conswith running tubes inside a tubeless motorbike tyre. A couple or fellas reckon that I should run tubes inside my tyres incase of a tyre popping its bead seal on the rim. They reckon it will be safer at high speeds to do this but I'm non the wiser. Any info/advice appreciated please.

 

I really dont see any good reason to run tubes. Motogp racers dont run tubes and they are doing 200 = mph. the couple of fellas your talking to dont know what they are talking about.

Im not sure on the effect of the tube and a tubeless tire. In fact, the tube might not let the tire contact the rim properly and you could have the rim slip on the tire, creating a worse conditon.

If you run proper air in your tire and the tires are in good condition, you have nothing to worry about.

 

Thx justasquid, I'm with you on having good tires and pressure that are designed for what theyre intended, but what these fellas are saying is that if the bead or sealseparates on the rim, especially when cornering,your tire will deflate, but having a tube inside the tire will be like having a back up. I also mentioned the motoGP and our 500cc races at phillip island down here but that didnt convince them that running no tubes was safer. I've been told also that by having a tube inside a tubeless will cause extra heat which could be adding a problem to the tire or tube. Anyone else know what the go is here?

 

thats old school thinking...oldtimers would do that cause they did not trust the "new" tubless tires.

also it acutally is akind of a good idea where potholes are a huge issue.......years ago my brother bought a gs550 from a guy....

hit some rough railroad tracks one day and actually cracked the rear rim...he stopped and looked...bent and cracked the rim...but could not figure out why the tire did not go flat.....the dealer said some people run tubes in tubeless tires for just that reason.
this was 25 or so years ago.....

how it would affect ultra highspeed.....unknown but I would tend to agree with squid.

no benefit and possible detriment.

 

Pamw thx, andthat doesmake sense and I can see why that would benefit in that situation. Still wandering what disadvantage there would be for high speed. Where I live we have open roads and 200 - 300mile between towns, usually like to take our speed up to 100mph on occassions so maybe that speed it may not hurt to fit tubes, dunno!!

 

Definitely. I have heard this from old timer mechanics before. There should be no reason to do this with today's tires.

 

Most places will not put a tube inside a tubeless tire. I once bought some wire dayton style rims (young and stupid, lol) from a guy. They were dirty as HELL so I went to the do-it-yourself car wash. As I was cleaning the rim, i pushed too hard on the valve steam and the rim cut it. Tire flattentened and I found out there were tubes inside the tire. I tired to get someone to put a new tube inside the tire but since it was tubeless they wouldn't. I finally ended up just getting a new tire to find out that the stinking rim leaked air through the wires!

As far as your question goes, I wouldn't do it. Just maintain a good pair of tires and you won't have to worry about tire failure. If you are taking a turn hard enough to seperate the beam on a tire from the rim, you sir should be racing! I don't think you will run across too many situations where a tube in a tubeless tire will put you ahead.

 

Thanks again for all replies. Here is the reply I have from Dunlop tire Company.

Ray,

"Thank you for taking the time to contact us with your Dunlop motorcycle tire questions. We do not recommend tubing a radial motorcycle tire.
Radial motorcycle tires tend to generate a lot of internal heat which could drastically increase with the use of a tube resulting in a tube and/or tire failure."

This is the reply from Bridgestone

Ray,
"You are correct, fitting tubes is not necessary. The tires are designed to run without tubes.
Also, tubes in tubeless tires would contain more heat, then tires may run too hot."

Motorcycle / Kart Products
Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, LLC.
535 Marriott Drive
Nashville TN 37214

So running tubes in a tubeless tyre is a [sm=badidea.gif], as there maybe to much extra heat generated. Thanks again.[sm=icon_cheers.gif]