Tube or Tubeless

[Guest]

I have an 81 GS1000G and the rear wheel says "Tubeless," while the front doesn't indicate either. Anyone have any ideas about the way to go with the front tire?

[gshub]

Tube

I have an 81 GS1000G and the rear wheel says "Tubeless," while the front doesn't indicate either. Anyone have any ideas about the way to go with the front tire?

strange you should say that my old katana 1000 was the same,I would put a tube in it for
safety got a motorcross tube in front wheel of my Gs1000s they are stronger than normall ones.

[spyug]

I just had new rubber put on my 82 Katana project bike. My buddy the pro wrench told me at the time that I would need tubes as the rims are not rated for tubless unless they are marked as such. I would say your back rim is good for tubless but the front would not be. The reason is apparently, that the rim has a special ridge or curvature to the edge to allow the tire to seal properly. Non rated rims do not have this feature and running without a tube would be a huge risk for having a catastrophic failure.

If in doubt run tubes I'd say.

Stay safe.

Spyug

[BassCliff]

Greetings and Salutations!!

Hi Mr. Ruger44,

Suzuki has a habit of using up all the inventory. That's why some bikes have a mixed part now and then. My bike came with a tubeless rear and a tube front. My rear wheel says "Tubeless Applicable" right on it. There is no such indication on the front. Some have run tubeless on these wheels, but I choose not to. You might have porosity issues with a non-tubeless wheel causing excessive air pressure loss.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[Steve]

The SAFE answer is "run a tube".

However, there are several on the board (who shall remain nameless) that have run a tubeless tire on a rim that was not specifically rated for one.

Besides the afore-mentioned ridge that is supposed to hold the tire in place, there were also problems with porosity in the early castings. Air would simply leak through the rim. Some who have had that problem have coated the inside of the rim with epoxy to seal it, then run tubeless with no problems, but I can't suggest that you do that.

.

[Nessism]

The extra lip on tubeless rims is a safety feature; the lip is inboard of where the tire sits and helps keep the tire seated on the bead in the case of pressure loss. Theoretically, if the tire gets punctured and looses air the extra bead will allow the rider to more safely get off the road. On a tube type wheel/tire that has been punctured, once the pressure gets low the tire can move off the bead more easily, which will upset the handling. The question is how low does the pressure go before the tube type tire separates from the bead, and does a deflating tube inside the tire help keep the bead in place? My guess is that the tube would help in some situations but I won't throw rocks at people that convert to tubeless.

[gshub]

The extra lip on tubeless rims is a safety feature; the lip is inboard of where the tire sits and helps keep the tire seated on the bead in the case of pressure loss. Theoretically, if the tire gets punctured and looses air the extra bead will allow the rider to more safely get off the road. On a tube type wheel/tire that has been punctured, once the pressure gets low the tire can move off the bead more easily, which will upset the handling. The question is how low does the pressure go before the tube type tire separates from the bead, and does a deflating tube inside the tire help keep the bead in place? My guess is that the tube would help in some situations but I won't throw rocks at people that convert to tubeless.

had this happen my Gs1000s front wheel tube split nr valve but tyre stayed up
but it handled awfull.
That why we put a motor cross tube in this time.
glad i was only riding around a local city at the time not two up on a motorway.

[Sandy]

The extra lip on tubeless rims is a safety feature; the lip is inboard of where the tire sits and helps keep the tire seated on the bead in the case of pressure loss. Theoretically, if the tire gets punctured and looses air the extra bead will allow the rider to more safely get off the road. On a tube type wheel/tire that has been punctured, once the pressure gets low the tire can move off the bead more easily, which will upset the handling. The question is how low does the pressure go before the tube type tire separates from the bead, and does a deflating tube inside the tire help keep the bead in place? My guess is that the tube would help in some situations but I won't throw rocks at people that convert to tubeless.

Also hitting something, rock, board, ditch, whatever, could force the tire off of the bead momentarily and you could have a sudden air loss without that safety lip in place. Lots of people have run that way without any problems however. I think it's kind of a crap shoot though.

[Nessism]

Also hitting something, rock, board, ditch, whatever, could force the tire off of the bead momentarily and you could have a sudden air loss without that safety lip in place. Lots of people have run that way without any problems however. I think it's kind of a crap shoot though.

Do you know this for a fact or speculating? Hitting a bump caused pressure loss? Never heard this before.

[Sandy]

Do you know this for a fact or speculating? Hitting a bump caused pressure loss? Never heard this before.

Hitting a bump???? That's not really what I said.

Actually yes, I have seen where tires mounted on rims with the tapered bead have actually had debris stuck between the bead of the tire and the rim after an accidental off-road excursion. Usually from hitting something fairly solid, not just a "bump", and if there was no tube there would have been a very quick air loss. Most of the younger crowd have not seen this since tubeless has been around for about 30 years now but I'm sure others might have. Although I've never seen it (don't want to) hitting something like a pothole without tubes on a tapered bead rim could actually have the same effect.