1980 gs1000e fitting a front tubeless .....

[Guest]

hi guys,,,well i,ve got my new 100/90vx19 bridgestone battlaxe tubeless,,,my last tyre was ...... 8 yrs old it was on a spare mag .. anyway. i,m hoping you guys can tell me if its safe to use this new tubeless tyre as a tubeless on the mag which only need a wire brush clean around the inside ,there,s no dints or bad marks on the rim.. it is a 19" mag.. but apparently on the manual in aust... when the bike was sold the tyre came with a tube ... i hope you far more experienced guys on bike doing repairs etc can help me sorry to be long winded regards david

[almarconi]

If the wheel is marked tubeless then mount it without a tube..if not use a tube.

[BassCliff]

Hi,

On these Suzuki GS mag wheels, they should say on the rim "Tubeless Tire Applicable" or similar. If it does not, then I would use a tube. Although a number of members here have not had a problem running a tubeless tire on a non-tubeless rim. My front wheel needs a tube while my back wheel doesn't. That's how I run them.

Be sure to keep the proper air pressure on the wheel with the tube. If the air pressure gets low it will run a lot hotter. I run mine 30-32 psi in the front.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[GS750GUY]

When I restored my 78 GS750EC I went through the very same scenario you are encountering. Like basscliff indicated, there are a lot of members running tubless tires on cast wheels that originally had tubes and I happen to be one of them.

My bike had the original tires and tubes when I got it from the prior owner and I replaced them with a new pair of tubless Dunlop's. I made up my mind to run these without tubes after doing a ton of research and asking a lot of questions on the GS site. In fact if you do a search you will probably find a lot of old threads that discuss this topic. Mine is probably there among them. You will find there is a lot of controversy, debate, and strong feelings both ways. When the dust settled from all the discussion I personally felt comfortable running these without tubes. Like basscliff indicated though, you must be extra careful at making sure your tire pressure is correct and do a tire check each time you ride. Like many others, I have been running these tires without tubes for three years now and have had no problems what so ever. But then again, I am also accused by my friends that I ride like an old lady on her way to church. That could have something to do with it I guess.

GS750GUY

[Russ' GS1000E]

What GS750GUY said....

....and there is a similar discussion on a BMW forum site about their equivalent 'Snowflake' rim.

I didn't like the narrow shoulder area on the front rim,
so I went Tubeless Rear & Tube Front.
No road time yet, but the rear is holding air just fine.

Decide, and become a data-point like the rest of us....

[Zook]

The R wheel of my GS is marked "TUBELESS" and the front isn't, so I have tubeless tires on both ends but the front has a tube. No big deal.

[bwringer]

I checked with Joe Nardy when confronting the same question on a friend's bike, and he's been running tubeless since 1983.

That was good enough for me...

Later on, I'll post photos of the cutting tool you'll need to use to form the seat for the tire valve on the inside of the rim.

[DanTheMan]

I've been running tubeless front and rear for the last two tire changes, so that's almost 4 years and about 27k miles.

[Russ' GS1000E]

Later on, I'll post photos of the cutting tool you'll need to use to form the seat for the tire valve on the inside of the rim.

Ah yes, that's right, the profile is not flat at the center of the front rim.
Is this a common tool bwringer?

[bwringer]

Ah yes, that's right, the profile is not flat at the center of the front rim.
Is this a common tool bwringer?

No, it's a very uncommon tool... took me a while to figure this out.

What we have here is a 5/8" counterbore (the drill-looking thingy) with a 5/16" pilot (the nose thingy). The pilot goes into the valve stem hole and keeps the counterbore centered so you can cut a flat-faced seat for the valve stem seal.

The pilot has a 1/8" shaft that fits into the counterbore, and is held in place with the setscrew (that's what the allen wrench is for).



I don't have a tube rim lying around at the moment, but this is the idea. It's a very sharp tool -- any cordless drill has plenty of power to do the trick, and the less pressure you use, the less chattering you'll get and the smoother the valve seating area will be:



It's about $30 - $35 for the counterbore and pilot -- I found two aviation tool supply places online that have these:

http://www.skygeek.com

http://www.yardstore.com

[80GS1000]

Never had a problem running a tubeless tire on my old stock front wheel.

[oldgrumpy]

tubeless tyres,, on front...........

this morning,,,sunday i lifted my gs1000e onto the CENTRE STAND,,as i,ve got nerve damage fom diabetes... i,m tickled pink..anyway i spun my exixting front wheel around and shock horror ,its embossed tubeless etc.. which made my day the guy in spare parts where i purchased the tyre stated there was 6-7 different tubeless valves ,can anybody enlighten me please,, i will be cleaning the inside of the rim and bead and just checking they are similar again thanks for your help regards david

[bwringer]

The metal valve stems that fit GS wheels are skinnier than the metal valve stems you'll find in car shops.

Basically, they're the same diameter as the threads on the valve cap all the way down. Car valve stems are fatter at the base because the hole in the car wheel is bigger (the hole in the GS wheel is about 8mm, or 5/16". Sometimes you'll see this shown as .30" too.).

Most metric motorcycle shops keep some of these around. It's a good idea to change them if the bike has been sitting an unknown time.

[ryonker]

No, it's a very uncommon tool... took me a while to figure this out.

What we have here is a 5/8" counterbore (the drill-looking thingy) with a 5/16" pilot (the nose thingy). The pilot goes into the valve stem hole and keeps the counterbore centered so you can cut a flat-faced seat for the valve stem seal.

The pilot has a 1/8" shaft that fits into the counterbore, and is held in place with the setscrew (that's what the allen wrench is for).



I don't have a tube rim lying around at the moment, but this is the idea. It's a very sharp tool -- any cordless drill has plenty of power to do the trick, and the less pressure you use, the less chattering you'll get and the smoother the valve seating area will be:



It's about $30 - $35 for the counterbore and pilot -- I found two aviation tool supply places online that have these:

http://www.skygeek.com

http://www.yardstore.com

Any local type stores (Napa or whatever) where you can get this tool or are there other tool options to prep the valve stem hole?

Thanks!

Rick

[bwringer]

Any local type stores (Napa or whatever) where you can get this tool or are there other tool options to prep the valve stem hole?

Thanks!

Rick

Not that I know of -- I live in the motorsports capital of the world and couldn't find anything locally or even through McMaster-Carr. I ended up ordering the counterbore and pilot from an aviation supplier.

If your rim is flat on the bottom like the one in the photo, you don't really need it.

If you have a curved rim, you can use a burr or stone in a die grinder or Dremel tool to shape a flat place for the tire valve seat. This takes some skill, time, and a lot of grinding stones.