Tu be or not Tube. That is the question.

[Anonymous]

I've heard before that a wheel is tube type unless it is stamped "tubeless" but I really don't agree. The front wheel on my "83" GS 1100 E doesn't say tubeless, yet I'm sure the "83" 1100's came from the factory with tubeless tires. I've always ran tubeless tires on any cast wheels, didn't matter if they said tubeless or not. Everyone around our local bike shop ran tubeless because they should run cooler. I've seen & been around many, many bikes with tires mounted this way, and have never heard of any problems. I don't ride near as agressive now as I did back then, but in the late "70"'s & early "80"'s, we looked for the crooked roads and tried to act like Wes Cooley & Kenny Roberts, and I'm telling you no problems. If anyone has experience any problems, after trying tubeless on rims not stamped tubeless, please let us know, you may convince me to put a tube in the front of my 1100. The one tubeless problem I do remember is an "84" 1150 E, the front tire was flat when it came out of the crate. We aired it up & about a week later it was low again. Finally found bubbles around the valve stem, behold a tiny crack, not visible from the outside & barely visible from the inside. Warranty took care of this "tubeless" wheel. I could start another disagreement, I have an "86" GS 1150 & an "83" CB 1100 F Honda with a radial on one end and a bias ply on the other, never a hint of a problem from any of them

[HiSPL]

(whisper mode) I don't have tubes in my '81 and it is not stamped tubeless(/whisper mode) 8)

Hap doesn't run tubes either. Neither of us have had problems. I took my non-stamped rear wheel and directly compared it to a stamped rear wheel and there was no difference in the cross section of the sidewall/bead seat area. The only difference was in the center of the rim, one was U shaped and one was more squareish. But this section would never have contact with a tire so it is not an issue either way.....

[Anonymous]

I agree that one may indeed run tubeless on wheels not marked as such. On the newer (82 +) models, that should be fine, even if not specifically marked tubeless as such. On the older models, 81 and older, particularly the shafties, I would hesitate to run tubeless unless it's specifically marked as such.

People have different ways of looking at the same situation. For me, running a tube in my older-style front wheel is the thing to do. I ride a lot, and I often go out in the middle of nowhere, far from home. The last thing I want to do is risk a flat or low tire. It's a chance I just don't want to take. Some others may shrug this worry off, on the other hand. That's fine. To each his own...

Nick

[saaz]

Of coirse you can try and run tubeless tyres on rims that do not say tubeless..they may work, they may not. The manufacturer however has not produced the bike to run tubeless necessarily. There may be pourorisity issues, and I seem to remember that earlier rims had different rim profiles (before such things were standardised)

Unless you go racing, I don't think there is anything in it either way, so I would not loose any sleep over tube/no tube really.

Then again..I run spokes...non-BMW types that run tubes!!!!

[Bert Patterson]

I'm in the same boat as Bert. My '82 1100E rims do not say "tubeless" so I run tubes in'em.

Which is a pain when you run over a drywall screw like I did a few weeks ago. The tire was from last October, so I needed to replace it anyway, but a simple plug would've been nice.

[AOD]

what about running tubeless in an older (79) with mag wheels? has anyone done it?

i have no problems with my tires now...i'm assuming they're tubed. i'm just curious though.

~Adam

[Anonymous]

The first bike I used tubeless tires on that weren't stamped tubeless was a "79" GS 1000 S. Never a problem. I would like to hear from anyone who has tried tubeless on wheels not stamped tubeless and had a problem. Wondering what kind of problems it could cause. I'm surely not an expert, but I have a feeling that the idea that a wheel should be mounted with a tube unless the wheel is stamped tubeless is a myth, sort of like the myth that when rotating the radial tires on a car, you shouldn't reverse the rotation cause it would mess up the belts.

[Anonymous]

I'm surely not an expert, but I have a feeling that the idea that a wheel should be mounted with a tube unless the wheel is stamped tubeless is a myth

It could well be a myth, and I'll join you in your desire to find out how true that is, or how mythical. I will not, however, be the guinea pig to find out. Let someone else experiment.

Nick

[Anonymous]

Tubes or no tubes

I asked this very question about a month ago.

1978 gs1000E with mag wheels

Up until now I have always kept the tubes in.

The general consensus here was not to keep the tubes in,
so this time I went without the tubes.

If you scroll down or use search you can read the replies to my
posts.

Took the bike out yesterday for a good 100 mile ride, felt fine.

Rich

[focus frenzy]

OK, here is the lowdown on using, or not using tubes in wheels not marked tubeless.
when they first came out with the cast wheels, they had problems with the wheels leaking air out due to porousness of the metal used at the time, not all of the wheels leaked, but enough did to be a problem.
this is why Honda used the com-star wheels, that are made up out of stamped metal and not cast, Honda wasn't confidant with casting technology at the time.
the majority of pre-82 Suzuki cast wheels don't leak enough to be a problem and can run without tubes, I don't have tubes in my 80 1000g and my bike holds air better than my new car!

some other makes of bikes had more problems with their wheels leaking, Acura has even had problems with oil leaking through the block of their early V6's!!
Suzuki started to use a different technique of casting wheels in 82 and cured the air leak problem, though a occasional casting error still does pop up from time to time.

[Anonymous]

Thanks focus, great imfo. I've searched everywhere I could think of trying to find facts like this, but I found nothing. Did the place this imfo came from happen to tell why an "80" 1100 E would have a tubeless rim on one end but not on the other? Matter of fact, my "83" 1100 E has the original wheels on it. The rear is stamped "tubeless" but the front is not. This really seems odd, since the casting change came in "82". It still seems strange that any motorcycle mfg. would put tubeless on one end, but not on the other end, Suzuki did it for at least 4 years, yet in these same 4 years some of the exact same model bikes had tubeless on both ends. Great imfo, but still rather confusing.

[focus frenzy]

it gave a margin of safety to keep using a tube in the front wheel.
early cast wheels were magnesium aluminum mix and were somewhat brittle, it was safer to put a tube in to protect against sudden deflation if a big hole was hit and cracked the wheel

[terrybird]

Nick hit the nail on the head. The rear is stamped "tubeless" and the rear is not. It's a 1980 GS850L (shaftie).

Thanks,

Terry

Is it odd you can run tubeless on one end? Cars require on e or the other all the way around usually