First flat tire experience.

[RichDesmond]

...For the front, if you're going to stick with tubes, you need to carry a spare tube and tire irons, tools to remove the tire (and whatever has to come off to get the tire off: fender, callipers, etc)...

And a way to keep the front wheel off the ground.

[bwringer]

And a way to keep the front wheel off the ground.

Yup.

I've used piled-up sticks and rocks before for elevating front or rear tires, but that's... not ideal.

This widget is the deeeeeeeeluxe way to deal with this dilemma on bikes without centerstands.

http://www.endurostar.com/

And yes, it works great, and yes, it is extremely strong and safe. There are pics somewhere of me using this with my V-Strom DL1000. I carry one with my Vee and a different brand of stand on my KLR650. You do want to take them apart every year and make sure everything is still there and nothing is corroded.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Ok, rear flat tire replaced with new. Nice Slime plug and patch kit bought and tested on trashed tire. This little compressor I bought on Amazon, seems great. Plugs into my Battery Tender leads which are always connected to the battery. I let all the air out of of the new tire. The new pump had it up to 30 psi in under 4 minutes. I did have the bike running, but no fan blowing on it so I’m glad it didn’t take
longer than that.


I’m going to have to work on the front wheel bead area to see if I can clean it up enough to run the front tubeless. I hope I don’t have to try to fix a flat in a tube on the side of the road till I can get that cleaned up.

[gbw]

That's nice with a built in gauge. Will save you some hassle on the side of the road one day.

[RichDesmond]

...The new pump had it up to 30 psi in under 4 minutes. I did have the bike running, but no fan blowing on it so I’m glad it didn’t take
longer than that....

??? Don't understand the fan bit.

[Baatfam]

??? Don't understand the fan bit.

Box fan in the garage when running the air cooled engine while stationary? I'm athinkin'

[Rich82GS750TZ]

??? Don't understand the fan bit.

I just didn’t want to run the bike for too long in my garage without a good stream of air blowing on the engine while waiting for the pump to inflate the tire. And I didn’t want to run the battery down by not running the bike while inflating the tire. Just going by what I’ve read, seems a good idea to run a fan on it if your going to be running the engine at a stand still for any length of time. Seems legit. Maybe worried about nothing? My son took the box fan when we moved him back into college Friday.

[Baatfam]

I just didn’t want to run the bike for too long in my garage without a good stream of air blowing on the engine while waiting for the pump to inflate the tire. And I didn’t want to run the battery down by not running the bike while inflating the tire. Just going by what I’ve read, seems a good idea to run a fan on it if your going to be running the engine at a stand still for any length of time. Seems legit. Maybe worried about nothing?

Better safe than sorry, right?
I only break out the box fan when it is going to be a while. Like when doing a carb sync.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Better safe than sorry, right?

That’s what I was thinking. I don’t always think when I work on the bike. But I have my moments.

[RichDesmond]

I just didn’t want to run the bike for too long in my garage without a good stream of air blowing on the engine while waiting for the pump to inflate the tire. And I didn’t want to run the battery down by not running the bike while inflating the tire. Just going by what I’ve read, seems a good idea to run a fan on it if your going to be running the engine at a stand still for any length of time. Seems legit. Maybe worried about nothing? My son took the box fan when we moved him back into college Friday.

Worried about nothing, unless it's 100°+ and you're going to have it run 30 minutes or more.
One thing I learned from the "S" model, it takes a looooooong time for the bike to get really hot.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Good to know. Thanks RD

[bwringer]

There's no reason at all to run the bike while pumping up the tire with your electric pump.

For one, there's just no need. Any motorcycle battery in halfway decent shape will easily pump up several tires without getting too, uh, tired to start the bike.

At idle most bikes don't produce any surplus current, so it's either worse than pointless (you're just draining the battery even faster) or you're standing there revving the engine at roadside, producing huge amounts of heat, and stressing your stator, regulator, etc. Honestly, given the "just barely enough" nature of the GS electrical system, it's really not a good idea to try and force it to generate enough to keep up with a pump.

And you have a low voltage fail-safe hanging on each side of your head. You easily tell whether the battery is having trouble just by listening to the pump's racket (these things are weirdly noisy, aren't they?); it will slow waaaay down long before the battery is too dead to spin the starter.

Just plug in the pump (make sure you've installed a beefier fuse if you're using a charging lead) and enjoy a light snack or refreshment while your tire re-inflates.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Also good to know. Thanks Brian. I just figured, incorrectly, that running the pump without the bike running would drain the battery quickly. I never thought it would take only 4 minutes to fully inflate the tire. I don’t recall what size fuse is in the lead that came with my Battery Tender Junior. What size would be beefy enough?

[Baatfam]

Also good to know. Thanks Brian. I just figured, incorrectly, that running the pump without the bike running would drain the battery quickly. I never thought it would take only 4 minutes to fully inflate the tire. I don’t recall what size fuse is in the lead that came with my Battery Tender Junior. What size would be beefy enough?

The official battery tender brand comes with a 7.5 amp fuse. Brian recommended a 30 amp.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

If I put a 30 amp fuse in the Battery Tender lead, to make it safer to run the pump, is there any reason I’d need to put the 7.5 back in to use the Battery Tender.