Punctures…

[Jambo]

Let's all be completely honest…

How many punctures have you had?

I have a 2017 Honda Africa twin, was fortunate enough to have it from new. Spoked wheels, inner tubes. I don’t think Honda started doing AT's with spoked tubeless wheels till maybe 2023 I think it was?

People are obsessed with either somehow converting the tubed wheels to tubeless, or finding a decent (and affordable!) set of tubeless wheels. It’s kind of infectious too, £££ situation aside I've been umming and ahhing about it on and off for a few years now. Until it kind of hit me, I've been messing around off-road since about 10 or 11, and on the road since I was 16 on a 50'. I was 50 this month.
I've only ever had one puncture, on my old Tuono maybe 20 years or so back. I *think* one of my mates had a puncture on his DT 125 when we were 17, but I'm not 100% sure it's a bit fuzzy? Was a while back!

So, the combined revtothelimit/visordown/visordown sm forum massive - what's the general consensus? How many times has it happened to you?

[KungFooBob]

In the last 20 years I've had three punctures.

The two most recent have been on ADV bikes with tubed tyres, a Tiger 800XC and a 700 Transalp. Both left me stranded waiting for recovery.

At least with tubeless tyres you can pop a tin of tyre weld from the nearest petrol station and ride home slowly.

[Skub]

Too fucking many. Tubed tyres are a cvnt and I have an AA card for such events.

[Taipan]

I have a 2021 Africa Wtin. I got a puncture in May when I got it. Then I got one last week and repaired the tube with a patch whilst the new inner tube was on its way. The patch failed and I had to get recovered home. I fitted the new inner tube and went to work the next day and got another puncture! WtaF! I think there is something in the tyre that I can't find, so I have a new tyre and tube arriving tomorrow!

[Rockburner]

Had a few over the years, they happen, you just have to be prepared.

[MrLongbeard]

On bikes, none in the 25 years I've been riding

[Buckaroo]

One on my speed triple. Waited 5 hours for recovery, Damn RAC.

[Trinity765]

Not many - about one every 50k miles. I think it depends on where you ride, as you're more likely to pick them up when filtering or in towns. I've never run my tyres down to the limit, changing them when there's still a bit of life left. All tubeless.

If I'm touring, I carry a compressor and a puncture repair kit. In 20 years, I've only had to repair one on the side of the road, but I've lent my kit out many times.

[Count Steer]

Haven't had a bike with tubed tyres since the 70s. I think the CX was the first production bike with tubeless? (Only had one bike with chain drive since the 70s too ).

Had one (slow) puncture on a France trip, spotted the culprit in the tyre and left it there but kept the pressure topped up for a day or 2. Found a local dealer, rode in, they plugged it immediately and it stayed plugged until the tyre got replaced. (Always carried sealant, plugs and a pump though).

Cars are a different story.

[Taff]

At least 4 in the last 12 years, 3 of those were in a tube tyre on the tiger 800xc needing recovery. All of those punctures have been picked up when filtering on the rubbish on the outside of the lane.

On the bright side, on one of those recoveries the van picked up another fella that lived nearby, and convo with him led to a new job

[weeksy]

1 at Donnington back pre 2000, i think 99 maybe... That's it.

1 in the van a couple of years ago from a broken coil spring that was on the road.

[Bustaspoke]

I can only remember two punctures on my motorcycles.
1 on a Z650 early 90's.I rode down to Leicester for the weekend seeing friends who were at uni,Sunday evening,it's time to leave & it was obvious I had a flat as soon as I rolled the bike of the centre stand,it was late autumn & going dark so I used a can of that Tyre weld stuff,to get me 120 miles home.
It worked so well that I kept riding the bike for a few weeks until it must have set & threw the balance out.
2 On my FZ750,also early 90's,luckily Iwas home when I noticed it so just took the rear wheel off & took the tyre toget a plug fitted,rode it for many miles like that until the tyre wore out.
In recent years I've started using that Slime stuff as a prventative measure,the tyre fitters don't like the mess when I get my tyres changed,but I'm not keen on getting punctures...

[roadster]

Once had a commuting route along a part of the A4 which was lined with factories etc. In order to make progress in the rush hour it was essential to use the crown of the road for a few miles and this was fatal for tyres. I had countless punctures from debris which got pushed to the centre of the road by the two crowded lines of traffic. Sometimes this could be plugged but often the damage was jagged and/or skewed and always worst in the dark depths of winter. Industrial estates always lead to rubbish falling from lorries and pickups.

[wull]

Only one that I can remember on the K9 thou.

21st of June 2021.

[Skub]

This one scrapped a fresh tyre with only a few hundred miles done.

Z1000R parts - Imgur (36).jpg (1.61 MiB) Viewed 1683 times

Z1000R parts - Imgur (37).jpg (2.37 MiB) Viewed 1683 times

[Noggin]

I think I've only had about three (possibly four?) on the bikes. It's actually where the FUF nickname came from cos the first two were very close and the third wasn't 'that' long after. They were all on the BBs as well, not sure why those bikes picked them up and others didn't!!!

[Wossname]

3 of note, maybe a couple of others.
1. I had booked the bike in for a new rear tyre to replace the worn out one, and went out to the garage to take it up to the bike shop. Opened the garage door; totally flat. Quick pump up and Bob’s yer uncle.
2. Last May, on our annual trip to the NW200, the bike told me (that was a little sharp twig - unusual). Popped in to Gloucester services, plugged it and carried on. Did 1000 brisk miles in Ireland, followed by a Castle Combe TD. Then read the plug instructions “a temporary repair- max 40mph”. Oh.
3. The scary one… I had ridden up from Cornwall to the NEC bike show on my VFR VTEC, spent the day at the show, heading back down the M6, lane 3, through roadworks in the rain. “I must be tired, better take it a bit easy, I don’t feel right”. A couple of seconds later, steering like a slug, just got across to the hard shoulder through the cones, slap slap slap side to side … and stop. That was a screw in the front tyre.

[Bigjawa]

This one scrapped a fresh tyre with only a few hundred miles done.
Z1000R parts - Imgur (36).jpg
Z1000R parts - Imgur (37).jpg

That would have had the sticky string in it.

[The Spin Doctor]

Lost count long ago.

What I do remember are three scary ones on tubed tyres... one in the front (unusual) which stood the bike up uncontrollably part way through a left-hand bend. I went straight between two cars coming the other way and managed to end up in a layby rather than up the kerb... one at 70 mph two-up in the outside lane on a moderately busy M4. I managed to steer the wobbling bike through the two lanes to my left and stop upright on the hard shoulder... another in the rear but this time on a right-hander. I realised I was about to lose control of the bike so aimed at the grassy lawn on the outside of the corner. It belonged to a stately home and whilst I was replacing the tube with the spare I always carried I sent the girlfriend up the long drive to borrow a footpump. The butler sent her round the side to the chauffeur's lodge

There was also a comedy crash on a tubed tyre. I felt it getting a bit flat but forgot I was on tubes (my newly acquired classic CB250RS) and carried on. As I tried to turn right at a T junction, the tube finally went pop, and the tyre rolled straight off the rim. I fell off at 1 mph and landed on one knee beside the bike, almost under a ladder where someone was painting the house.

Loads of tubeless punctures - the perils of being a courier, then instructor and doing a lot of riding in town.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

On trail bikes, a few, used to carry spare tubes and replace them by the side of the trail.
Got one on my Honda on a brand new tyre, a nail in the tyre, rode home slowly, checked the pressure, it had barely dropped, rode round for a while with the nail in with no issues (including a track day), after a while the tyre started to loose pressure so I replaced the nail with one of those brown string plugs, first time I'd used one, the tyre didn't loose any pressure, carried on using the tyre like that, including another track day, until the tyre wore out. I now carry one of the tyre repair kits round with me under the bikes seat in case I get another puncture.