reseating/sealing tyre without removing.

[Amused2death]

I've happily done about 500 miles on my FZ6 without any issues, but in the last week the rear tyre has lost pressure. Suspecting a puncture I went round it with soapy water and found nothing. Took the valve out, cleaned and reseated that, still loosing pressure, so went round the rim with some more soapy water and discovered air escaping between tyre and rim.

Is there any way of solving this without taking the wheel off the bike?

I could take it off if I had no other choice, but I thought I'd ask you knowledgable chaps and chapesses first.

Advice would really be appreciated.

[anonymous-user]

It might be something trapped in the bead, quite common on older bikes which have had loads of tyres fitted where paint has flaked off and wedged in the bead. I fit my own tyres anyway and use that rim sealer (yes really) stuff when I refit them. You do have to break the bead but the tyre can stay on the rim.

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

Could it be a spot of corrosion on the bead?

[Amused2death]

No idea what the root cause is, but it's odd that I'd done the miles I did, over the course of a month or so, and religiously checked tyre pressure every other ride and found no loss of pressure, then I didn't ride it for a week and found it flat.

I've got some tyre levers and rim protectors on order and my plan was to unseat the tyre round the affected area, hold the tyre back, clean the rim then re-inflate.

Dos my plan seem ok? Or is there anything else I should do?

Thanks for your help people, I'm not dealing with life too well at present and my bike was the thing that keeping me sane so I'm gutted not to be able to go for a spin to clear my head.

[Pothole]

Amused2death said:

No idea what the root cause is, but it's odd that I'd done the miles I did, over the course of a month or so, and religiously checked tyre pressure every other ride and found no loss of pressure, then I didn't ride it for a week and found it flat.

I've got some tyre levers and rim protectors on order and my plan was to unseat the tyre round the affected area, hold the tyre back, clean the rim then re-inflate.

Dos my plan seem ok? Or is there anything else I should do?

Thanks for your help people, I'm not dealing with life too well at present and my bike was the thing that keeping me sane so I'm gutted not to be able to go for a spin to clear my head.

Do you have an airline?

[Amused2death]

Pothole said:

Do you have an airline?

Yep, cheap and cheerful chinese 25 litre compressor.

ETA, recommended tyre pressure is 36 PSI, and I've stuffed 50 PSI in there to see if that helped, but still loosing air.

[Pothole]

Amused2death said:

Yep, cheap and cheerful chinese 25 litre compressor.

Your plan will probably work then.

[Amused2death]

Pothole said:

Amused2death said:

Yep, cheap and cheerful chinese 25 litre compressor.

Your plan will probably work then.

Thank you

[anonymous-user]

Amused2death said:

I've got some tyre levers and rim protectors on order and my plan was to unseat the tyre round the affected area, hold the tyre back, clean the rim then re-inflate.

Dos my plan seem ok? Or is there anything else I should do?

I'm may have misunderstood what you are saying but you need to;

remove the wheel from the bike

remove the tyre valve core (valve core extractors are cheap and easily available)

break the bead on the affected side of tyre (I use a car jack and the tow bar mount on my Land Rover to do this

a means of putting the tyre back on the bead. I've have managed this with a footpump in an emergency but it sometimes needs perseverance, a proper workshop compressor is much easier. Don't refit the valve until you have reseated the tyre

alternatively;

some tyre centres will do the work for you (ask ahead as some won't be interested). They usually won't want the hassle and potential liability issues of removing or refitting the wheel but are usually ok if you bring the wheel in for them to look at.

Hope that helps.

[Amused2death]

Newarch....I'm hoping to solve it without removing the wheel from the bike.

[anonymous-user]

Amused2death said:

Newarch....I'm hoping to solve it without removing the wheel from the bike.

I'm not sure how you'd do that, this is a motorbike not a bicycle right?

[Amused2death]

Newarch said:

I'm not sure how you'd do that, this is a motorbike not a bicycle right?

Yes, M/bike, FZ6

Plan of attack mentioned in earlier post. Whilst removing wheel from bike would be the best solution it's one I'd rather not do unless there was no other option.

[SBDJ]

You'll struggle to 'unseat the tyre' with a couple of levers and the wheel still on the bike

You need to break the bead and that takes a bit of force!

[anonymous-user]

SBDJ said:

You'll struggle to 'unseat the tyre' with a couple of levers and the wheel still on the bike

You need to break the bead and that takes a bit of force!

Indeed, I've had my landrover off the ground using the weight of it to break the bead on some (car) tyres, motorcycle tyres are easier but you do have to watch the jack doesn't slide off or damage the side wall.

I'm not sure how you'd break the bead on a bike tyre without removing it, or why you'd not want to remove it, it's a five minute job on most bikes, easier if you have a centrestand. Big agri and tractor tyres are sometimes left in place but they weigh a ton and pretty dangerous to remove without a tyre trolley.

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

Or take the wheel out and nip it to a local friendly tyre place and ask them to break the bead, if you want to do the rest of the job yourself.