Replacing a pristine 15 year old tire with a plug?

[eklimek]

So I missed this summers riding. Not sure my contributions to the forum were missed, but here is the story. The question is at the end.

May 1 I was cruising in the inside (fast) lane of the divided expressway. A long sweeping right hand turn with traffic lined up in the right lane when I had an unplanned low side exit. As nearly as I can estimate I lost the air suspension in the front forks and with rolling off the throttle developed a death wobble from the diminished trail. In retrospect I noted this on a recent downhill descent with a bit of wobble in the handlebars.

Thinking the front brake would only make this situation worse I must have the rear brake too hard on the 81 GL1100. I went down on the low side at 110 kph (yes officer exactly 110 kph) .

Hit the pavement with the right shoulder and probably had one 360 axial spin. While sliding on my back waiting for the world to come to a stop I recalled the words, "If things are going well, don't try to improve it".

I came to rest with a broken collar bone, few ribs fractures, fractured scapula. Must have hit the left hand on the pavement during the spin and broke a couple of metacarpals.

The EMS destroyed the protective gear (ATGATT) and carted me off to the ER. Nice young ER doc was sweating when the hair follical to scrotum CT scan came back. She carted me off to the trauma centre "just to be sure".

A month of blue and yellow bruises and a bit of road rash later completes the picture.

Now the newly named widowmaker is going to be replaced with the 1983. Which brings me to the question, should a pristine old rear tire (stamp 2500) with a plug in the tread be replaced? I vote yes.

[virgilmobile]

Absolutely.you will find it so hard that removing it will prove difficult.In that case,break the beads loose and then with a knife,cut the sidewall on both sides.The tire will fall off and the leftover bead can be removed by hand.
Don't bother trying to pry that rock hard tire from the rim...

[redial]

The best thing for that tyre is to take it off the rim, put it in the garden, and plant a tree in the middle of it as a memory of how ATGATT saved you.

[spiralout]

Absolutely.you will find it so hard that removing it will prove difficult.In that case,break the beads loose and then with a knife,cut the sidewall on both sides.The tire will fall off and the leftover bead can be removed by hand.
Don't bother trying to pry that rock hard tire from the rim...

Some of those old ones are a pita. I did one once that a bead breaker wouldn't even break it down, just busted the rubber. Ended up cutting a "V" out of the tire and using a pair of diagonal pliers to reach in and nip away at the bead 'til I got through it.

[RoadRogue]

replace a 15 year old tire? absolutely !!! I wont even mount a tire that is more than 2 years old, even if it were free.
Sorry to hear of your spill, glad you are still walking and talking

[WingAdmin]

Never mind the age, which should disqualify it on its own, but to me, a tire with a plug in it is good for one thing: to get me home, so that I can remove it and replace it with a new one. Motorcycle tires simply flex far too much to rely on a plug lasting any length of time.

[tfdeputydawg]

1. There is no such thing as a 15yr old "Pristine" tire!!!!
2. If the right kind of plug is used in a good tire, one that's not out dated, one should be able to use that tire until tread wear shows a new one is needed!
I would suggest, unless one's bike has the Honda TPMS w/unprotected sensors, to use RideOn in the tires. Follow the instructions and you will have no problems. Been using this product for years in many tires on several bikes. It works! Also note, I stated "RideOn", not any other product. RideOn stays in the tire. It will not "make a mess" when you change tires and it does not "mess up" the rim!

[eklimek]

Thanks for comments. It was my intention to replace both front and rear by virtue of the age alone.

It seems these tires were put on just when the bike was retired with low mileage (pun intended). I think the head gasket went. Tires are real pretty, black with white lettering with the nubs still visible. The plug is hard to see on the rear.

It will become my daily driver in the spring now that the widowmaker is out of service. All the usual maintenance issues due to age and corrosion will be undertaken over the winter. (I have come to dislike bleeding brake fluid.)

As a side bar note, thanks to all. This web site is helpful and enabled me to refurbish the 1981.