As some of you may recall, my sidecar buddy is a young man with severe autism. Our rig is a '96 Suzuki 1400 Intruder (63,000 miles) with an ol' California hack. I've always been concerned that we may get 100 from home and have a flat since I know there's no way I could remove a wheel and repair the damage with Luke on board. I probably could plug a tubeless tire and (hopefully) be on our way without too much of a hassle. Is it even reasonable to think about changing the wheels from spoke to cast ones? The fact that I'm even asking the question may make it obvious that I don't have the wrenching skills to do this myself and would have to pay someone (after finding suitable wheels). complicating the matter further (I think) is the fact that Suzy is a shaft drive.
BTW, I do have RideOn in the tubed tires and have evidence that it works, but ..... I guess I still worry.
Thanks much.
Ron
Boy Ron that's a tall order without some very specific information about the rim, hub, total width, you would have to do some serious digging to find out for sure, there may be another answer, I remember reading about how to convert a spoke rim to tubeless useing a wide natural rubber stickey tape and of course I don't remember where I read it but you may be able to find something by Googling tubeless spoke rim, seems to me they had to drill the stem hole out to fit a tubeless stem but if you do find out how to do it that will be in there, if you could plug the spoke holes there's no reason that a tubeless tire couldn't be fitted.
Did a little research:
http://www.motorcyclecruiser.com/tech/tubeless_tire_seal/index.html
http://www.notubes.com/tubeless_system.php?cPath=21_61
http://www.notubes.com/tubeless_system.php?cPath=21_59
Thanks so much for the helpful info. Someone also mention the possibility of using epoxy around the spokes. (Not sure what you do if you break a spoke.)
Anyone out there have actual experience with using these ideas?
Thanks much!
Ron -n-Luke
Epoxy doesn't sound like a good idea to me for just the reason you mentioned, but I bet RTV gasket maker would work I think, just a dab of grease on the head of the adj nipple and then put the RTV over it, the grease won't let the RTV stick and if one had to it could be replaced or adjusted, air pressure would force a seal.
Thanks again for the suggestion. I'll probably try one of them when I need to replace a tire (never too long on the rear) and make the first ride or two without Luke in the sidecar. (After all, I walk 4 miles a day as exercise 😉
Ron
