To tube or not.....?

[Mc tool]

Well, After going thru the hassle and ($530) cost of getting the Guzzi " back on the road " and a few shake down miles solo , me and Di went for her 1st ride on a bike for nearly 4 years and just as she started to relax ( and I started feeling smug ) the f#@&in thing tore the valve stem out of the rear wheel inner tube......shit they go flat quick. I had to leave Di on the side of the road as I wobbled off towards home ( I think she was quite happy about that ) to get the car
Anyhow This thing has spoked wheels and I was wondering if anyone has has any experiance in fitting tubeless tyres to spoked rims . How do you seal the spokes , rather than putting a tube in it .I dont mind admitting that I got the shits up when that tyre went flat so quick ... 2 up. If we hadn't been on a straight bit of road , we would have been off, not something either of us need at the moment .
AND after a debrief at home we realised that of all the bikes and cars to pass us , the only person to stop and offer help was a guy on a Harley ( i was nearly home ) cheers mate . About 3 k's from home the inner tube started to come out, all very spectacular, smoke , flapping rubber, non stop swearing, ha ha its the 1st time Ive ever ridden speedway in a straight line .
tyre is a bit rooted

[jcslocum]

It's probably close to impossible to make a tubed spoke rim tubless. Sealing the spoke.....

[higgy]

From the February, 2009 issue of Motorcycle Cruiser
Wirewheel Lg
You can't escape cleaning...

read full caption
Wirewheel Lg
You can't escape cleaning them, but you can run tubeless tires on your motorcycle's wire wheels if you seal them properly. That requires making the holes for the spoke nipples (visible in the right side of the rim) air-tight.

Nostalgic, pretty, and capable of absorbing some of the shocks the road dishes out, wire-spoked motorcycle wheels also have their drawbacks. They are more time-consuming to clean and require occasional maintenance.

However, the biggest drawback is that most wire wheels (there are exceptions, such as BMW) use tube-type tires — that is, tires that require inner tubes to hold the air that supports the motorcycle. Inner tubes entail a risk of rapid deflation (or blowout) and resulting loss of control if punctured because a punctured tube immediately loses its air. Tubeless tires, on the other hand, usually release pressure slowly, which can give you sufficient warning to get off the road safely.

For some time, wire-wheel builders have been sealing automotive wire wheels to permit the use of tubeless tires. Unfortunately, the same sealant used for cars tends to peel off when confronted with the lateral stresses encountered in motorcycle wheels. However, some motorcycle-wheel builders are now sealing wire-spoked wheels for our machines, too. It seems a new compound has been developed recently that appears to have solved the problems of the past.

We asked Wheel Works in Garden Grove, California (714/530-6681) to fill us in on the details. Although a spokesperson was reluctant to specify the exact ingredients, we learned that the sealant (which is applied over the inside of the spoke nipples in a two-part process) takes about 12 hours to set up. It is impervious to the stresses and chemicals normally encountered in motorcycle applications. After you discard the tube, the total weight of the wheel is actually lower than with a tube. The reduced weight and the elimination of friction means that the tire runs cooler than with an inner tube. Wheel Works charges $59 per wheel to convert your wire wheel for tubeless use. This fee also includes the installation of a tire valve stem.