Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Accessories Sealing spoked wheels? Anyone know about this?

I just read that some companies will seal spoked wheels so you can run tubeless tires. The only catch seems to be that if you tighten a spoke, it has to be done again. The company I talked to was in Cal and charged $59 a wheel but you have to send the wheels in to them.

Has anyone had any experience with this process?

I remember seeing a "how to" webpage that claimed you could do it yourself with enough silicon sealant. I don't think I'd like to add that much weight to my wheels though.

Will try to find the page for you.

Ran into a guy at Barber on a spoke-wheeled Tiger. He used "Goop" from home depot. Says he wasn't the first to do it, had 5000 trouble free miles. He cleaned rim real good, 2 applications of Goop letting it dry between coats.

Why would you do this?

Lots easier to fix a tubeless tyre on the side of the road than a tubed one.

Here is the webpage about sealing your spoked rims with silicon. Let us know if you do this and how it works out.

This seems like a good idea at first but you can't adjust your spokes and you have to check you air pressure all the time. Wouldn't it be easier to carry a can of "fix-a-flat" and hope you don't need it. It just sounds like more of a hassle than it's worth.

Ron, I really don't think fix a flat will work on a tube tire.
Because the air will just leak out thru the spokes.
A flat tire is my biggest worry when I go on a road trip and is the primary reason I'm thinking of trucking my bike to GA this May.

why not just carry a spare tube?

You are correct. A simple flat tire on a tube can be enormously expensive if you have to get trucked into town especially when you are out in the boonies. Even if you have all the tools, the stuff to patch a tube AND a center stand, repairing a tire by the side of the road would be challenging. It's tough on a bicycle tube-it would be really hard on a 500 pound plus motorcycle.

I know the real wire wheels on the old sports cars are almost always sealed and it just seems something I should be able to get down locally without mailing my wheels to California.

I think sealing the wheels is a good idea. I would leave the tube in anyway.

It seems the first guys to do this were the custom builders with the fat rear wheels... used a couple tubes of silicon...
BUT... they would only use those bikss for shows or short rides... The technology is better now, but try eBay and see if you can find a mag rim... The guys at a couple of custom shops I taked to said they personally would not ride cross country on a siliconed rim.... just too much hassle with a flat if there's sealer inside.

I lucked out and found a new Harley wheel that included shipping to Hawaii for half the cost of a new one.
Got it for exactally the same reason.. and I did have a front flat last summer out in the middle of nowhere, Utah (I-70 and I-15)!
Interesting experience, but only set me back about 3 hours...
Mary

I had an MG once with spoked wheels. There was a big rubber band inside the wheels, to keep the spokes from scraping against the tube, as nearly as I could tell. Actually, I coule tell, because when it got old, the rubber bands shifted, and I got flat tires often, when the spokes rubbed holes in the tubes. At any rate, the band alone might not be good enough - I think you'd still need a tube. Is there that much rolling mass in a bike tube? I'd be inclined to leave it to the pros, or settle for tubeless-ready wheels (yecch).

All (unsealed) spoked wheels have a tube protector in them.