Boxerworks.com

Major Softie wrote: BMW has been building bikes with tubes all this decade, and the last. Not sure there has ever been a time when what you said was true, but there may have been a few years in the 90's.

Well, I stand corrected, MS. While there hasn't been a flat-twin airhead, oilhead, hexhead, camhead, wethead, or a K-bike with tube-type wheels and tires in the U.S. since '86, save for perhaps a few orphan blue-frame R80GS Basics in '96-'97 (or did they have tubeless perimeter-spoked wheels like the R100GSs and the oilheads?), I forgot about the conventional spoke-wheel editions of the several F and G variants. My bias---chain-driven Rotax/KTM clones are sort of "BMW-ish" bikes whose road test reports and showroom presence I've skipped since the first "Funduro/Fundorko" arrived back in '94, so they slipped my mind. An extended test ride, probably 10 years ago, on a shop bike F650 didn't make a memorable impression, either.

So, given the Fs and Gs, if the cause of OP's flat was an install issue, I guess the tire tech had no reasonable excuse.

The truth comes to light!

The no-name (literally!) tube I used was split along the circumferential seam, almost all the way around the tube. No wonder it leaked fast! Most surely a defective tube. I have Michelin tubes on order.

Anyway, it's giving me an excuse to de-nick and polish the rims.

This is a reassuring finding -- a problem I shouldn't have again with a good tube.

The only Metzler tube that lost air on me was due to a nail.

I think "no no-name inner tubes" is a decision rule you can live with.

I go elsewhere when dealers refuse to install parts that they didn't get their mark-up on, but then there are these facts. Preserving consumer choice is generally a good thing, but a shop supervisor should've exercised his experience and better judgment here.

Inner tube quality SHOULD NOT be compromised.

I noticed the tubes I was looking up cost $30 USD or more.

I am curious, how much was that rear "no-name" tube listed on the original invoice?

If I were a dealer/shop, if I bought cheap tubes so I could make a better profit, I should at least allow for a customer to provide their own tubes, if they like.
If everything goes smiley, the tech might even get a tip!

What size is written on the failed tube?
I bet it was too small width ways.

ME 109 wrote:What size is written on the failed tube?
I bet it was too small width ways.

If the seam split, quite a possibility!

I wonder what is in the front tire?

Just ride. The odds of you having a high speed flat is very low. You had one. The odds of you having two high speed flats is nill.

I'm interested to know what tyre was fitted. Prolly a Metz at a dealer, but if it was a pilot activ those suckers can take 100 psi to seat on a snow flake.

Tube split along a mold line sounds more like a defect? Mind you, depends how long this split is.

bbelk wrote:Just ride. The odds of you having a high speed flat is very low. You had one. The odds of you having two high speed flats is nill.

If it was due to an inadequate tube, then, if he were to use the same inadequate tube again, the odds might well be extremely high.