Most of the motorcycle in today’s market comes with tubeless tires equipped on it. Thus, it’s crucial to have some required knowledge about the tubeless tires. Safety is the major issue while riding and the tire you choose mostly affect this. Thus, let’s talk about tubeless tire safety on the motorcycle.
So, Are tubeless motorcycle tires safe? Tubeless Motorcycle tires enhance safety because the air escapes very slowly in case of puncture so the handling remains stable and riders don’t lose control on the road. Hence, tubeless tires are beneficial for the safety of the riders and other people on road.
One of the crucial safety tubeless tires provide over tube tires is handling the puncture better and not deflating quickly. Let me clarify what I mean by this.
Suppose you are riding on your motorcycle having a tubed tire at the speed of 90 km/h (56 miles/h) and suddenly a nail stuck to the tire. The tube will soon get penetrated because of the nail which may lead to a blast of tire or simply a flat tire.
But can you guess the effect of getting your tires flat at that speed, it can be a horrible incident and may result in some undesired outcome. The rider may get disbalance because of the instant deflation from the tire and may fall.
Apart from this, if the motorcycle has tubeless tires then the whole incident will be different. Because the tubeless tire doesn’t deflate instantly which means it can retain the air for a period of time. Also, if the nail has got stuck then the air will leak only after you try to take the nail out of the tire.
And if you just left it there then the air will be blocked with it and you can easily drive without thinking twice and safely remove the nails at home with a repair kit and seal the hole. For more information on making the puncture on the tubeless tire please read this article.
How reliable the tubeless motorcycle tires are?
Nowadays, most motorcycle tires come with tubeless tires that have changed the way it works:-
We all come from a place where motorcycle tires used to come with tubes inside. It has always been a headache to repair these tube tires if got punctured. The problem becomes even bigger when you are touring and you got a puncture at the lonesome place or maybe you got the puncture at night. These situations are horrifying that can limit you from riding because of the fear.
But the tubeless motorcycle tire technology is totally different that can help riders to ride without any second thought to punctures. Let’s understand the tubeless motorcycle tires and know the reliability of these tires:-
Tubeless Motorcycle tires don’t contain a tube inside them to hold or retain the air. The tubeless tires require a special Rim with which the tires are officially sealed to prevent air loss.
As there is no tube inside it the repair has become hell easy than anyone can do within a minute and continue the journey. I have also discussed the complete process to repair the tubeless motorcycle tire puncture that you can read by clicking here. It just required some kits that are small enough that you can easily keep these into your motorcycle storage under the seat.
The tubeless motorcycle tires are safer and reliable if you get a puncture while riding. But, if you go puncture in the tube tires while riding then you know, the condition of your tires, it will become totally flat. And, if you were riding at high-speed then chances are there that you will fall or get collide with other vehicles which are very dangerous and undesirable.
If we apply the same situation but replace the tube tires with tubeless then the whole incident will be changed. With tubeless tires, the air releases very slowly from the tire and thus it doesn’t go flat but it provides ample time to handle the situation. It’s also easy to repair the puncture in tubeless tires.
Apart from this, with the tubeless tire, you can add sealant (gel) to the tires which seal the small punctures instantly as you get them. So, most of the small, or medium punctures will get auto repaired because of this.
Thus, this is where tubeless tires come with a lot of benefits and provides safety and reliability to the riders. Now, as we have stretched this conversation, now let’s further talk about its advantage or benefits including its disadvantages.
Advantage and disadvantage of tubeless motorcycle tires:-
There are many advantages of tubeless tires with being safer, which we will discuss here first. After that, we will also talk about the cons or disadvantages of tubeless motorcycle tires. Both go hand in hand there is no such product in the history of humanity that has only advantages. So, let’s start with the positive side of the tubeless tires.
Advantage of tubeless motorcycle tires
- Increased Safety: Tubeless motorcycle tires provide enhanced safety because the air escapes from the tires much slower than the tube tire. Because the air escapes slowly it gives the rider enough time to be stable and doesn’t lose control while riding at high-speed that helps avoid accidents.
- Easy maintenance: Tubeless motorcycle tires are easy to repair, thus if you got any puncture while riding then it takes just a couple of minutes to patch the tires by yourself. It requires a very minimal amount of accessories with which you can easily repair the tires within minutes. I have discussed the step-by-step process to repair the small punctures on the motorcycle in this post.
- Light-weight: Tubeless motorcycle tires are light-weight thus they result in increased speed and consuming less fuel. Because as weight increases on the motorcycle it requires more power to drive and fuel consumption also increases. But with tubeless tires, there is no worry because it is designed light-weight and also there is no added weight of the tubes.
- Increased Performance: Most of the sport or super sports motorcycles used in racing are equipped with tubeless tires. The reason is the light-weightiness of the tires provides an enhancement to performance and speed while riding on the race track or road. It doesn’t mean that less cc engine fit with tubeless tires will provide you performance. It is just that the lighter tires will provide an add-on to the performance of the motorcycle.
- Risk-free ride: With tubeless tires, you can be assured that your tires will not instantly go flat even if it gets hit by any sharp object. The tubeless motorcycle tires have made the ride risk-free because air escapes very slowly even after a puncture that helps the rider to maintain the handling on the road and not lose control while riding.
- Sealant to seal punctures: With tubeless tires, you can use sealant inside it that will help to seal the puncture on the go. You don’t have to touch your tires to repair them. If you have already put the sealant in your tubeless tire then as soon as you get punctured it will seal it instantly if the hole is small. But make sure to replenish the sealant once or two a year.
The disadvantage of tubeless motorcycle tire
It’s Expensive: Tubeless motorcycle tires are more expensive than tube tires because they require a compatible rim to fit with. Although, it is not even a cons if you look at the advantages and safety features it gives us, so the cost can be neglected.
Sidewall Puncture: Making punctures on the tubeless tires are a hell of an easy task until it’s small and in the center. But if you go sidewall puncture on your tubeless tires you will need to patch it from inside which will require mechanic help, if you are new. Make sure you don’t insert the tire repair stips on the sidewall puncture. It may ruin your tires and you may need to buy new tubeless tires.
Not ideal for off-roading: Even though most modern motorcycles nowadays run on tubeless tires but still off-roading motorcycles use tube tires. We should know that all of the tubeless motorcycle tires are fit on cast rims which are typically used on-road everywhere.
But for off-roading spoked wheels are used because they are resilient and can endure the sudden shock, bumps, and high jumps safely on rough terrain, massive nuts, or large rocks without deforming the rims and perform better than a cast wheel. While cast rims can’t endure the sudden shock from the rough terrain that’s the reason tube tires are still used in off-roading motorcycles like dirt bikes, motocross, dual-sports, scramblers, etc.
Conclusion
Tubeless Motorcycle tires provide enhanced safety because of the way it works. With tubeless tires the handling becomes stable and you’ll not lose control even if it got punctured by a nail. Because the air deflated very slowly from the tires which provided ample time to reach the mechanic in the meantime. Even if you don’t find any mechanics around yourself. You can repair the puncture easily by yourself, just go through this article once.
The conclusion is motorcycle tubeless tires provide many advantages over tube tires and are much safe. Don’t believe me, just ride your motorcycle that has tubeless tires and share your experience on the email that you can find on the contact us page.
