On board repair kit

I always carry enough tools to do pretty much everything that involves fairings, suspension and chain adjustment. As well as that i always carry a (spark) plug tool.
In terms of non-tools; i carry a small bicycle pump, roll of black fibre tape and a tyre pressure gauge. One thing i should probably get myself to add to my kit is a puncture repair kit, but given i carry the bike pump that's managed to get me out of trouble a few times.

 

tyre repair kits are a must IMO.

You can get the ones with the long (10cm) thin sticky plugs - look like worms. They come with a device to shove it into a puncture, where they stick and hold pretty good. been driving my Triton around with one in the rear left wheel and it's been good for a month now (and that includes some serious 4x4 going).

Most 4x4 people swear by them, and given that they're cheap and so easy to carry and use, i'd be carrying one or two around on the bike just in case.

Obviously the pump mentioned by Koma is required in addition to these (and you can get pretty compact ones - you only need to pump up to about 15 psi or so to keep the tyre beeding in place. Although obviously only recomended for short distances).

Other than that, make sure all your bolts for your fairings, tank, etc, take the same size tools. You should be able to carry around a 10mm/12mm spanner, a single screw driver, and one or two allan keys, and be able to more or less strip your bike down to the engine (and with an 8mm spanner you could strip it even further ) if you need to do more than that on the run, then you probably have bigger problems to worry about.

Alternatively sign up for NRMA roadside assistance. While their mechanics have questionable ability with bikes, they at least they carry a fully equiped tool box.

 

having said that about the tyre repair plugs, I don't know how well you'd go riding with one in. I don't doubt they'd hold on a motorbike tyre - i'm sure they would. but personally I'd be using it just to get myself to a tyre fitter - and even then I'd be riding slowly. You usually leave a cm or so of the plug sticking out, and i don't think they'd be great for trction.

 

Sadly....... I've put about 6K miles on a plugged tyre. I have new ones on the way, but I never had a problem with it. Had it plugged on the road, 500 miles into a 3,000 mile trip and only 6-700 miles on the tire.

 

My FZR had a plug in its rear tyre for the first year I owned it. Never had and trouble with it.

 

I think there's a bit of confusion over the tyre plugs.
As i understand it there is an 'on the road' punture repair kit where by the plug gets inserted from the outside of the tyre whilst it's still on the rim... and personally i wouldn't want to ride on one of the for one second longer than i had to.
On the other hand there's the internally fitted mushroom plugs which are done by removing the tyre from the rim. I've had three of four of those type's of plugs in all sorts of different tyres and never had a problem with any of them. A Pirelli Diablo Strada had ~3000km's on it when it was plugged, and i got another 8000km's out of it.

 

No it was an on the spot repair kit. It happened when I bought the bike in Sydney. Wheeled it up onto the trailer and noticed it had picked up a screw in the brand new rear tyre.

The guy I bought it off owned the workshop and when I mentioned it to him, disappeared for a minute only to return with a kit like the one below. As well as a screw driver to remove the screw.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://cgi.ebay.com.au/RADIAL-TYRE-PUNCTURE-REPAIR-KIT-IN-CHROME-HEAVY-DUTY_W0QQitemZ220099980613QQihZ012QQcategoryZ30862QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem">http://cgi.ebay.com.au/RADIAL-TYRE-PUNC ... dZViewItem</a><!-- m -->

Two shakes of a stick and it was plugged with the bung (sticky rubber cord type). Rode it to the servo the next day to inflate back to normal and that was that until the tyre ran out of tread.

 

The excess cord wears away fairly quickly, I didn’t have any noticeable loss in traction.

 

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sweet

Might start carrying one around on my road bike.

I don't bother with my dirt bike cause it's got tubes - so i still need to take the wheel off, take the tyre off the wheel, search the tube for the puncture, and patch it like a push bike tyre, then reasemble. PITA

 

hey i dont know where your from but i was talking to a friend (im in australia) and there not legal not evenon 4x4

 

I'm in australia.

Don't suppose you've got a reference to the specific law? Considering how wide spread their use is, and that they're readily available in all 4x4 shops and most motorcycle stores, I'd be pretty surprised if they're illegal.

 

david is right they are illegal they're only supposed to be used as a temporary get you home/spare deal

they would not pass a roadworthy because of the danger of rapid deflation.

 

Mine got through a roadworthy inspection and the once over by the highway patrol. Lucky I guess.