Tubeless tires on early mag wheels

toolmaker wrote: Mine are Lesters - they won't hold air.

We've never had a problem with any of our Lesters. Do they leak around the bead?

We've read that dishwashing detergent can cause corrosion on aluminum mag wheels in the bead area, leading to leaks. We no longer use it for mounting lube. We either use RuGlyde or the vegetable-based slickum that Cycle Hill sells.


Good Ridin'
slmjim

I recently purchased a set of tubeless Shinko 712's for my 1981 KZ440 LTD. I went to 2 different places before dropping them off at a dealership to have them mounted. Apparently valve stems for the wheels are a little hard to find, or no one seems to keep them in stock. The dealership was the same way. They ended up putting tubes in and solved the problem.

slmjim+Z1BEBE wrote:

toolmaker wrote: Mine are Lesters - they won't hold air.

We've never had a problem with any of our Lesters. Do they leak around the bead?


Good Ridin'
slmjim

I don't know where they leak from, just know they don't hold air overnight. I put them on in '76 or '77 - can't remember - had a dealer mount them and have had problems with them ever since. A tube works fine if they don't pinch it during installation. Could these maybe be early ones?

toolmaker wrote:

slmjim+Z1BEBE wrote:

toolmaker wrote: Mine are Lesters - they won't hold air.

We've never had a problem with any of our Lesters. Do they leak around the bead?


Good Ridin'
slmjim

I don't know where they leak from, just know they don't hold air overnight. I put them on in '76 or '77 - can't remember - had a dealer mount them and have had problems with them ever since. A tube works fine if they don't pinch it during installation. Could these maybe be early ones?

One of our sets are very early Lesters. They've always had tubeless tires on them, since 1975 or so. Tubeless MC tires were just becoming available. Thing is, the bead and flange areas have always been thoroughly cleaned every time tires have been off. No TL indicator is cast in, but they were sold as tubeless-capable in the sales propaganda. Later Lesters had TL on them by DOT decree. Unless drilled for a rim lock, all Lesters are tubeless AFAWK.

Have you tried spraying soapy water around the bead area and valve stem when a tubeless tire is mounted to localize the leak(s)? Our understanding is that the tire seals along the flange, from where the bead seat turns up and above. If it were us, we'd clean that area thoroughly with a Scotchbrite pad and rubbing alcohol to remove all rubber debris and corrosion, remount & spray test. If it still leaks there are potions called bead sealer made solely for that purpose. In that case we'd try bead sealer.

But,

We have a tire changer here at the house, so it's not that much of a hassle to mount/de-mount.

An article that addresses bead leaks:
www.autoserviceprofessional.com/article/...oded-wheel-bead-seat


Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE