Tire question

[Bill Conquest]

 I HAVE A '79 R65 THAT NEEDS A NEW BACK TIRE - THE P.O. HAD A TUBLESS W/ A TUBE ON IT. CAN I USE A TUBLESS ON THESE SNOWFLAKE RIMS OR SHOULD I USE A TUBED TIRE W/ TUBE? THANKS, KAUAIBILL

[donbmw]

Those wheel were not made to use tubeless only. Always use a tube in them.

Don

[Jon_P]

i have tubes in mine because that is what everyone recommended but my rims do say tubeless and could be used without tubes. from what i understand is that they would leak and go flat pretty easy.

[nhmaf]

The tubeless issue involves the shape of the wheel's rim where it contacts the bead of the tire - if you
have the snowflake wheels or the 81-84 LS wheels these do not have the proper rim design for running
without tubes.   It can be a safety issue as well as an air leakage issue.   If you have a monoshock
bike with alloy wheels, I think that these were all rated for tubeless operation.

[freebie79]

bill  i just bought tires for my bike bridgestone spitfires 100/90 for the front and 110/90 for the rear i only got 100 miles on them but they seem great for the rain groove in the freeway and they hold good, any way this is my limited experience. and they have tubes but i think on other bikes the can be run tubeless. hope this can be of help

[MrRiden]

By all means you can run tubless tires. With tubes! The rim/bead profile is not designed for a proper seal/mechanical hold on the tire and the danger, as I understand it, is the possibility of sudden deflation.
I'm also told that when running a tubless tire  w/a tube the speed rating of the tire goes down a notch. Be sure and balance those new tires. Justin B. makes a very nice tool to do it.
rich
More on Tubeless http://tinyurl.com/mom4l

[Justin B.]

To throw gas on the fire and cause more confusion I'll point out that a lot of folks run the snowflakes without a tube with no problems.  It requires a bit of machining around the valve stem hole and some of them are said to be a bit porous.

[Bill Conquest]

Thanks everyone for the good info -I think i'll play it safe & put a good tire with tube on the snowflake rim, though they don't seem to last very long here on kauai. Aloha, Bill