Weird front flat tire

[Beau-Kat]

Went to ride my MM yesterday morning. Dropped it down off the center-stand and it was hard to push back out of its spot in the garage. Discovered a flat front tire. That tire only has about 1k miles on it and I check the pressure often. Never had a problem.

Inspected the tire, rim, valve stem and valve core (spit bubble test), and found no issues. Aired it up to 42 psi and it is still holding dead-on today.

The bike had not been sitting for extended periods and just leaked over time like one might expect.

I ride and tinker around with all my bikes weekly.

This was just too weird.

Anyone else ever experienced anything like this?

[Venturous Randy]

The last time I had a front tire leak, it was around the base of the valve stem and I just tightened it up some.

RandyA

[Peder_y2k]

Mix a batch of dishwashing liquid soap, about 1tsp / qt. and use a spray bottle to wet the tire/wheel/valve assembly. With the bike up on centerstand, you can easily rotate the front wheel and watch for any bubbles forming. That's the way I found a rim leak caused by wheel corrosion. I deflated the tire and used a large 'C' clamp to compress the tire bead away from the rim enough to clear the corrosion out and reseal the bead.

-Pete, in Tacoma WA USA

[Rick Haywood]

Same thing happened to my MM last weekend while on an overnight ride to Indiana. Air it up and has stayed at 40 pounds since I have Dyna beads and cheched air before I left so only thing I can figure is one of the beads got stuck in the valve core and created a small leak

..

[alwrmcusn]

Similar problem on a new 2013 Hyundai Elantra. Parked it one night in an enclosed garage. Next morning one tire is completely flat. Used the kit to air it up and drove it to the nearest Hyundai dealer (we were visiting in Columbia, SC). The tire was tested and no leaks were found. It has remained trouble free ever since and currently has almost 10K on the tire(s). :confused:

[djh3]

2 thing. The valve core on mine anyways is the threaded type. Check it out maybe have to tweak it a tick. The other thing is if your running the balance beads and not the "filtered" valve core last time you checked you tire you could have had a bead stuck in there and it leaked down. My old PU has a valve core that has a mind of its own. It will be fine for say a week and then next week I'll have to add air twice. Its almost like the spring is weak and dont seat all the time.

[MikeWa]

Look carefully for a screw,nail or tack in the tire. With no squirm on the tire they will sometimes seal themselves, for a while. Then when you least expect it they will leak again.

 

I carry an extra couple of screws in my tool bag. On more than one occasion I have used said as a temporary tire plug.

 

Mike

[Beau-Kat]

Thanks guys.

I installed the tire myself and really cleaned the rim and bead area well. That was several months ago.

I do not have the balance beads in it.

No bubbles during testing.

I'm gonna unscrew the valve core and reinstall it. Then I'll put some soapy water at the stem base and try to rotate the entire stem to see if I get bubbles.

 

A couple years ago my Maxim valve core went bad and I changed it ouot.

I change a lot of motorcycle tires and keep a variety of valve cores around here. Might just swap that out.

[billmac]

could be something simple as when the air was checked the stem did not seat all the way, when refilled the stem seated good.

[Beau-Kat]

good point