How to Repair a Motorcycle Tyre out on the Road with a Tire Plug Kit

Tips & Warnings

Remember, don’t get stuck somewhere without the proper tools.

Regardless of your motorcycle experience level, flat tires suck.

 The object usually stays in the hole, the only place from which the tire can lose air, so it deflates more slowly than a puncture in a tire with a tube on an unsealed spoked wheel (which can lose air through all of the spoke nipples and even the tire bead). Repair kits that use string plugs often come with rubber cement, which — depending on the string type — may not be necessary to complete the repair, but at a minimum it acts as a lubricant to ease inserting the plug, and seems to help vulcanize the plug to the tire. Make sure you get a kit with T-handle tools, not the straight screwdriver kind. The better kits, especially motorcycle-specific ones, may also have mushroom-shaped plugs that are more likely to seal the hole than the plain strings.

Not Permanent Solutions

Now that your tyre is plugged, you can continue on your ride. It’s a good idea, though, to get the motorcycle in to a service station or dealership so a qualified technician can inspect the tyre to ensure it is safe. Tire plugs are not meant to be permanent solutions.