TOPIC:

got some rims off ebay for 77 kz , spoke type , old junk tires still mounted removed front all good but noticed on the rear it had 2 bolts that are the size of a tube stem , so i loosened them and removed tire and found 2 rubber oval things about 4 inches long x, one says dunlop on it , the other isnt marked and a bit smaller . what are these and should i reuse them ? seems they would make the wheel out of balance . my buddy says the tire is a drag tire and these things are to keep it from twisting on the rim .anybody know for sure ?

Some info here:
forums.kz650.info/index.php?topic=6318.msg60929#msg60929

I got rid of mine.

JD

thanks fellas , gonna let the owner decide , i had no experiance whith these , just fixin it up

The Dunlop is the right one, probably says 2.15 on the other side of the bolt too.
4 1/4 inches long +-

These are off my 78

indianajames wrote: thanks fellas , gonna let the owner decide , i had no experiance whith these , just fixin it up

If the owner decides to leave them out be sure to get that instruction in writing. Otherwise if he ends up with a blowout he may get a lawyer after you. The odds are he won't have a problem, but it can happen. It happened to me on my BSA. The rim would slip just a tiny unnoticeable amount when under extreme acceleration - maybe just a couple 1,000ths of and inch, so I didn't see any sign of trouble. Eventually the rim ended up ripping the valve stem off the tube and PHOOOSH zero air. This happened when shifting hard under full power. The back of the bike swung wildly as I tried to maintain control (not easy) and of course I had traffic behind me thinking I was doing some kind of stunts and blowing their horns in anger. I don't know why I didn't wreck. So just be careful to CYA if he wants them left out - just in case. Ed

Ed is a very aggressive rider or at least was back on the BSA Lot's of guys have removed the rim locks and have had no problems, however they really don't hurt anything. They sit there 180 degress apart on the wheel so assuming they both weigh the same, balance is really not an issue. It takes a little more effort to install them while replacing the tire, but no big deal. Might as well use them, doesn't hurt. They hold the bead on the wheel so you get a flat a little more security if nothing else as the tire most likely will stay seated on the wheel.

They hold the bead on the wheel so you get a flat a little more security if nothing else as the tire most likely will stay seated on the wheel

Good point. Never thought of that.

bluej58 wrote: I got rid of mine.

JD

Now I'm putting them back on

After running somewhere around 25,000 miles on Pirelli and then Avons with no problems at all I finally had my new Avon roadrider(rear tire) slip and blow out doing around 45 mph
I knew what was happening and was able to slow her down with no problem, thankfully I am still breaking in the new rings or I would have been on the highway doing 85 instead of the frontage road, lucky break.

The really stupid thing is this was the second time it happened last week I had one blow out and assumed it was a faulty inner tube.

The last set of tires I used soapy water to install them but I didn't like the rust I found when I took them off to replace them so I decided to give this stuff a try and it worked real good, too good!


Now I have to figure out how to get these damn wheel locks back in, this sucks.
Any tips will be appreciated but I will probably have them on and report back before long.

JD

I haven't used mine for years. On tubeless tires, they aren't there. They do have tires made to lock on the rim but they are a bear to get on and off. Ed has a good point, get it in writing.
Steve

Just take your time putting them back in. They can be a little stubborn, but once you've done them a few times (in my case for the past 38 years ) you get the hang of it and they aren't a problem.

Regarding tubeless rims not using them - correct; they don't need them because the valve stem is attached to the rim rather than a tube. Even if the tubeless rim slips a little within the tire precious little air will escape between the rim and tire. On tires with tubes the valve stem can be torn off the tube or pulled enough to cause a smaller tear that will cause serious air leaks not only between the rim and tire but also straight out of the valve stem hold in the rim. In my case I suspect the rim had been rotating a tiny fraction of an inch within the tire each time I accelerated hard or shifted hard. Those little fractions added up over time though, and eventually the rim ripped the valve stem completely off the tube. When that happened - POOOF - the tire went completely flat in a nano-second. Ed

Yea, they are no big deal, just poke a screwdriver or something through the hole pushing the rim band up where you can get a hold of it, slip the bead lock into the tire and through the hole, then put the rim band back in place. Repeat for bead lock #2. The whole thing takes 5 minutes if you're lucky, 10 minutes if they give a little fight. After getting them on, thread a nut on a couple threads before mounting the tire to be sure they don't fall in the wheel, which is real aggravating.