Tire coming off bead while riding!!!!

Well the snow was clearing up a couple weeks ago so i decided to fire up my 83 gs1100e and take it for a ride around town. About 2 blocks down the road i felt the tire go and i put my feet down and was able to keep it upright. I was going about 30mph and it was a pretty scary experience. I got it up on the jack and filled the tire and got it back on the bead and filled both tires properly. Im not at home but a buddy called and wanted to know if he could ride it since it was a nice day. I said sure just be careful,and within an hour he called saying he put it in the ditch after the front tire came off the bead at about 40mph. He is not hurt but it is very scary. I am done messsing around fixing it, It NEEDS to be fixed before someone gets hurt or worse. What could be my problem? The tire was brand new last summer and i doubt the rim is bent. I rode the bike to the sturgis rally and a few other long trips before putting it away for the winter and now i have these problems. Could i put a tube in it? What are my options, ive never had trouble like this before.

Wow, that's a scary one Jordan. Is this a tubless tire on a alloy rim? I'm pretty sure that GS1100 has alloy rims, but I don't know if they require tubes or not. Did you mount the tire yourself? Personally, I would replace the tire. I don't like taking chances with tires.

yes it is a tubeless tire on an alloy rim. You cant take chances on things like this and i was wondering if it could be any other reason other than tire. Yes i mounted it myself which may also be the problem. I never had any problems all summer until i pulled it out after sitting for the winter. I could have lost a friend today, or i may be the one on it when it comes off again. Would a new tire be my best bet?

when you seated the tire on the bead did you remove valve core from stem ?
thats the only way i know to seat a tubeless tire,id also wire brush the bead inside of rim before installing and check bead for leaks.

I just mounted a BT016 on the rear of my zx-10r the other day. Man, that thing had the tightest bead I have ever seen. I fought and fought to get it over the rim. When I was trying to seat the beads, I had to get it up to 60 psi, and I still had to bounce the tire and bang on it to get that second bead to fully seat.

Maybe your tire was not fully seated. I'm with wireman on this. I would be looking closely at the beads on that rim. Clean them real good and make sure that the rim isn't bent or something. Did your tire go flat over the winter or anything else weird happen to that tire?

By the way, did you ask this question at GSResources? Maybe there is a common issue with those rims. If there were, they would know about it.

no i dont believe i removed the core when seating the tire, also i have not contacted anyone at gsresources. I would feel safe if i took it to a shop and had them look at it and replace the tire if needed.

removing valve core allows more air to get into tire faster to make it easier to seat bead

Was anything used as a lubricant to help mount the tire? If so was it something besides an approved tire lubricant? I have read that even dish washing soap (commonly used) can remain slick for quite some time. Obviously, grease, Teflon, silicon or KY would be bad choices and might lead to such a problem.

testarossa wrote: I just mounted a BT016 on the rear of my zx-10r the other day. Man, that thing had the tightest bead I have ever seen. I fought and fought to get it over the rim. When I was trying to seat the beads, I had to get it up to 60 psi, and I still had to bounce the tire and bang on it to get that second bead to fully seat.

Careful doing that :pinch:

One of our techs was trying to get a sport tire to bead on a sport quad rim and had it up to 60psi without it beading properly. At that point he (fortunately) thought of putting it in a pit that hadn't been used in about 25 years. Its just a 24" deep steel ring with steel mesh across the top and big hefty eyebolts clamping the mesh down to use when beading tires in case of mishap. He put his air tool through the special hole in the side and continued filling the tire when it blew. The entire pit (about 75-100lbs worth) jumped in the air and fell over, the eyebolts were blown right off and the tire/rim went about 25 feet in the air. The steel mesh across the top was domed upwards as well and his air tool was chopped in two. A scary situation, fortunately the pit was outside so we got it all on video :whistle: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

You make a very good point about not over pressurizing the tire when trying to seat the beads. In this case it was a 190/50r17 sport bike tire and that's a lot of air. An explosion would be very dangerous. I only went that high because the sidewall of this tire said not to exceed 57 psi. At the point when I new I was close I put a tire gauge on it which read 60. That's when I stopped airing and started bouncing the tire. Eventually it popped into place. I need to get an air chuck that will fill without the valve core in place. As wireman says, they seat more easily without the core in there.

You Shouldn't exceed 40 psi when seating the bead. If it won't seat deflate it apply more tire lube and try again. Sometimes it helps to pry it off against the wheel to stretch it s bit. I've had some low pro tires at work that literally took an hour to get to seat. Every tire machine I've ever used says right on it to not exceed 40 psi when seating the bead. It's not pretty when a tire lets go so it's best not to take chances. Some tires are just more stubborn than others and even though they look like they are completely seated are off just enough that when they heat up and are put under stress they can be a problem.