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Bad hair day

briderdt

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Friday's homeward commute, creeping along on the highway due to a roll-over accident about 2 miles ahead, one kind gentleman in a pickup mentioned that my rear tire looked low. I thanked him, and made my way gently home. Upon popping the tire gage on the valve... 10psi.

So I pulled out the spray bottle of soapy water, put the bike on the swingarm stand, and started the inspection. Nada. Another round... Still nada.

I got around to pulling the wheel off and checking the bead yesterday. Found two very small leaks at the bead, right at flashing lines. Wish I'd taken pictures of it.

Anyway, I pulled the tire bead, and found something interesting -- where these leaks were, the little "hairs" on the tire right next to the bead had been folded under the rim, causing a tiny leak path. I trimmed them all off (using small wire cutters), reinstalled the bead, and voila, no leaks.
 

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Even though I trim those hairs off the tire sidewalls, I'm not totally convinced they'll generally cause a leak at the rim if left in place. I would say both the factory and every professional tire installer out there ignores the hairs and tire installations are largely successful as a whole.

That being said, I trim the hairs and I scrub the rims and I use liberal amounts of vegetable based tire mounting lube and I never have rim leaks.

Thanks for pointing out this potential source of tire leaks.
 
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Yes, the "hairs" were pretty long, and when folded under the rim extended almost the entire bead width. The leaks were very slow, but definitely there.
 
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