Plagued Flat tires on my Hawk.

[KenTaoyan]

Before I ever took it out I upgraded to HD tubes and put Shinko 244 tires on it. I have had three flats so far. After the first two flats (front and rear) I upgraded to HD rim strips. My last flat came back to my rear tires. I think the cause was not being very thorough on my correct tire pressure. I got on it and goosed in in my driveway and it started leaking. Possibly the tire shifting on the valve stem? (All spokes seem tight)

First question: has that happened to anyone else? And the second question: what tire pressures do you all ride with.

I’m starting to get a little disillusioned with this project.

[JerryHawk250]

Did you coat the tubes with talc or baby powder before installing? That will help them slide and avoid creases in the tubes when inflating. I'll usually remove the valve core and inflate and deflate a few time to make sure the tube doesn't have folds and crease in them. The first tube i had bust was the tube had a fold and busted at the crease.

[KenTaoyan]

thanks for the reply, I left to to a shop to install, hoping they did it right. went with a heavier duty tube. my last one was 3mm this one is 4mm. I took it apart after the fail and I didn't see anything wrong except the valve stem. by the time I got the tube out, the valve stem was completely failed and without being able to pump it up for a bubble test. I could not find any other abrasions.

I failed twice installing a tube so I leave it up to guys that normally do it. When looking at YouTube vids, they fast forward that last 10 inches of getting the second bead on. that is the real challenge.

Recommended tire pressures for the 2020 Hawk?

[JerryHawk250]

Rear anywhere from 32-40 psi. I run about 35psi. front i run at 32 psi.

[zero_dgz]

I don't even run my FZ6R tires at 40 PSI. I do 36 in the rear, 33 in the front per the sticker on the swingarm.

On my dinky dual sports including Chinese ones I usually run 25 PSI each in the front and rear unless I am well and truly planning to be on pavement all day every day in which case I'll do up to 30.

I have never in my life pinched a tube or spun a bead due to underinflation at those specs. What I don't do, though, is air down at the trailhead to 12 PSI or whatever the wannabe motocross dudes like to do. That's probably asking for trouble.


If you're ripping stems off of your tubes for what appears to be no reason you may be starting off with the stem misaligned. It's easy to not get it pointed straight when installing the tube and mounting the tire, and a lot of guys' (and shops) "fix" for this is to just crank down the nut on the stem more and more until it "looks right." This will cause the bond between the stem and the rest of the tube to quickly fail through thermal cycling. You can also rip a stem off quick smart by spinning the tire bead on the rim, which is why rim locks exist for dirt bikes. I, uh, really think this is a non-issue on ~13 HP 230cc CG bikes unless your tires are really underinflated or the shop did not seat the bead correctly, or they used something really slippery and non-evaporating that they should not have as bead lubricant.


If I were you I would eliminate that shop as a variable and either find someone else, or do it yourself.


(The secret to getting the last bit of tire over is cramming the opposite edge, which is already on, into the drop center in the rim -- and keeping it there. If you are having trouble doing this in the traditional way, just clamp it with a quick-grip clamp or even a C-clamp. Works every time. If you find yourself feeling like you have to use a ton of force, something is wrong -- stop and reassess, and get that tire bead back in the drop center!)

[KenTaoyan]

thanks all

[Boatguy]

29.5 in the front, 32 in the rear. Lifan x-pect. Precisely the suggested pressure from the manual and I am at almost 4000 miles on the original Chinese tires and tubes. I do an updated 60/40 tar to dirt. It’s been a lot more tar lately since my truck has been in the shop for coming up on a month.

This thread scares me a bit since it’s almost time to change tires and tubes and I want to do it myself for the practice in case i blow one off road.

[2LZ]

My Husky was blowing front tires a lot, back in the day. I figured it was from pounding rocks at MX air pressures. Ended up being a spoke poking through the rim strips. I Dremeled the spoke ends, then wrapped the crap out of the rim with electrical tape, then put on the rim strip. Problem solved.

That said, if someone else is changing the tire/tube for you, who knows?