Re: [emrat:10395] Tubes?

Brian,

Sorry to "muddy the waters" but the 98 TBS I bought last fall came with a Triumph Service Manual and the Owners Handbook (you need both to figure out all the shock settings etc.).  Both simply draw a line between the spoke wheels and the alloys saying that all the spokes require tubes and the alloys are tubeless.

Unfortunately there is a warning in the Service Manual against running tubes in tubeless tires.  It says excessive heat can build up in the wheels potentially causing the tubes to fail resulting in rapid air loss.

In the early years of the TBS the spoke wheels were aluminum alloy and outsourced by Triumph to a specialty manufacturer in Spain by the name of Akront.  They were "touted" by Triumph as being something special when the TBS was first introduced.  My bike has these wheels.  I don't know if they carried thru all the years of the model run.  My tires are both marked tubeless (Metzler on the front but the rear is Bridgestone).  It's possible these wheels were made to be tubeless.  Unfortunately I don't know if mine are tubeless or not but obviously I must now find out soon!

Vince Lane 

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From: emrat@googlegroups.com <emrat@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Brian Weberg <bw26354@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 4, 2018 11:42 AM
To: emrat@googlegroups.com
Subject: [emrat:10389] Tubes?

 

Hello EMRATs,

I'm about to replace tires on my recently purchased 2004 Thunderbird Sport.  I've chosen Avon Spirit STs and they're on the way.  But I am perplexed about the issue of tubes. The current Metzelers on the bike are "tubeless" but I am assuming that with the spoked wheels on this bike that they probably have tubes in them. We'll find out the answer to that when we take them off (which I will not be doing myself). I'm getting mixed advice from dealers, the tire seller and others about the need for tubes, but I'm leaning toward the conclusion that yes, I'll need to run tubes in the tires on these spoked wheels. Your experience and advice is welcome as this is the first bike I've owned with spokes. 

Many thanks,

Brian W.

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