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I carry a tire repair kit (Comes with rope plugs and a few CO2 cartridges to help with inflating a totally flat tire) with my sport touring set up and I consider it as an emergency use only situation.

So far, I have only had to use it once. I was way up in the mountains (outside of phone service) and no one coming/going by. It was the rear tire (Which is way better than the front in my opinion) and was able to get a little air into the tire, pushed in a plug, then added a little more air (I ended up running out of the cartridges so the tire was on the lower PSI side of things) but I was still able to carefully ride it about 40 miles to a gas station. They weren't able to help with a new tire (no surprise)...but we found a bike shop about 200 miles further along my route so I just added the correct PSI (not leaking btw) and comfortably rode it another 200 miles to the shop.

I ended up getting a new set of tires (Front/rear) as they were on the lower side of tread/life anyways...but I actually think the plug would have held just fine for the duration of my ride. Not saying I would have been pushing it with a plug in it, but it would have made it home I think.
 
I carry a tire repair kit (Comes with rope plugs and a few CO2 cartridges to help with inflating a totally flat tire) with my sport touring set up and I consider it as an emergency use only situation.

So far, I have only had to use it once. I was way up in the mountains (outside of phone service) and no one coming/going by. It was the rear tire (Which is way better than the front in my opinion) and was able to get a little air into the tire, pushed in a plug, then added a little more air (I ended up running out of the cartridges so the tire was on the lower PSI side of things) but I was still able to carefully ride it about 40 miles to a gas station. They weren't able to help with a new tire (no surprise)...but we found a bike shop about 200 miles further along my route so I just added the correct PSI (not leaking btw) and comfortably rode it another 200 miles to the shop.

I ended up getting a new set of tires (Front/rear) as they were on the lower side of tread/life anyways...but I actually think the plug would have held just fine for the duration of my ride. Not saying I would have been pushing it with a plug in it, but it would have made it home I think.

Yup - same here. I carry a kit - but have never used it.

Glad I have it though.

Pete
 
I bought the mushroom plug kit about 20 years ago. The one time I needed it, it got me home. I recently noted that the lubrication on the plugs is no more. I'm going back to bacon strips because I have never had issue with those. Once upon a time, I was on a long trip with a buddy. We both had daughters with us. We were on the way home on a holiday. His Road King picked up a bolt or something big in the tire. He had three or four of those rope plugs in the tire. They'd only last up to five miles before he had to replace them. I rode ahead and found him a room at the Holiday Inn, then escorted him there, right next door to a Suzuki dealer. They fixed him up next day, and I made it to work Tuesday morning. The Suzuki place even had the tire with HARLEY-DAVIDSON on the sidewall.
 
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I've always carry the bacon strip plugs. Had to use them three times on the rear of my FJR with a CO2 cartridge air unit, once was 150 miles from home. Never failed, but I always replaced the expensive tire. I just can't imagine passing a car doing 80 or 90 with a plugged tire.
 
Never failed, but I always replaced the expensive tire. I just can't imagine passing a car doing 80 or 90 with a plugged tire.
Used 'em on bikes and cars... fix and forget... never replaced a tire because of 'em. Never had one fail.
 
If one does fail in the future, you will tell us, won't you ? ;)
I will.
Had a 76 Trans Am that at various times had multiple plugs in the tires (long story). Used to regularly run it out to 130... 140 mph. Lived in Idaho at the time where there were tons of wide open, deserted roads... they spoke to me... :rolleyes:
Anyway... never had one fail.
 
"Rope" tire plugs:

I'm remembering more details of my 3 tire punctures on my FJR1300.
On one occasion, it was a double puncture, and they were more like tears (rather large) than holes. The rope plugs failed to hold air, and I had to trailer it home.
On the other two punctures, the plugs pulled out on the way home, forcing me to replug them. I think that I didn't take good care to cut the plug off cleanly at the tire surface the first times.

I've done some web surfing, and I found other riders who had the same plug failures.

In summary, it seems critical to cut the plug off very cleanly with a sharp razor blade.
They work best in well-defined punctures, like from a nail.
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That's good stuff... i don't care who ya are...
 
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