I've had to deal with a few punctures on my travels but had never had to deal with any before I set off so for me, it was all a learning curve. I've travelled with both tubeless and tubed tyres, and have to say after a couple of scary blow-outs on tubed tyres, I'm sticking with tubeless from now on.

To change a tubeless tyre:
After putting the bike on the centre stand and getting the wheel off, to break the bead just get as much air out of the tyre as you can then and (this is where the well balanced BMW is quite handy) break the bead using the side stand. Might take a bit off manoeuvering bit it does work.

To fit a new tubeless tyre: For that very last part where you haven't got the strength to lever the final bit of tyre onto the wheel, DON'T seat the bead on the rim just yet, keep it in the middle of the wheel. There's a shallow recess which gives you just enough extra to get the last bit on. I didn't know this the first time I changed a tyre and spent (literaly) hours trying to finish it off, finally giving in and paying a local guy 5 pesos to do it!

For tubed tyres (and bikes without centre stands), just use your boots and bounce around to break the bead (and to the amusement of the locals).

To fix a tubeless tyre puncture:
If its an easy nail in the tread, pull it out and use the stick repairs (look a bit like black, sticky pipe cleaners). Fold in half and jam it in using the tool and cut off the excess. It will vulcanise with the heat and be pretty much permanent. One of mine lasted from Peru till Costa Rica and that was only because the tyre eventuall started to split around the repair. Then I replaced that repair with a mushroom patch from the inside which fixed it again. Never used a bicycle pump, only a small electrical compressor from 'Motopumps' which has worked great for the last 2 years. Just fit a power socket on the bike. Get a decent pressure guage too, I found those cheap 'pen' style ones tended to break quite quickly.

To fix a tubed tyre puncture:
Unlike tubeless tyres, you have to go through all the hassle of taking off the wheel and then you can repair the tube much like a bicycle tube. I found on the very rough roads, my patches tended to eventually (and quite suddenly...) burst again.

Re those Co2 cartidges, they are actually quite handy at setting the bead quicker than if you're using an electric pump so its worth carrying a few for that if nothing else. I also only carried 2 standard sized tyre levers, nothing huge.

__________________
Mike


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