Tire Mousse: for dualsporting?

Thanks for the great details! You say you never keep them in a tire longer then a few weeks, do you just add more lube when you reinstall or do you remove the old lube first? I plan on running rims locks(motion pro liteloc), do you use 1 or 2 per wheel? any special tips running a rim lock with mousse?

What silicon lube do you use?

To answer your questions in order- I just keep adding more lube (either Michelin Bib Mousse Lube, or the Mefos come with a little tub of similar stuff). To avoid confusion, I'm not changing them to relube, I'm changing them because the tire is worn out. Lite Locs are awesome, that's what I use also, 1 per wheel. No special tips.

Exactly like that!

So when you run out of the little tube-o-lube the mousse comes with, what do you use? Is the a generic silicon lube you can purchase?

That small tube included, is meant for one tire only. And it costs a fortune when bying later. Buy it in those big boxes as you need plenty of it. There are alternatives too. I've been running the mousse's since they we're available to public, and some years ago I came over some silicon based lube they use when mounting plastic fittings in water pipe installations. When I change tyre and have used this type of lube, it tends to have more left on the mousse itself compared to the stock Mich lube. A couple of other guys I know they use this type of lube the electricians are using when pulling cables through those 'tubes'.

Here's another trick: when the mousse is getting older, it shrinks as Ned says. Then sometimes it's more challenging to get the bead on the tire to rest against the rim. Then you can either hit the road, warm the tire and 'hope' it pops in place. Sometimes it does, but sometimes not. Instead you can install a valve in your rim of this car-type whatever, so you can just inflate the tire / help with some pressure. Just remove the small needle inside the valve and also drill the bottom base to a bigger ID so you can let more air through as a 'shock'.

Second trick: I've never used rimlocks in combination with mousse. But you should not compare my type of riding / terrain with yours. Up here is more gnarly / muddy conditions. Anyway, when mounting the tire, use brake fluid on the bead (be careful not applying where it shouldn't go). Work fast and the bead will 'glue' to the rim. I don't need to do this for my type of riding, but I have tried it sometimes, and boy, that bead was really glued to that rim.

Not so bad here, Rocky Mountain sells tubes for ~$3.

Geee... Here its approx $15 for the small tube and $40 for the bigger box.

Hello,

On the "Raid de l'amitie" (Marocco) 2009 i used tubliss (DRZ400S), and in 2011 i used Michelin Mousses (WR250R). The tires were Pirelli MT21 Rallycross.

On the little bike, i think the mousse can last a very long time (3500 kms on the last raid, and the mousses are still there and in good shape).

The key, as said before, is the speed on tarmac: no more than 90/100 kmh, and they will last a very long time (i have friends using Michelin mousses for many years on enduro bikes).

On a personal note, i won't use the tubliss anymore: I had a flat during the raid 2009, and i had to change the tyre (a knob were ripped off completely, with a big hole in the tyre !)

Regards,

Olivier;

Due to the remoteness of the trip is seems like it would be a good idea to carry a tube and flat repair, just in case. Seems like a mousse failure would leave you stranded. Esspecailly if you have no experiance with it.

Use mouse for the convenious of a flat free trip. Carry a tube and pump and levers as back up.

I was reading Coletech (sp?) report on the BAM road. He uses mousse.

Olivier, your experience with them on smaller bikes is very promising, thank you!

The reason I was looking at using tire mousse was to eliminate the spare tubes/pumps/levers/time required to fix flats.

We will have a "support guy" with backup spares etc, who will be able to helicopter us spares in an emergency, he will be camped at one end of the trail. This scenario is obviously very expensive since it's in a remote part of northern Canada, but we simply do not have the capability to take every spare we would like as our bikes would become unrideable.

Our other problem is that we have to cover an unsupported section (Canol Heritage Trail) which is about 750km with no people, no gas, no supplies, nothing. Keeping the bikes as light as possible is nessecary to maintain fuel economy that will allow us to make it 750km without re-supply.

So far based on the above posts, a properly installed mousse, in a 250 sized machine keeping max speed below 100km/hr should have no problems making it on our trip, and as a back up our "support guy" would have the tires/tubes/spares/tools available to helicopter in should we have a failure .

If this turns out to not be the case then we will just stick with tubes and carry the appropriate spares & tools...

Thanks for the tip about his report on the BAM I will look into that.

Looked into the use of Mousse on the BAM road, it doesnt' say what type was used other then that the mousse was not solid and had a tube inside that had got punctured due to tearing in the mousse.

I was under the impression that the Michelin and Mefo mousse were solid?

I did also read about the crazy polish dudes on KTM400's that had complete failure in rear mousse after 300km, I am taking a big assumption by saying that they probably were not the right size, lubed properly, used with speeds exceeding max reccomended or damaged upon instilation...

It is hard to ever know as there was never any information on how they were installed, what size, what speed they were used at, lubrication etc...

Following your thread with great interest Windquest.

Can't wait for the RR. Good luck with the prep.

Thanks!

What about tire balls?

Tire Balls are an option, here's another, WER Products ‘Tech Tubes’ http://www.werproducts.net/Tech-Tubes.html and http://www.offroadmotorcycles.ca/jo...wer-products-tech-tube-foam-tire-inserts.html

I've been following this thread since it was put up, I've done a lot of remote riding, not as remote as the Canol Rd however. Having a helicopter deliver a tube in the case of failure seems a bit over the top, one front tube ( can be used in both front and rear tire) and a patch kit really won't add to your kit and will give you the backup you'll need.

My two cents


Ed...

Mitas Mousse'lets?

I've used Michelin Mousse in Michelin Desert (or sometimes Maxxis Desert) tires for aggressive dualsporting on an XR650R for years.

The front mousse lasts longer than the tire. Probably longer than 2. When it wears out, it just gets soft. Plenty of warning.

The rear mousse can get hot or can deteriorate more abruptly, especially in hot conditions, fast gravel, or on pavement. It can turn to goo, or sometimes it expands and pops the tire off the rim. (This happened to me several times, and once on the I5 at 85mph where it locked the rear wheel in the fast lane in traffic, but that's another story.) To avoid abrupt failure of the rear mousse: use 2 rim locks and use the M02 "Rally" mousse. (M14 is the Michelin designation for the smaller, softer "Enduro" mousse) Double rim locks will make the mousse last about twice as long as without rim locks, and will keep the tire on the rim in most cases of sudden failure.

In addition to the mousse, I've tried tubes, tire balls, and tubliss. All have their advantages and all have failed me too, but I use mousse exclusively now unless I am planning to spend hundreds of miles on pavement. Then I'll use a tube.

I'm so confident in my mousse that I don't carry a spare tube or tire changing gear any more. I carry some heavy duty zip ties and plan to zip tie the tire to the rim if things get ugly.

fun fun
Charlie

Man, in those WER videos all those vise grips and hammering huge tire irons into the bead look like it would scratch and rip up the rim. Color anodized rims would really get trashed. Those foamies look like a LOT of work to install and remove. Never tried doing them myself, yet.

In a local enduro magazine I just read that they fit the Tubliss inner bladders underneath the mousses. That allows you to adjust the pressure for highway use while it helps to manage heat build-up. When the mouse becomes soft, you apperently up the pressure to keep the feel consistent. The bladder is completely protected by the mousse.

I have not done that, I have not seen the results in person. However, if this works it might just be the ultimate solution.

I would just pay some-one else to fit it