rim locks

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Stephen Hill said:
Ditch them. They are heavy, make the wheel hard to balance and difficult to change a tire. If decent air pressure is maintained they are unnecessary.
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After you ditch the rear rim lock , cover the hole from the inside with a cut and glued to rim thick piece of rubber , then fit a quality tube.
 
When I did my ‘bringing back to life’ of my 74 a couple of years ago it was missing, and for period originality I put on a new one. Perhaps I needn’t have bothered, especially as the ongoing build is leading it away from original.
 
If you decide to ditch them (I did) rather than tape over the hole I put a round headed carriage bolt in it's place. There was a recent thread on this on the Brit Bike board and my take away from it is this:
With the original WM2 WM3 rims and the Dunlop tires of the day, the tire could walk off the rim in the event of a flat or too low pressure-I've seen it happen up close and it ain't pretty.
I stopped using them years ago because they are a ROYAL PITA to install, especially on a skinny front tire. That and none of my other bikes BMW/Suzuki/Gold Wing/Hinkley Triumph, or any other street bike made in the last 30 or 40 years has them.
 
I took them out a long time ago. Wheels balanced easily without them. No weights required with the last 3 tire changes. I ran two strips of duct tape around the center of the rim to prevent the tubes from coming out and popping. Not recommending it, although the duct tape held up for 30 plus years.
 
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I went to 2.5" WM4 Morad Spain alloy rims. These rims have radial cuts on the inside where the rubber meets the rim for grip. The same as Akront... so long ago.... which
Morad took over .... No need for rim locks. But , Wm2 chrome rims...I'm not too sure?
Cheers,
Tom
 
ditched mine. made a dummy stud, pretty much for the OE look. stainless round head bolt and machined under the head to fit the contour of the rim.
 
If you use modern tyres then you will be using higher tyre pressures reducing the need for the rim locks, if you still have concerns then fit a TPMS system and get your phone to vibrate when the pressures drop.
 
You will not usually pull a valve out of a tube, unless you run the tyre under-inflated. Usually the rubber of the tyre sticks to the aluminium at the sides of the rim - as happens with tubeless tyres. Some guys drill through the sides of their rims and put 3 self-tapping screws evenly-spaced on both sides. With my 850, I have never needed to do that, and it produces massive torque. When I ride it, sometimes the rear wheel slips as I accelerate. But usually I have tons of drive.
I have only ever pulled one valve out of a tube on a motorcycle. It was the first time we raced the Seeley and the rear tyre had not been checked. After that we have never had a problem. I think the self-tapping screws are un-necessary. But some of our top guys used to do it, back then.
 
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