This is my first bike with innertubes. When changing tires, should I also go ahead and put in new tubes or is it okay to use the current ones?

 

new tubes and rim liner.

 

If tubes and more importantly liner looks ok, no cracks or worn areas, probably ok to not change. But, for the few dollars tubes and liners cost?

 

I replace tubes and liner everytime I change tires. May be overkill but for $20.00 or less I believe it is good insurance. Just saying!

 

Thanks for the info. I will go ahead and order everything.

 

I don't really feel that it should be necessary to change out the tube & rim strip every tire change, if you wear out tires fast enough to need new ones once or twice a year. That said......my local dealers won't put a new tire on with an old tube & rim strip. This has always bugged me, but I just paid the price.

Yesterday, I put my bike up on the lift, removed the rear wheel & took it in to have the new tire mounted. I had already purchased the tire during the spring open house sale & expected to pay the labor charge of $24 for mounting & balancing, plus about another $15 or so for the cost of a tube & rim strip. When I went to pay the bill, they said that I owed $67.50 for the service & parts. They charged me $30 to replace a tire tube that hadn't been in the tire for a year! WTF! I've bought tires for less than that! (a long time ago)

I'm going to buy a tire changer & start mounting my own tires & re-use the tubes at least once. I usually have to change tires once or twice a summer. There's no way I'm going to pay $60-$90 a year just for tire tubes!

 

Just a thought here and no sarcasm intended but why not buy the tubes and rim strips at the same time as the tubes? There are many discount tire suppliers that will do just that. Plus I have a local indy that R&R's plus mount and balance for $40 per tire. Maybe there's a local guy in your area too.

 

I just had my front tube replaced (3000 miles on it). It had a split at the base of the valve stem.

My Indy charged $43.55 for new tube, installation and wheel balance.

I was happy with that considering the local HD dealer wanted $100 for the same thing.

 

I've been told that if the tube is less than 3 yrs old it's OK to re-use. If the rim strip has no damage, then re-use it too. That might work for others, but not for me. Replace them all, it's cheap insurance.