I'm new to the sport of buggying and am in the process of buying a used PL folding buggy. Seller has let me know that the tires need fairly frequent refilling to stay pumped. He thought a lot of folks experience this.

Is this a common issue, and if so, are there any tried and true ways of working around this? Not that bringing a pump along is a big deal, but if there is a good fix I'd like to know.

I have a (completely theoretical) suspicion but could be wildly off base for all I know. I'm thinking the tires take a lot of sideways sheering force due to the pull of the kite and that they loose a bit of air off the edge of the rims as a result. Thoughts?

If its a tube in there needs some repair/patch..if its tubeless might need to be cleaned up and bead reset..or bad/old valves..don't worry about it unless they damaged the rims trying these things themselves..or tires dry rotted and cracked...bet that doesn't help

If there tubeless, just put a tube in there and add Slime. Or you can just buy a tube with slime already in it at Home Depot. If there pumped up properly after that, I don't think you'll have any issues...well, I haven't at least.

@ abkayak & lunchbox: Thanks both of you for your rapid and useful comments. I just bought the buggy but it hasn't arrived yet so I'll have to see what's going on once it is in my hands. Thanks to you I now have some good early leads.

Share some Info!... What'd you buy?

Yes it's a common issue and easy to fix... Like the others said. Easiest and cheapest fix is just to deflate the tires clean the hubs, use lotsa soapy water and reset them ... The barrows are pretty easy

New tubes are really inexpensive too if needed.

@ soliver: not trying to be secretive! Still new to this whole PKF thing. 50+ and this is my first forum... :-)

I just bought this used PL folding buggy: http://www.powerkiteforum.com/viewthread.php?tid=28815

Very nice person on the other end of this transaction.

Your advice regarding the tires is right on target I'm sure. I appreciate all the help I can get.

swesting,... I was in the presence of this very buggy not but a week ago at JIBE... congrats!!! it looked to be in really good condition!

soliver - too funny! My first thought was "small world", but considering we are conversing on PKF I suppose I shouldn't be surprised! Glad to hear it seemed in good shape. Michael G. seemed a completely straight arrow in our back and forth earlier today. Hope you had fun - bet it was a blast!

He is a good guy, he bought a kite from me while he we were there... God guy and a real strait shooter for sure.

Congrats again and enjoy the bug!!!

Saw this Buggy as well. You will be pleased swesting

Thanks 3shot! I'm digging this forum. I look forward to meeting some of you fine gentleman someday, hopefully sooner than later.

The guts to the valve stem could be dry rotted /cracked. Or the inside of the valve stem could suffer corrosion. That would also cause slow leakage. Soap test the whole wheel to find out where it is.

Thanks Oh God of Welding. I plan to give the whole buggy a good going over once I get it. I've heard from a few people (beyond the owner) that it is in pretty good shape. Assuming the tires are in good shape I'm thinking I may just throw some tubes (+ slime) in the buggers and call it good. In another good post I got a a great idea for making the seat into a far more comfortable chair utilizing a padded kayak add on seat. I'm sure there are a lot of ways to skin this cat.

PL had a set of rims that came out of production that had an overly large casting/forming line on them. The rims were tubeless and had the pressure release valve on the side of them. There were quite a few that wouldn't hold air longer than a couple days before needing to be re-inflated. It took a while to figure out what was causing the air to leak out but we discovered it was the casting/forming line on the rims. This is a line of excess plastic that oozes out of the mold when the rim is made. Normally it isn't a factor but these were just barely too big to allow the bead of the tire to fully seat onto the rims. The air would slowly seep out around the casting line.

Once we discovered what it was, it is a very simple fix. Just grab some sandpaper - anything from 100 grit to 240 grit - and sand the casting line off until smooth where the bead of the tire goes. Takes about 30 seconds to do and no more leaks.

I have no idea if the rims/tires on your buggy are the ones from this batch of rims, but if they are it is a very simple fix. You can even sand the bead without having to remove the tire from the rim, just deflate it fully, break the bead (by standing on the rubber), hold the rubber down and lightly hit the casting line with sandpaper until smooth.

When you get the buggy and if you are not sure if these rims are the ones then snap a picture of them and post it up here and I can let you know if it is those or not.

PL has since fixed the issue and it was only on a very limited run of rims. Most were fixed before they got shipped but the first batch snuck through.

Hope this helps.

Kent - thanks for the great tip. I live right up the hill from you in Park City. I think I spoke with your wife a little while back which is when I learned that PL doesn't make the folding buggies anymore. I got my Hornet and harness today - they were great! I sent your customer service email a message yesterday about a nut for a 12mmx100mm bolt. Do you have that nut? Your wife mentioned you were the buggy guy, so maybe once I get a clue about what to do with the thing we might hook up sometime for a session? Maybe down at the Toelle place you mentioned in another post.