Anyone plugged a tire?

A buddy went to a new repair shop for a nail in his rear tire and they put a plug in it and told him that it was perfectly safe.  I've never heard of anyone getting a tired plugged (patched internally maybe, but never plugged). Anyone have any experience with plugged tires?

i have had my tire plugged before and it ran fine. just make sure they use an umbrella plug. i know people who have put 3000 miles on there bikes and had plugs in there tires. But i recommend that you ease up on the amount of ridding until you can buy a new tire.   i have a plug in my tire and i ride my bike every day but it is just to ge to and from work. my tire only had 300 miles on it when i got a nail in it  so right now i am milking it for what it worth  most people on here will tell you to not ride it and to buy a new tire. it can be plugged just remember it is like a car tire plug soon or later you will have to buy a new tire. i lean towards sooner than later  you dont want a blow out at 55mph. hope this helps

I'd be really careful with this. A buddy of mine was going to buy my bike one time and I was going to let him ride for the weekend when I was out of town. He picked up a nail and had a plug put in instead of buying a new tire. About 20 miles later he was going down an off ramp and the tire blew out. It sent him and his wife (yes, he had his wife on back of a motorcycle with a patched tire, he was not the smartest).

I'm not saying that they can't hold up, just that I would not trust it. Is a new $200 tire really worth the amount of damage to yourself, not to mention the bike, that could happen? It's up to ever rider.
 
Be safe!

A stated above is $200 really worth finding out if a plug will hold?  The tire should be replaced, period.

I knew an idiot once that put tire slime when he had a leak. I'd be concerned with throwing the balance of the tire off. Just buy a new tire. Like several people mentioned, its not worth risking dropping the bike and hurting yourself or someone else to save a couple hundred $

Just buy a new tire.

I put over 1000 mile on a plugged tire, but that does NOT mean it was safe. I will not do it again simply because it is not worth the risk.

I can't believe that any company would plug his tire for him. Most places I know don't want to assume that risk with motorcycles. That alone should tell you something...

same here with only 400 miles, stupid nail. Took it to a cycle dealer they put it some kind plug looks like a mushroom, they told me I would be safe. So far so good put on other 300 mi after the fix. So I guess you will be safe, unless your doing something crazy like taking jumps.

Most tire places won't even plug a car tire. Liability issues!!!

Use an umbrella or mushroom plug. I used one in my last tire and it worked fine, I don't really think it could be pulled out because of the way it goes in.

I have plugged several. I would recommend a plug/patch but you have to remove the tire which can be expensive if you let a dealer do it. 

I picked up a nail in my fresh new rear tire, I saw it when I was going home from work, walking up to the bike, it was a roofers nail dead in the center of the tread, no telling how long it had been there, absolutely no change in tire pressure when I checked it.  I roide it home, then the next morning to the speed shop down the road that does allot of high performance work on exotics and bikes/race bikes.  He said he would plug/patch it since it was dead center, but not if it would have been off to the side.  Anyways, he said the tires like new and a plug patch would be fine so long as I wasn't heading to the salt flats or anything (sarcasim) so I said go ahead.  He took of the tire, razzed up the nail hole and the rubber inside the tire around the hole, and put in a mushroom plug, then backed the plug off with a patch, put some goo on it and used a heat gun to cure it, then trimmed the plug off near flat on the outside, re-mounted the tire to the wheel, balanced it, then on my bike and I was out the door.  Cost me 50 bucks, mostly for the wheel removing and all, would have been 20 or so if I took them the wheel I think.  Anyways, that was 4K miles ago, and lots of those miles were at a good pace, so thats my experience FWIW. 

Ditch the plug.
 
At the very least, do a patch/ plug.  This method puts glue on the inside of the tire where the patch will cover and the plug that's molded into it reinforces a proper seal.
 
I have an extra tire I use once in a while with a patch/ plug and it's handled repeated 130 mph blasts just fine.
 
Dismount the tire and take it to a tire place.  See if you can hit up one of the techs for a freebie and offer a coffee in return.
 

As I am the king of procrastinators, I've ridden on a standard plug for quite some time.  You can get them from Autozone, Kragen, etc...Using rubber cement will help them greatly.  I wouldn't do any long rides, racetrack, burnouts, but it's a good until you have the time/money for a new tire, (which definitely should be a top priority).