ERC, I saw your tires in a previous post. The whitewall looks great, I'm glad they work for you. The first fifteen years or so I rode this bike, I put between six and nine thousand miles per year on it. I went as far west as Colorado, south as NewMexico and north into BC and Alberta (from Wa State). I still have my old log books, a bit of OCD at the time. I had only two flats during that time, both rear tires, both from road debris. The Chiefs use the same center stand as the taller wheeled Enfields but with the sixteen inch wheels it takes some serious motivation to get it up on the center stand to remove the rear wheel. I found that to get the rear wheel clear of the brake hub and fender I had to remove the FRONT wheel and tilt the bike forward onto the bottoms of the front fork. Even then it is a colossal pain in the a$$ to get the wheel out, and that is with smaller tires than yours, and of course one only gets flats when it's raining, cold and dark. I don't put anything close to that mileage any more but this is still a go bike, not a show bike so I use the biggest tire that I can remove on the road if necessary. As to the tubes, I have used these tubes or a version thereof since the beginning with no failures. At the time correct tubes weren't available and these have worked well. They aren't 'patched' in the sense of the old, can patch kit with the serrated top, they are vulcanized. Thanks, I really appreciate your input. Tom