Motorcycle Safety & Driveability: Inner tube installation, motorcycle repair shops, quarter ounce

Question
I've noticed different motorcycle repair shops that have repaired or replaced my tube type tires have inconsistencies in the way that they utilize the stem nuts provided. One will have only one nut exterior of the wheel and another will have both nuts provided exterior of the wheel. Which would be preferred? Should one of the nuts be internal for the external to tighten against or should only one nut be used externally and non internally?


Answer
I am an aficionado of radial tubeless tires, so I don't have much experience with tubes.

If I recall, there is no nut used inside the tube. It is a rubber stopper around the base of the stem. The outer nut is used to pull the stopper up against the inside of the rim.

One nut on the outside should be fine. The second nut is used as a locking device (i.e., locknut). The two-nut scenario would be preferable, in the sense of "what's the harm?" The only consideration I'd see is the extra weight would require additional weight to balance, but we're talking at most an eighth or quarter ounce difference, and tube-type rims are usually so far out of whack balance-wise the difference would be only marginal at best.

Pat