Caution with new tires........

[vectervp1]

So all this time I've grinding down about 1/4 of the tread with a belt sander and I didn't have to?!?

 

[SPORT]

I've always known about the need to scrup-in a new set of tires, but I just usually feel my way through them. However, the last set of tires I had were on an 02 Sprint ST (Triumph) and decided to go with the Z6's. My first ride with them were pretty aggressive as I was riding with an RC51 in the mts. Needless to say there were a few turns I felt the front get a bit uneasy. Fortunately all went well. One hell of a way to scrup them in!

I am currently having Conti Road Attacks mounted and see the 'mold' rubber around the outside of the carcuss. You bet I'll be more conservative about scrubbing them in. I also admit that I've never heard of sanding the tires. I just figure if your easy on the throttle accelerations and the lean angles, and the roads are pretty well dry and clean, then you might as well get some joy out of scrubbing those shoes. :clapping:

Thanks for the reminder!

 

[mdisher]

Definitely... Blame the tires.

 

[madmike2]

Gear looked terrible for such a low speed incident, I can't tell what type of pants those are, but I wouldn't want to be wearing them in a 40-50 mph getoff.

IIRC, Fieldsheer...

What's with all the haters on this thread? The guy posts to try and warn people about takin it easy on new tires, and people are jumpin his nuts. :glare:

It sounded more like he blamed the tires at first according to the title! In 40 yrs. of riding I have never dropped it because of new tires! .......... On the street they should be ready to go after 10 mi. for sure, I don't care what kind of tires they are! I think it was just a case of heavy throttle hand myself! Glad he's OK.

I agree that most are responding to his attacking the BRAND of tire, though he had a disclaimer that it was HIS fault. Then later in the narrative curses the PR2s...wassup wi dat?

New tires will do that to you, I've seen other videos and picture stories. The last set of OldGen PRs I put on my bike I didn't even do any "pre-scrub" like I normally do. I just rode it very carefully and increased the lean angle as I rode. After a couple of short trips and 100 miles on the odometer I checked the tire surface and I was ready to "rock and roll".

The title of this thread needs to be edited to: CAUTION WITH NEW TIRES

 

[Warchild]

The title of this thread needs to be edited to: CAUTION WITH NEW TIRES

Concur.... this isn't a problem with PRII's, this is simply a lack of situational awareness on the part of the rider. Subject line edited.

 

[Berde]

...usually rushing things up won't lead to anything positive, specially with new tires. I guess everything is well scrubed now! Next time a little Armour All to his patience would produce nicer touring days.

 

[browndog]

I don't know a quick way to break-in the front. But, the best way to scuff the back is to hold front brake lightly, twist throttle about 1/4 of the way around with clutch released and in second gear. Hold until you can't see the front of your bike then rock bike back and forth slowly until you feel guilty about clouding up everyone else's air... :drag: or you could use some common sense. And I don't think you can slide an ST 44 feet from 8-12 mph either. JMO. :huh:

 

[Kevin Daly]

The title of this thread needs to be edited to: CAUTION WITH NEW TIRES

Concur.... this isn't a problem with PRII's, this is simply a lack of situational awareness on the part of the rider. Subject line edited.

Too true. I cant remember the last time somone DIDNT say to me "careful on those new tires" I tell you some people have more dollars than sense!

 

[madmike2]

And I don't think you can slide an ST 44 feet from 8-12 mph either. JMO. :huh:

Well, in all fairness, let me set a scenario for you:

Parked in front of the house, slight downhill slope, pulling away from the curb the rider twists the throttle @ 10 mph.

The bike starts to accelerate to ??? (The FJR will speed from 10-30 rather quickly, so will a BMW "K" bike). As the torque hits, the back wheels steps out and as the bike is falling it is still accelerating.

Once the bike is on its side @ whatever speed it achieved (let's estimate 25 mph), it is now sliding downhill on the left fairing and saddlebag.

Yeah, I can see where it could slide that far....though I think he had probably accelerated to 30 mph, or better, before the bike slid on the plastic parts. Maybe an accident investigator (or policeman) could shed some light based on their professional history.

 

[Kevin Daly]

And I don't think you can slide an ST 44 feet from 8-12 mph either. JMO. :huh:

Well, in all fairness, let me set a scenario for you:

Parked in front of the house, slight downhill slope, pulling away from the curb the rider twists the throttle @ 10 mph.

The bike starts to accelerate to ??? (The FJR will speed from 10-30 rather quickly, so will a BMW "K" bike). As the torque hits, the back wheels steps out and as the bike is falling it is still accelerating.

Once the bike is on its side @ whatever speed it achieved (let's estimate 25 mph), it is now sliding downhill on the left fairing and saddlebag.

Yeah, I can see where it could slide that far....though I think he had probably accelerated to 30 mph, or better, before the bike slid on the plastic parts. Maybe an accident investigator (or policeman) could shed some light based on their professional history.

there was a rider at last years Easter FRJs group (EOM??) that went down on a wood bridge at the bottom of the New River Gorge and his bike went quite a way from a pretty slow start. So it can happen.

 

[browndog]

Yeah, I can see where it could slide that far....though I think he had probably accelerated to 30 mph, or better, before the bike slid on the plastic parts. Maybe an accident investigator (or policeman) could shed some light based on their professional history.

I'll take your word for it, I have nothing to prove here.... :mellow:

 

[sandiegoland]

Hmmm... a good example of how much farther it takes to stop when the bike gets laid down?

 

[MrTwisty]

I just don't see how the guy can blame the tires when it is OBVIOUSLY the wife's fault.

 

[bikerskier]

Nahh... I'm pretty sure it was'nt the Armor All that was to blame. And if any of the Q-tip cleaner types are in the audience, I think you should definitly continue to use that nice shiny stuff, especially on the big fat round surfaces where every can see how pretty your tires are, and also on your hand grips, oh, oh, and also on your seat.

 

[Checkswrecks]

And I don't think you can slide an ST 44 feet from 8-12 mph either. JMO. :huh:

Well, in all fairness, let me set a scenario for you:

Parked in front of the house, slight downhill slope, pulling away from the curb the rider twists the throttle @ 10 mph.

The bike starts to accelerate to ??? (The FJR will speed from 10-30 rather quickly, so will a BMW "K" bike). As the torque hits, the back wheels steps out and as the bike is falling it is still accelerating.

Once the bike is on its side @ whatever speed it achieved (let's estimate 25 mph), it is now sliding downhill on the left fairing and saddlebag.

Yeah, I can see where it could slide that far....though I think he had probably accelerated to 30 mph, or better, before the bike slid on the plastic parts. Maybe an accident investigator (or policeman) could shed some light based on their professional history.

The 44 feet is a really precise number and most people are absolutely horrible at giving numbers for distances unless they have really good measuring references. Fifteen yards on a marked football field is easy to judge, while 45 feet on a smooth unmarked pavement would be a bear. So first, the tolerance factor's probably pretty high.

The slope makes a huge factor, too, because every fraction of a degree increase in slope turns weight into thrust. Wanna see a MD-80 with 100,000 pounds of thrust? Point the nose down. Slopes are even more difficult to judge visually than distance, so increase the tolerance band a bit more.

But in the end, it largely comes down to good ol' coefficient of friction and the Cf of ABS plastic, especially on asphalt, is pretty low. I don't have an exact number for ABS, but I do know that tires on dry pavement are in the range of .8-.9, while wet aluminum on pavement is about 0.1. Once the tires are off the ground, with a bit of slope, I could see sliding 2-3 car lengths.

I gotta side with SkooterG in that with some common sense...

"Checkswrecks" Bob

 

[jjsC6]

I don't know about this. Yes, you need to be careful with brand new tires, but people go off the deep end IMHO.
When you have brand new tires, you need to be light with throttle input for a few miles when leaned over. It's that simple. The "50-100 miles" is complete ******** in my experience. I have my tires broken in after about 5-10 miles. I have never sanded them, nor have had I had any problems. And I go through a lot of tires.

This is what I do: After mounting the new tires, while traveling down the road I weave back and forth (within a single lane). The weaves are small at first, and slowly progress to bigger ones and greater lean angles. The goal is to scrub, or roughen the tire's surface in a progressive fashion from the center to the outside. That's it. Most likely, they are fully broken in within a mile or two.

All the problems where people have crashed with new tires that I have personally heard of have been due to moderate to aggressive throttle input while leaned over within a mile or two of tire installation.

Don't fret over this too much. Don't be an idiot either.

I agree completely with what Skooter says. I've been riding a long time, and even roadraced for a few years in the early '80s. I've never done anything except go easy on accelerating out of turns, and braking into them the first few times I lean over on new tires.

By the way, I do know of a guy who went down because he put Armor All on his tires - and I'm not making that up!

 

[drew231506]

What's with all the haters on this thread? The guy posts to try and warn people about takin it easy on new tires, and people are jumpin his nuts. :glare:

[SIZE=14pt]+1[/SIZE]

Looks to me like yet another anal-retentive-ATGATT-newbie that would rather let his bike sit on its side leaking no telling what fluids while he takes out his new digital camera and shoots pics to share with his my-entire-world-forum while moaning about new tires instead of learning to use his throttle sparingly when making turns. But, thats just my $.02/33 yrs road riding experience/daily rider opinion.
Jay

'04 FJR 1300

You rip on him for ATGATT? Is this because you choose to wear that ugly helmet pictured in your avatar? But you have mad skill right, I wonder why those MotoGP guys even wear gear? They probably haven't been riding for 33 years though. I don't think 54,ooo miles would be considered a newbie either, but what do i know...only been riding for 5 years. :glare:

 

[fjrob1300]

Reminds me of the time I thought I'd scrub up the tires on my 750 Maxim. I pulled out onto the street and while still in my turn just cranked the throttle and did the most fantastic imitation of a flat-track racer on pavement. My nieghbour across the street , who was a motocross racer, applauded my superb rider abilities. I just shrugged it off as something I've always done with new tires. Ha ha we know better though don't we! As I put the bike back in the garage and closed the door I was shaking like a leaf. So, since then I always break in my tires just by riding cautiously for about 20-30 miles also using the weaving at speed the scrub the tires. <_<

 

[jekirby]

A few years ago on the first warm March day I was traveling along a city street and noticed a bike coming up behind me. Some sort of naked bike, an old shadow, ltd or such. Traffic stopped suddenly in front of me, but I don't follow too closely anyway and just stopped--no theactrics. THUMP. Where did the biker go? He was not to be seen and took a second or two for me to realize that he hit me. I stopped and helped him turn his bike off and called 911. He was screaming in pain and I had a knee size dent in my bumper--truck with chrome bumper. Anyway he kept yelling, because of the pain, that he had just gotten new tires and the bike just did not stop. Ouch. I went to see him in the hospital and saw him with all kinds of hardware screwed to his leg and learned that the doctors had not ruled out amputation since his knee was completely shattered. He was from out of town and transferred to another hospital closer to his home and I never knew the outcome.

 

[Caba]

For me this is a very timely thread. I've always followed the "extreme caution" on the first 50 miles approach. Never had any problems.

I'll be replacing the Shinko ravens with Storm ST's later this week. Glad to have the reminder to be paranoid for the first bit.