General rule of thumb to break in new tires

[cadd]

What's the general rule of thumb you guys follow when breaking in new tires? For me, I focus more on riding smoothly & gently (braking, accelerating and leaning) the first 50 miles. After that, I'll ride normally again.

Is there a rule of thumb to follow? Or is tire brake in a myth?

With my new tires, this is after 30 miles of me not leaning the bike over as much.

Your thoughts?

[Sirref]

I just ride, so long as you aren't riding at a fast pace and you're reasonably smooth on the bike you should be good to go.

sidenote: I'm breaking in tires at the track on my gsxr which puts down something like 4-5x the power of the 300, you're really good to go

[cadd]

PS - I want to write "CHICKEN" along the circumference of my 1.5" chicken strips. But what can I use that is waterproof...yet comes off when the tire scrubs the asphalt?

[Sirref]

Just use chalk and remark as needed, I don't trust anything that would stick

[alex.s]

one full heat cycle is all you need. i like to wash the tires when i put them on to get any crap off

[choneofakind]

It's a myth. Just ride cautiously while they're cold (like you always should!) and lean gradually until they feel correct (like you always should)

I took a brand new set of tires to the track. Totally fine.

[Rifleman]

you can use a SLAP 185 pen to mark the tires, actually any paint pen will do, just don't do the huge bubble letters. Was trying something on a grip, didn't work but this is the only picture of a paint pen I have.



the really funny part is doing it to a buddies bike when he isn't looking... That will get you a helmet to the "nads" if he's not the laughing type.


I hose them down with what used to be called Westly's bleche-wite. It's now owned by Black Magic and isn't nearly as good, but if you wash the tread area with this stuff, spray it on and let it sit... then wash off with soap and water... you can do it a few times... best if you get the tire in the sun and nice and warm...



takes any of that "mold release" or what have you off the tire... they are nice and black, Uber black, so black that light can not escape their surface.

[cbinker]

Ride slower then normal gradually leaning hard braking and acceleration helps warm up the tire.

[csmith12]

I believe you're referencing the old mold release agents that were used in the manufacturing process of the tires. To my knowledge, this is not done any longer and the tire is pretty much ready to ride by the time you buy it.

But... you will want to take the time to scrub in the tire(s). Think of it like sanding a surface to accept paint better. Scrubbing can happen quickly, or more slowly depending on how you ride. For example, we will mount a tires at the track, do ONE SINGLE lap (about 2 miles) and then race on them as fast as we can ride. I don't recommend that on the street of course. It might take you 50 miles, it might take you 10 miles to fully scrub them in.

[alex.s]

they come from the manu clean. that doesn't mean somehting hasn't been spilled on them. i've had brand new tires that slid all around on me right after putting them on. in fact just yesterday i was having lunch with a bro who rides a zx10r, and he was telling me about his last drop. minty fresh tires just installed, went to go take off, **** slid right out. clean them tires!

[cadd]

Originally Posted by alex.s

in fact just yesterday i was having lunch with a bro who rides a zx10r, and he was telling me about his last drop. minty fresh tires just installed, went to go take off, **** slid right out. clean them tires!

Like this?

Link to original page on YouTube.

[alex.s]

no, that's just called being a egotard on camera

[snot]

What not to do...
Do not take it to the track and ride hard on a cold track.....

My mistake, now I clean the tires and then scub them in at low speeds.

[Sirref]

Originally Posted by snot

What not to do...
Do not take it to the track and ride hard on a cold track.....

tire warmers or a few warm up laps and you're golden, cold tire crashes suck

[snot]

Originally Posted by Sirref

tire warmers or a few warm up laps and you're golden, cold tire crashes suck

Specially when you break a peg and are done for the day.

I need a good set of stands too.

[alex.s]

Originally Posted by snot

Specially when you break a peg and are done for the day.

I need a good set of stands too.

that's what vicegrips are for. just bring like 10 pairs of vicegrips and you can replace almost any part with that. pegs, levers, bars, cams....... maybe not that last one.

[snot]

I got vortex rear sets now and extra parts
Oh and an extra bike...just incase.

[Sirref]

Extra bikes are great, I'd love to have two bikes exactly the same for track use

actually 4...
2 in the middleweight gp class and 2 in the lightweight gp class
so 2 600s and 2 250s

[FreelancerMG]

A lot of the new bike crashes at dealerships are from dealerships using tire shine on the tires to make them shiny and attract seagulls and raccoons I guess. The stuff is formulated for cars though and says on the bottle to not use it on the tread but I've seen many a tech shiny away on the tires with this crap at nearly every dealership I've been too.

[cadd]

Originally Posted by FreelancerMG

A lot of the new bike crashes at dealerships are from dealerships using tire shine on the tires to make them shiny and attract seagulls and raccoons I guess. The stuff is formulated for cars though and says on the bottle to not use it on the tread but I've seen many a tech shiny away on the tires with this crap at nearly every dealership I've been too.

Luckily for me, I have never witnessed this! I would not touch the dealership with a 10ft pole if they put tire shine on tires. If they do this, you don't know what other idiotic things they're doing you don't know about. If this were the case, I think it's pretty easy to prove the dealership was negligent and should be held liable, no?

[snapshot]

Originally Posted by cadd

What's the general rule of thumb you guys follow when breaking in new tires? For me, I focus more on riding smoothly & gently (braking, accelerating and leaning) the first 50 miles. After that, I'll ride normally again.

Is there a rule of thumb to follow? Or is tire brake in a myth?

With my new tires, this is after 30 miles of me not leaning the bike over as much.

Your thoughts?

Good question. I know I'm new here, but I have been through a lot of tires over the years.

It's my understanding that tires come coated with the release agent that the mold was coated with when they were manufactured. It's as slippery as poo.

A couple of years back, I scrubbed a set of tires with a micro-fiber towel that I'd sprayed with brake cleaner before handing them to the tech for installation. The previous set were slick as snot when new and I didn't want to drift across three lanes like last time. (Note - I sprayed the towel, not the tires.) After the new tires were installed, there was none of that "new tire slide" that's so common. I've been doing that ever since and haven't had any problems.

Ride on,

J~

[FreelancerMG]

Originally Posted by cadd

Luckily for me, I have never witnessed this! I would not touch the dealership with a 10ft pole if they put tire shine on tires. If they do this, you don't know what other idiotic things they're doing you don't know about. If this were the case, I think it's pretty easy to prove the dealership was negligent and should be held liable, no?

The issue comes as a hearsay though if you try to litigate. The dealership will just blame someone else down the chain and it becomes harder to press charges when the first question from the judge will be "if you saw them using this stuff on the tires, why did you operate the vehicle?"

The other usual issue with this is that most people that get caught with their ass on the ground from this are noobs who don't know any better. They have absolutely no clue what's at fault and just assumed that they screwed up royally.

Also, not every dealership that I've walked around uses the same thing. Some use McGuire's tire shine or ArmorAll tire restorer and preservative which will both be slick and impregnates the rubber surface, but the McGuire's and other detailing formulas are shiny and easy to see while the ones like the ArmorAll are only shiny for about a day and then it dulls up but is still pretty slick. The two dealerships I frequent don't use anything on the tires of any of their bikes but so many places I've walked into had some new guy detailing the tires with the rest of the bike.

Originally Posted by snapshot

Good question. I know I'm new here, but I have been through a lot of tires over the years.

It's my understanding that tires come coated with the release agent that the mold was coated with when they were manufactured. It's as slippery as poo.

A couple of years back, I scrubbed a set of tires with a micro-fiber towel that I'd sprayed with brake cleaner before handing them to the tech for installation. The previous set were slick as snot when new and I didn't want to drift across three lanes like last time. (Note - I sprayed the towel, not the tires.) After the new tires were installed, there was none of that "new tire slide" that's so common. I've been doing that ever since and haven't had any problems.

Ride on,

J~

The major tire manufacturers haven't used release agent for their molds in over a decade at least. Modern tire compounds and better mold materials and treatments for the molds precludes any need for a mold release compound. They literally just open up the mold and hit it with a deadblow and the tire comes right out. The smooth surface texture of a new tire though just takes some usage through heat cycling and it'll be just fine. Doesn't take many miles either. Usually the ride home from the shop is more than enough to texture and cycle the tires. The new tires of today use a very efficient compound that reacts to dynamic heat. Which is why riding the tires to break them in is the preferred way to do it vs mechanically or chemically damaging the tire.

You want to keep strong chemicals, like solvents, away from tires. Using chemicals like brake cleaner on the tires causes a chemical reaction with the rubber and can change some of the properties of the rubber. Solvents like brake cleaner will eat away at the rubber and make it hard and brittle. You basically chemically stripped the outer layer of the tire.

[cadd]

Originally Posted by FreelancerMG

The issue comes as a hearsay though if you try to litigate. The dealership will just blame someone else down the chain and it becomes harder to press charges when the first question from the judge will be "if you saw them using this stuff on the tires, why did you operate the vehicle?"

The other usual issue with this is that most people that get caught with their ass on the ground from this are noobs who don't know any better.

Do you really think that?

"Your honor, you can see me in my neck brace because my neck is broken in 2 places and I can't move my left toe. My loving family took pictures of the wreck along with detailed pictures of the tires. It seems as though there was a substance that was put on the tires when the bike was sitting in the dealership. Also, here are a few pictures of the bike at the dealership the day I purchased it. You can clearly see how wet the tires looked in those pictures.

Your Honor, I am a new rider. I know nothing about motorcycles. I only took one MSF course to get my license and off to the dealership I went. I didn't know they were using any dressing for tires. Had I known, I wouldn't have rode the motorcycle and put myself in danger."

The dealership can blame whoever they want....but it's a business. They have insurance. I don't care if it's the new guy's first day. It is the job of mgmt to properly train someone to do one's job.

[cadd]

In the meantime, I just got some tires!