New tire need scuffing myth

My trusted mechanic told me to take it easy on the corners initially after mounting my new Z8s. He also recommended riding down a dirt road to quickly remove the new tires' sketchiness. Those weren't his exact words but I suppose embedding dirt/road grit in the new tires' surface would help overcome that new-tire feel.

Some people shouldn't ride motorcycles.

Oh well....I'll do two things today before I go back to work.

Vote that thread as "inspiring" then put the OP on ignore.

2 kms of gravel road to scrub my tires before I hit pavement. Wasn't enough last time for the rear, I later installed a new front one and scrubbed it in the shop. Must have been the cold.....

OMG, does it really change much in the grand scheme of things if people take it easy for the first couple miles on a new set of tires? :huh Could you possibly create a more petty thread?

tires play an integral part in motorcycle safety, knowing the realistic capabilities of your machine will enable you to have a more safe and long riding career. If you are not comfortable with your tires as I posted before that will transition into poor riding behavior.
Making excucses under false pretenses helps no one whatsoever, and riding in gravel to scrub your tires is silly lol funny as hell actually.
It is up to you how you would like to ride, the thread was to inform and to help people better themselves, if you do not wish to progress, then please, move on. :)

So you're saying that you could actually come up with a more petty thread. Gotcha.

D00d, get a grip. Track tires/road tires, apples & oranges. Track riding/road riding advice should not combined or confused with people you know not and it's a disservice to them to do so. If people want to take extra care with their new tires you would be wise to applaud them rather than ridicule them as they are less likely to become a statistic that will be used against all of us. JAT

Just to be clear n00b, you do come off as arrogant and your opinions are suspect at best. "TheBlurr", must be the description of your fingers zooming all over your keyboard inflating your post count.


*edit* For my piece of mind I wipe all tires off with a rag soaked with lacquer thinner to clean off what ever may be on them and then ride em till they're done. For clarification I'm talking road tires.

Maybe I'm completely off base here, but at this point, considering the spelling, grammar, and vitriol, I have to think that there is a significant amount of trolling going on here. Maybe I shouldn't continue to feed into it.

Similar to a previous poster, 90% of my riding is a short 3.5 mile urban commute to work. I have never had an issue on this short commute, where the tires should not have a chance to warm up to full temperature. I'm not saying that a cold tire is never an issue for anyone. I'm not saying that a cold tire will grip like a warm one. I'm just saying that the issues I report were observed on longer trips, in good weather, in sweeping corners, on good concrete, under minimal acceleration. Based on my experience and that of others, there is the possibility that at least some tires have a film that needs to be removed before trying to utilize the full cornering potential of the tire.

Here is a picture of me holding some shavings of the film that came on my tire. This was removed from the side of the tread area, by dragging a razor blade at an angle perpendicular to the tire surface. This did not cut into the tire at all, just dragged across the surface. This is not rubber. It is a black colored film. It feels almost like paint. It flakes when rolled in your fingers. Tire rubber is not naturally black, it has to be dyed black. Maybe this is leftover from that dying process. I'm not sure. When using the same procedure on the center of the tread (where the surface is already scrubbed), nothing came off. No rubber; no film.



I'm not sure what other evidence would be necessary to simply establish the mere possibility that new tires might have some sort of film.

Yea that's it. :huh

Based on whos experience? Dude honestly, I will make this simple, visit the damn track, most will let pretty much any type of motorcycle provided it is safety wires with the lights taped. It is strongly encouraged especially in your case to realize that people will be going into "Unsubscribed" areas of their tires and simply not falling down do to your notion of the slippery release compound.
Exposure is everything and again, to back up my Claims I am ENCOURAGING you to expose yourself to this environment.

Maybe you should look into how a tire is made and you will have your answer, it undoubtedly is some residue left over from the process, you do realize that tires have not been cut from a rubber tree in 70 years right

The person to ask about preparing a motorcycle for a race is the crew chief and the mechanics who prepare it. Not simply the person who rides it.

Need a bell?

http://winchester.craigslist.org/mcy/4249522435.html

I saw that the other day and had to laugh.

The correct spelling in the SE USA is "tars"

Great school if people are interested, his book was outstanding and very simple to understand, I have heard nothing but good about his teachings.


http://www.totalcontroltraining.net/

What are you talking about? Rubber is not "a solid heated to a liquid then allowed to cool and return to solid". It's a solid from start to finish.


(speaking only of the factory I work in)

My two cents on this, as a tire factory employee. The factory I work at, which makes car tires, does not use any kind of coating in the tire mold. We have tried it, and it failed. We do spray on a silicon based release agent onto each tire, inside and out, tread and sidewall. Someone mentioned filling in nooks and crannies, that's bullshit. In my plant, if the rubber doesn't get into every little space it's supposed to, if the tread blocks aren't sharp, if there is too much mold flash, that mold is shut down until it can be resolved. (I have done maintenance in every area of the factory)

I have never thought to scrub in car tires, but every time I install tires on my bike I take it easy for the first 100-150 miles before I get aggressive.

They also have and use Tire warmers.

If you think new tires are not slick you are a fool. While it is true that they no longer use mold release it is also true that an un-scuffed tire that is cold is very slick!

About 10 miles of riding should heat them up enough to be ridden in an assertive fashion.

You should be careful what you post because it could get someone hurt or worse. "Being careful on new tires" is good advice and will hurt nobody.

Having roadraced for over 10 years, I second this......

It's not "opinion" that new tires are slippery, it's a fact.

I've been through probably 1000 sets of tires......

FIVE YEAR OLD TIRE???? Say... Are you one of them R.U.B.'s that dress like a Pirate and only rides when it is sunny and between 70 and 80 degrees?

(I am lucky if I get 6 months)

That stuff is likely the mold release. After a couple dozen tires you can see the mold release build up in the mold, and after a couple hundred the mold goes from clean aluminum to dark brown, almost black. It builds up enough that you can see the change in a new tire.

The rubber we use in our tires is a mix of natural and synthetic. I don't remember which is which, but one of them is a mottled dark green color, and the other is white. The black color is not from being dyed, but from the carbon black that is added. Carbon Black is added for wear resistance.

I would like to make a video on how ires are made, but I'm not allowed to take pictures or film anything.

You mean like all those bikes that people buy which have stock tires of several years old?
Like blow out sales on tires sitting in a warehouse?

Ok, help me out Tuna. I didn't understand what you were saying. You don't use a mold release agent but then you said you sprayed silicone on all surfaces of the tires. When in the process does this get done? Why do you do it? Is it on the tire when it leaves your factory? I'm not trying to be a smart ass I really want to understand.

In my work life I worked in a plant that molded plastics and urethane foam products. When these materials hit a polished mold surface they developed a "skim" on the surface of the product. This "skim" had a different coefficient of friction because it was "polished" by surface tension. Think of this like bread. It's all the same dough but the crust is decidedly different than the bubbled inner core. I'm suggesting the slippery MC tire, if not coated by a release agent or preservative, is slippery due to the surface tension of the molded rubber. Once scuffed free of this "skim" the tire bites the road better. Rubber compounding is a science and differs from tire to tire. Some tires need more scuffing than others.

Long story short I scuff tires.

Not from a proper motorcycle store. If they are six years old they get replaced... It doesn't matter if they have a hundred miles on them. It they date code out they should be GONE!