TYRE PRESSURES It is very important to check your tyre pressures at least once a month. All pneumatic tyres slowly leak and lose air pressure over time regardless of the bike being parked or in use. Riding on under inflated or over inflated tyres has a negative impact on tyre performance, tyre life and your safety. The tyre pressure information stamped on the sidewall of every tyre is the maximum tyre pressure. Use this maximum pressure only when asking the tyre to carry it's maximum rated weight load. The maximum rated tyre pressure for most motorcycle tyres is 42psi. Use the indicated maximum pressure only if you ride a very heavy touring motorcycle or carry a very heavy passenger. Do not exceed this maximum pressure. Generally speaking ........ Lightweight off road bikes typically use tyre pressures in the 15psi range Lightweight supermoto bikes typically use tyre pressures in the 25psi range Middle weight standard bikes typically use tyre pressures in the 30psi range Middle weight standard/sport bikes typically use tyre pressures in the 35psi range Large heavy weight touring bikes typically use tyre pressures in the 40psi range. STANDARD TUBELESS TYRE VALVE STEM TYRE AGE Rubber products do not improve with age. Sunlight, ozone, heat cycles, road salts, cleaning solvents all take their toll on a healthy tyre over time. The rubber slowly become more brittle and loses the good road gripping sticky qualities we depend on. In some cases you maybe begin to see small cracks developing in the tyre tread or the tyre sidewalls. Every approved motorcycle tyre has the tyre birth date stamped on the sidewall. The format of this date appears in a WWYY format, as in week/year For example the manufacture date code of 4407 translates to the 44th week of 2007 Tyres produced prior to the year 2000 use a three digit code For example the manufacture date code of 378 translates to the 37th week of 1998 New tyres should be less than 3 years old It is recommended discarding motorcycle tyres after 8 years of age. BREAKING IN NEW MOTORCYCLE TYRES Most tyre companies use a release compound to stop the tyre's rubber from adhering to the mould during the manufacturing process and this compound has to be removed or "scrubbed off" in order for the tyre to properly grip the road. Other manufacturers use a process curing a tyre that brings certain substances to the surface and they need to be scrubbed off before the tyre will achieve maximum grip Beware, new tyres are slippery! Always ride slower than normal and use abundant caution when first riding on brand new motorcycle tyres or you risk sliding the tyre and potentially crashing, damaging the motorcycle and potential bodily injury to you. New tyres need to 'heat-cycle' a couple of times before they can begin to offer 100% of available grip This break-in procedure is typically accomplished after the first 80-150klms of use. Using sandpaper on a new tyre in an attempt to accomplish break-in does not work. TYRE SIZES - IS BIGGER BETTER? A wider than stock tyre is NOT automatically the improvement you might think. The 'best' tyre size is most often the stock tyre size. When you try to install a wider tyre the same size wheel the tyre shape/profile typically becomes distorted resulting in abnormal steering character and abnormal tyre wear. If you really want a wider tyre the right way to get there is to match the wider tyre with a corresponding wider wheel. TYRE REPAIR - PLUG/PATCH There are two types of puncture repairs for motorcycle tyres Outside-In plugs (temporary) and permanent Inside-Out plugs (permanent). The most common on the road tyre fix is the outside-in repair. These repair kits typically include a specialized piece of sticky rope or a mini-mushroom type plug. This outside-in type of repair does not require removing the tire from the wheel and is applied from the outside of the tyre. This type of repair is considered temporary, allowing the rider to limp the bike back home or to a motorcycle shop where a proper inside-out repair can be done or by having a new tyre installed. The other method is the inside-out repair. This method is not easy to do on the side of the road. This preferred repair method requires removing the tyre from the wheel, drilling out the hole to a more uniform size and installing the plug/patch from the inside of the tyre. This is the only 'approved' method for proper and permanent repairs of tyre punctures. Motorcycle tyre Slime products are an alternate method for temporary tyre repairs. This approach is also a temporary fix. Used long term these tyre slime products can cause corrosion to alloy wheels. Please warn the motorcycle shop if you have slime inside your tyre before they begin work. Tyre slime makes a mess when you remove the tyre. All motorcycle tyre repairs affect the maximum speed rating of the motorcycle tyre Repaired motorcycle tyres are not approved for speeds over 100kmh If you are running an inner tube type tyre these plug repairs do not work A new or patched/repaired inner tube is required.
Heres why you should have new valve stems fitted , especially when replacing old tyres on an older bike. This one broke from just touching it while washing the wheel. Just ask your tyre fitter to replace them .... about $5 each
The dot on the tyre should be inline with the valve stem when the tyre is fitted as it helps with the balance
The Yellow dot should line up with the valve most time's as it's the lightest part of the tyre The Red dot is the highest point of the tyre, so should be lined up with the lowest part of the rim, (Radial Runout), this affect's vibration while riding. Most good tyre fitter's know this and will rotate the tyre if needed to get the tyre in the best spot, it also need's less balance weight's when they get it right
Yes I have had to rotate several tyres 180 degrees to get the amount of weight for a static balance within spec - 80grams or less on most BMW's. However I only do dynamic balances now, especially on wider rims. You can have a statically balanced wheel with dynamic imbalance, but not a dynamically balanced wheel with static imbalance
