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New tire break-in


Penrod

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Just replaced the Pilot Roads on my 1150RT with the Metzler 880's. Dealer said to ride careful for the first 100 miles, something I've heard/done before. Upon riding away from the dealer with the new skins I felt really funky in the turns. Is that normal for brand new tires?? I'm thinking they'll "break-in" and be just fine, but would like some re-assurance.

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Firefight911

I would double check your tires for the following:

 

Air pressure

Proper bead set

Tight axle bolts

 

More than likely, what you are feeling is a new tire, a new tire profile from your previous tires, and new tire jitters.

 

Ease in to the new tires and learn their new characteristics (turn in, mid corner stability, acceleration drive, etc.). Be smooth in all your control operation and you will be fine!

 

This is pretty anal (my middle name) but if these new tires somehow feel that much more "funky" than other experiences with new tires, better safe than sorry!!

 

thumbsup.gifthumbsup.gif

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What you may be experiencing is 'tread squirm' as 1bmwfan

suggests.

 

New tires have a release agent on them. This allows the tires to be removed from their mold. It takes a few miles to break that release agent to burn off.

 

This is true with cage tires too.

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ShovelStrokeEd

After doing the above mentioned checks, head off to a parking lot somewhere and run some figure 8's for 15 minutes or so, gradually increasing the lean angles till your down to the pegs or edge of the tire, whichever comes first.

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Just replaced the Pilot Roads on my 1150RT with the Metzler 880's. Dealer said to ride careful for the first 100 miles, something I've heard/done before. Upon riding away from the dealer with the new skins I felt really funky in the turns. Is that normal for brand new tires?? I'm thinking they'll "break-in" and be just fine, but would like some re-assurance.

 

 

...but still check the tire pressure. i don't know if it takes a hunnert miles. do what ed says for 15 min and you s/b ok.

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Upon riding away from the dealer with the new skins I felt really funky in the turns. Is that normal for brand new tires??

 

Penrod,

 

I second 1bmwfan's response, i. e., closely examine distance of bead's ridge to bike's rim all around the tire/both sides (should be uniform) as well as air preasure and axle & pinch bolts (front) and wheel lugs (rear).

While I take care for the first fifty or hundred miles with new tires, I've never had squirrelly or out of the ordinary feelings with new tires. So, I'm suspecting something awry. Often when I'm putting new tires on, I find the bead doesn't easily set with the afore referenced uniform distance around the rim and I'm bouncing that wheel (off bike) and going over the allowed max preasure, just to get that bead to pop out and show the uniform spacing.

OTOH, perhaps with miles, any bead/distance irregularities solve themselves.

 

Wooster w/sixty (approx) sets of new tire history

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Scrubbing in tires is not what it used to be, and some of the information you are getting here is not current. If you look at manufacturer's web sites, you won't find the same issue with mold release, and if you look between the lines (if you can find the warnings at all), they are legal in nature.

 

A tire needs a heat cycle to break in and achieve it's grip. Street tires never have as much grip, but they reach that grip level with very little heat. In other words, generate some heat or you're just wasting gasoline.

 

The best way to generate heat is acceleration, braking, and cornering. If you start out slowly and gradually build each of those three actions, you'll be fine in just a few miles.

 

For the record, I've never broken in a tire in my leave, even on the track. That's with street tires, race tires, whatever. Just take it easy for 3--maybe 4--laps, and then full tilt boogey! smile.gif

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Just replaced the Pilot Roads on my 1150RT with the Metzler 880's. Dealer said to ride careful for the first 100 miles, something I've heard/done before. Upon riding away from the dealer with the new skins I felt really funky in the turns. Is that normal for brand new tires?? I'm thinking they'll "break-in" and be just fine, but would like some re-assurance.

I made the same tire switch you did a while ago. In the first couple of semi-gentle turns I felt the bike sort of fell off the tire when initiating the turn, somewhat unnverving. After several miles on the curvy rough chipsealed road where I'd push each turn a little harder everything was just fine. Either it took that long to get used to the tire or the 880s need extra scrubbing as I've never felt that before on a new set of tires. They've handled flawleesly for several thousand miles since then.

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Thanks a lot guys! Great advice as always. I've put a few miles on here and they are indeed settling in nicely. Kinda funny though, when I was at the dealer they said there was a recall for fuel line connectors. I opted to put it off until the next service.....what a mistake! The next morning my garage and whole house reaked of gas. had a puddle under the bike (never a drip til now). Ran her back to the dealer and sure enough, failed connector. Shes healed now and crying to hit the road. Thanks again for all the info and help.

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russell_bynum
Scrubbing in tires is not what it used to be, and some of the information you are getting here is not current. If you look at manufacturer's web sites, you won't find the same issue with mold release, and if you look between the lines (if you can find the warnings at all), they are legal in nature.

 

A tire needs a heat cycle to break in and achieve it's grip. Street tires never have as much grip, but they reach that grip level with very little heat. In other words, generate some heat or you're just wasting gasoline.

 

The best way to generate heat is acceleration, braking, and cornering. If you start out slowly and gradually build each of those three actions, you'll be fine in just a few miles.

 

For the record, I've never broken in a tire in my leave, even on the track. That's with street tires, race tires, whatever. Just take it easy for 3--maybe 4--laps, and then full tilt boogey! smile.gif

 

+1

 

With Pilot Powers, I don't even do anything special. I go out and ride whatever speed I need to ride to make sure I've got my reference points and my head is in the right place. If I already know the track, that takes about 3-4 laps. Then my speed comes up naturally.

 

I never even consider the tires.

 

Same with warming my tires up at the start of a session. I hit the track, and I'm generally knee-down by about the 4th turn. Note, that's with sport/street tires. I would imagine that race tires would need a bit more warmup...unless you're one of those posers who uses tire warmers for track days. tongue.gif

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Scrubbing in tires is not what it used to be, and some of the information you are getting here is not current. If you look at manufacturer's web sites, you won't find the same issue with mold release

 

I hate posting bad info. I thought they still used the release agent since the last set of tires I bought(3/05) for my cage had a film that was slick as snot. I just assumed it was the release agent.

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ShovelStrokeEd

They do still use a release agent but, it wears off within a couple of turns of the tire. The real trick with a new tire is to get it heat cycled at least once. I remember watching the looks on the faces of customers and a couple of mechanics when they fitted my new tires at Paul's place of business, a combined HD/BMW/Ducati/Yamaha dealership (mostly HD). I was in the parking area, working in my new tires by doing ever smaller circles with ever increasing lean angles first in one direction then the other. Come to think of it, the mechanic who changed my tires called a couple of co-workers over to point out the blued to the edge, balled up rear BT-010 he was taking off. I had just finished a Ride Smart session over in TN and decided to use the Blue Ridge Parkway to hone my new technique. I got a little frisky on a couple of those turns. grin.gif

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