I crashed today

[DaHawk]

First of all im okay, second of all just wanted to share my experiences.
I was riding back to work after lunch and I go from a 35mph road and take a left down one that is probably 25 but its a dead end and is an industrial drive with a few driveways so I normally take the corner and moderate speed and get on the throttle to probably 45 before I turn into work.  Well it wasn't raining on one side of  town but I had a few sprinkles on the helmet as I got near work.  I also just got a new tire yesterday and only road in the rain that day so I was obviously riding cautiously.  So I take the corner in second and get on the throttle halfway through, next thing I know I'm sliding down the road bike spinning in front of me.  Two reasons I fell, light rain on the road is the most slippery time but I was thinking new tire, old one was bad why not test it out a little.  When I mean light rain I mean the road looked dry for the most part. Second is that where I turn is where big trucks and heavy equipment pull onto the 35mph road and often wait for cars while dripping oil grease sand etc.  So completely my fault here.  Bike suffered minor damage, clutch covered scuffed bad, rear blinker scuffed, bent bars a little and thats about it.  As far as me, my left hip is going to have a nice bruise and lump, my work boots took a little scuff on the side and my Scorpion jacket has some scuffs on the forearm.  So as far as gear goes I am happy with what I was wearing, jeans arent ripped but well worn and my leather belt took some of the scuffing.  Bike went about 30 feet, started up after giving it throttle to clear the gas.  Couple people at a business came running out, but i assured them I was fine.  Think I'll wait till dry dry conditions before I test the new rear tire.  Thought I'd share.  Good little reality check for me, could have been a car or curb I didnt see closer.

[Burgi]

Fresh rain and a new tire
Glad you came out of it OK!

[fishmeister]

Good thing you be ok. New tires always need some scuffing up by riding cautiously for awhile. Then they get sticky. About 100mi. or so. Even more so on the sides (cornering) since they get the least use there.

Then later, after they get old and hard (reguardless of tread left) the same returns. My friend with a 1000 Kaw has 3 broken ribs as we speak for this very reason.

Burgi knows....fresh rain is just mixing with road grime and oil and not had a chance to wash away.

[soyavenger]

Bike suffered minor damage, clutch covered scuffed bad, rear blinker scuffed, bent bars a little and thats about it.

judging by your avatar, we now have the same bike with the same road rash.

glad neither you or the bike took it to hard, and statistically, youre less likely to get in another!

the tanks half full...

[Bumblebee]

Glad you're ok and ended up with nothing more than an object lesson.
The place that sold you the tires should have warned you up one side and down the other about taking it easy and scrubbing the tire. At least that's the experience I've gotten every time I even look at new tires.

Think I'll wait till dry dry conditions before I test the new rear tire.

You don't test a new tire unless you're planning on ending up on the ground again even on dry pavement. You scrub new tires in a little at a time for about 100-150 miles before you start having fun with it. And only then if you've scrubbed the tires properly.

The method is to gradually steepen the turns to scrub off the anti-stick stuff used to release the tire from the mold without it sticking. Go easy on the turns and acceleration. Gradually increase the lean angle on both sides. The idea is to go a little further over each time so it's still using a good portion of the scuffed up tire surface for traction while it's cleaning off more of the stuff further out on the tread. If you lean too far too soon, down you go. If you don't lean enough, as in going in a straight line most of the time, the stuff won't scrub off since it's not being put in contact with the ground even if you go 500 miles.

It takes me about 150 miles or so including some time doing parking lot practice to insure the tires are completely scrubbed. When I'm done, there are no chicken stripes on the tire all the way out to the edge of the tread.

Go easy, take your time. The traction will increase considerably over time.

[detdrbuzzard]

great to know that you are alright and only minor damage to the bike. no you have something to post in "progects log" 

[Burgi]

Then later, after they get old and hard (reguardless of tread left) the same returns. My friend with a 1000 Kaw has 3 broken ribs as we speak for this very reason.

Fishmeister at what point do tires get "old"? My husband just bought an '03 Sabre with the original tires and less than 4000 miles. The tires look fine, no cracks or any visible problems. I feel it would be wise to change them out based on their age, he thinks I am being silly. If I am correct maybe I can influence him with your friend's story?

[fishmeister]

Well Burgi, It's pretty hard to judge exactly how much a tire has hardened up over a period of time by looking at it. Yours has no cracks etc., so appears to be good visually. It's 6yrs old now, maybe more depending on date of manufacture. (sidewall of tire). Bike tires are not known to just have major blow-outs or anything from being dry, they just loose grip.
          I had this metzler (old style) on the back of mine that I just loved, but started noticing the rear end kicking slightly sideways when shifting hard. Then while braking the rear it liked to slide. Off it came. It was about 8yrs old. There is a formulation used when making the tire that keeps it pliable. Even if it was never mounted and kept dry and clean in a shop, there is a loss over time.
           I'm not saying you can't run them if no cracking is visible, their just not very sticky when you may need it.
           Of all the places I know, http://www.americanmototire.com/catalog/ sells the freshest tires.
                          Quick shipping too....

[detdrbuzzard]

Then later, after they get old and hard (reguardless of tread left) the same returns. My friend with a 1000 Kaw has 3 broken ribs as we speak for this very reason.

Fishmeister at what point do tires get "old"? My husband just bought an '03 Sabre with the original tires and less than 4000 miles. The tires look fine, no cracks or any visible problems. I feel it would be wise to change them out based on their age, he thinks I am being silly. If I am correct maybe I can influence him with your friend's story?

treat them like new tires and break them in. if the tires still have no traction change them

[Bumblebee]

My husband just bought an '03 Sabre with the original tires and less than 4000 miles. The tires look fine, no cracks or any visible problems. I feel it would be wise to change them out based on their age, he thinks I am being silly. If I am correct maybe I can influence him with your friend's story?

While not exactly motorcycle tires, the same principle applies to all tires in general; In the RV world, tires are often low use like a lot of motorcycles only with unusually high failure rates. I see blown out tires or damage caused by blown out tires on a regular basis. Unless the tread is significantly worn or other damage is present, mileage is a poor indication of tire condition. Dry rot and loss of pliability of the rubber is very common after about 5 years. Even the best tires and rubber compounds are essentially done after 6-7 years. After that, it's russian roulette IMO. If the tires are not used much (such as spare tires) the rubber isn't flexed regularly and is subject to much higher failure rates. I've heard of many cases of spare tires with zero miles on them that are the same age as high mile tires that blow out within 50 miles of being installed. The worst I've seen is a guy that came in with a wheel well ripped apart like someone put a hand grenade in there and a wheel was on the back that had a bunch of rubber shreads attached to it that gave little resemblence of being a tire. The tire in question had under 500 miles on it but was something like 15 years old. It blew out the first time he got it up to speed. For obvious reasons, the very next day his camper was up on jacks and a few hours later it had all new tires. I'm absolutely certain something like that happening on a motorcycle tire would start out extreme bad then get worse.

Real world first hand examples: I had a set of trailer tires that have about 5000 miles on them. The tread was good and no cracks at all after 8 years of use. Literally within 10 miles of use, they went from ideal to long deep terrifying looking cracks down between the treads. I seriously doubt they would have made another 100 miles before they would have self destructed. Two of my rear motorhome dual tires went from teeny little cracks to long scary ones on the sidewalls within 100 miles. I chickened out about 200 miles later and pulled into the first tire shop that was acceptable.

Motorcycle tires are what? $200-300 a pair. They're super critical to safety. If you don't trust them even if you can't justify your instincts, get new ones.

[Burgi]

I had a car with old tires on it. The tires failed and sidewalls just pealed. Amazingly I got home. I had just spent a couple of hours on the freeway at high speed and didn't know what was going on with the rubber. I parked in front of the house and 2 tires immediately went flat.
I know 4 tires are different than 2, I dread the thought of something like that happening on a bike. There are so many things you can't control I don't see any reason to mess with those you can. Now if I can just convince my husband

[Sideways]

Glad you're ok man, I rode in the rain today because the clutch in my truck is shot.
It was the first time I deliberately rode in the rain in my whole life, I was a little freaked on some of the corners.

[Custom82Hawk]

statistically, youre less likely to get in another!

So, statistically, if I killed a deer with my bike, and that being the 2nd time I laid it down (first time was turning into a parking lot at 10 mph, if that counts), what's the chances of me doing it again? :D

[happycommuter]

My last crash was largely the same.  I knew better but tried accelerating on a wet corner with a new rear tire.
Sometimes you have to touch the stove to really learn the lesson. 

[Bumblebee]

So, statistically,...
...what's the chances of me doing it again?

The same as just before the first time.
The odds reset each time..each moment.

[niteman]

Glad to hear you're okay. I just had new tires put on recently, the shop made sure to tell me to be extra cautious for the first 100 miles or so.

[ROJ]

Glad to hear you're none the worse for the wear, and a little cosmetic damage gives the bike character. As it so happens, I was in a couple shops today where people were getting new tires, and both places told them to be extremely careful with them for the first 150 klicks (~100 miles) as they have a non-stick coating on them from the factory (as already explained). On clean, dry pavement, new tires act like they're on rain and oil soaked pavement, break them in cautiously and easily before really leaning on the throttle. But it sounds like you've learned from this and are now going to take it easy, which is good.

[gammer]

Sometimes you have to touch the stove to really learn the lesson. 

My two year old and four year old are constantly 'finding their limits'.

[DaHawk]

Ya so I can already see the middle of the tire it is turning grayer as opposed to black on the sidewalls.  I always thought my old tire looked rough but now I know that's what it was supposed to look like.  Thanks for the info, though the lesson was learned.

[Bumblebee]

My two year old and four year old are constantly 'finding their limits'.

I'm way older than they are and still finding my limits. I backed a long screw out of wood last week and picked it up with my bare hand. Those things get so hot. It wouldn't have been so humiliating if I hadn't done the same exact thing about twice a day for the entire last month...of course the guy that's older than I am who laughed at me put a screw in his mouth to turn it around in his glove. Problem was that the screw had been laying in the sun for about 3 hours.

now I know that's what it was supposed to look like.

Now cautiously and systematically work that grey color out to the edges of the tread and the tires will start sticking like velcro.


BTW, Friction is your friend. Never ever EVER armorall motorcycle tires...or the seat..or hand grips. That stuff makes tires and seats so slick that even a spider would fall down.

[LOKi]

Gravel roads work well for removing the mold release from tires. Find a dirt road next time you have a new tire on and rip around on the dirt for about 10 or 20 miles. It wont get the far lean angle contact patch but will take care of most of everyday riding surface.

[mwallette]

Now if I can just convince my husband

You could always have a midnight "accident" involving a sharp knife and his old tires   "Sorry, honey -- the knife just slipped!  Twice." Okay, okay, I'm kidding...sort of.

Or, for a less antagonistic approach, just have a pair of new tires for his bike mysteriously show up at the house one day.  "I already paid for them; you might as well have them installed now!"

[Custom82Hawk]

dang it bumblebee, i was hoping for some slack.  life isn't fair 

[Bumblebee]

You could always have a midnight "accident" involving a sharp knife and his old tires think2  "Sorry, honey -- the knife just slipped!  Twice." Okay, okay, I'm kidding...sort of.

I know of at least one rider that resorted to cutting old tires off with a hacksaw.

If someone I was personally connected to was wishy washy about unsafe tires, the minute they turned their back and I was anywhere near any one of tool boxes, the air compressor and/or no amount of tire patches would be able to fix the resulting leak.

dang it bumblebee, i was hoping for some slack.  life isn't fair 

Yea, well, neither is the pavement. At least I'm nice about it. The ground, or giant forest rats, will just beat the stuffing out of you.