| Author | Message | ||
     Socoken |
well, chalk up another one to the idiot kid. just had a new 208 installed on the rear of my M2, which i bought online. so, after i leave the dealer, i get to the stoplights, and im going right, so i make my stop, and go. leaned over, not real heavy handed, but a little, and i might as well have been riding on ice. that mother f*cker spun right around under me, full 360, in plain view of like 50 people. f*ck. the guy behind me runs up, doing the "are you okay???" thing, and im picking my bike up and rolling out of the road. i said, "that was dumb huh?" with a chuckle, and he kinda laughed. he couldnt figure out how or why i did it, just sort of spun right the f*ck out at like 1 - 2 mph. i should have known better, on new rubber, but i wast that hard on the gas, just a typical take off. the damage is light, destroyed my 20 plus hour custom painted breadbox, and a few little scratches here and there. i was very happy to see that nothing important or expensive was hurt. plus i still have my original BB, so i dont have to ride around with "idiot" marks on my bike. i was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, so i got a little skin taken off my knee, and a 4" by 4" chunk taken out of my elbow. i looked at the pavement, and my tire. no goo, grease, or oil anywhere. i knew a new tire was not really great until scrubbed in, but i had no idea it could be that greasy-slick. so, i hope some of you learn from my mistake. wait, i hope most of you are smarter than me and already knew this. ah screw it, just be careful. and laugh at it, i sure did. pain is weakness leaving the body. Ken | ||
| 420at145mph |
lol doomas me n my neighbor changed out his tire the other day and right after we did we were going down the road at about 30mph n he "just hit the front brake too hard" 3 big slaps n then it chucked him to the floor funny and scary at the same time doomas got a couple if nasty scrapes on the side a bent rear brake lever n a purple ankle gotta be careful after the tire change i guess | ||
| Daves |
Glad you are OK Ken. Dave | ||
| Socoken |
make me a good deal on a forcewinder Dave? not anytime soon, gotta save pennies, hopefully by sportbike day. thanks, Ken | ||
| M1combat |
I'm glad you're OK... Would it be beneficial to use reasonably course sand paper and give the tire a once over (or so) before you mount it? Kind of a manual scrub in? | ||
| Johntman |
just do you a good burn out on your new tire... then it's not new anymore!!! burns the slickness right off. for the front you're just sol gotta be careful. | ||
| Dasxb9s |
Scotchbrite pads??? | ||
| Crusty |
A burn out only takes care of the center of the tread; it won't help you with cornering. I've heard that Goo Gone will remove the mold release, but the bottle I bought says not to use it on rubber. I'd say just be extra careful for a few miles, until the tires scrub in. | ||
| Aesquire |
I've rubbed down a fresh tire with gasoline on a rag. Took the mold release right off, but may have taken 1000 miles off the life of the tire. I don't recommend it. | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
you need some real heat, as well as abrasion, to scuff a tire. the heat helps "cook" all the slippery stuff out of the rubber. (yeah, i know, pretty technical talk for a Saturday afternoon...) Ken, the day before i left for my first trip to Sturgis i got new rubber spooned on my S2. after i settled up and was getting ready to leave, Dale, the guy who mounted and balanced the tires, and who had been doing the same job for years (including for several notable NW race teams), walked up and offered up the advice that should be MANDATORY every time you gets tires, regardless of how many times you've heard the speech before: "Be careful for a bit, these things are gonna be REAL slippery at first." (or words to that effect.) i thanked him for his advice, and with all the condescending arrogance i am capable of (which is a lot), i informed him that i was a seasoned, veteran rider and that i had been down this particular road many times before. i was polite, as my ego did the talking, and...i was also sealing my fate. less than a minute later, pulling a hard right outta their parking lot onto Highway 99, i'm doing a perfectly executed "Soco 360", on my side, in the middle of the busiest highway in north Seattle. sounds like similar damage as to what you experienced, all the usual tipover stuff, along with several acres of bleeding road rash. (sigh, my leather jacket was very carefully bungee corded on the back of the bike...) several of the employees (who had been watching me leave as this was the first Buell they'd ever worked on) helped me get the BLURR outta the highway (damn lucky i didn't get runned over during all of this), then assisted getting levers and controls straightened out enough so that i could make the long ride home. Dale came over after all the excitement died down. "Dude, i TOLD you..." i was as little as a human being can physically get, as a weak, tiny little voice came out of my mouth in the form of an apology for not better heeding his advice. i had the entire ride to Sturgis and back to reflect on what happened, with all the aches and pains and abrasions and contusions, both to body and bike, as a reminder of my ignorance and arrogance. these days, as one might imagine, i'm pretty particular about how i break in my new rubbers. an hour-long romp on the freeway (or a ride up the Kern River Canyon) is a good start - generates a lot of heat, and cooks off a bunch of the mold release and other anti-traction chemicals waiting to bite you in the arse. after this, find a gentle, winding road (Kern River Canyon, v.2) that you can start working on the sides of the tires, but DON'T stress the tires when you're leaned over, not yet anyway. get your slowing down done BEFORE the apex, and do your speeding up AFTER the apex. be gentle and patient - one could consider this part of the exercise, i suppose, an act of rolling foreplay. nice and easy, up and down, back and forth, in and out (wow, anybody got a cigarette?), letting the road act like an endless roll of 220-grit, as you prepare the tires to performance perfection. it won't be long before your rubbers are ready to rumble. all the advice above is simply that, and i bet there are a million ways to scrub in new meats. this works for me, and has helped avoid a repeat of one of the most embarrasing moments of my life. Ken, glad you're ok - thanks for sharing. ride to lean, Ferris | ||
| Glitch |
I've done the same thing only I didn't even get out of the parking lot. And yes it's true that how stupid you feel is multiplied buy the number of people looking. | ||
| Phillyblast |
I had a set of tires put on the S2 last year - when I got the bike back they were "scrubbed in" pretty good by the tech. Few more miles on the odometer, sure, but I didn't have to worry about the 360. I was all prepared to go easy with the new rubber until I got a look at the 1/8" "chicken strips" left on the new meat. The service writer ringing me up couldn't figure out why I was laughing. | ||
| R1DynaSquid |
At the local honda shop they wont even let anyone take a new sportbike home if its wet outside because the combo of slick roads & release agent are deadly. I have always taken it ez for the first 100 miles or so to get the tire scrubbed in. | ||
| Koz5150 |
For a fair price I have a brand new M2 Breadbox with no miles on it. I bought the forcewinder the day I bought my bike and put it on before I even got my bike off the trailer. | ||
| Socoken |
Ferris, thanks a ton for the story, made my night. "soco 360" made me laugh out loud, youre the best dude. Koz, thanks for the offer, but i had a spare lying around. for the record, this was the 10th new rear tire i have ever had installed, which isnt brag worthy in any company, but just to point out it wasnt my first. but, due to my absence last year, made it over two years since my last one. excuses excuses, i know. i sure wish i coulda seen it from a different perspective, i bet it was hilarious. just thought the story was worth sharing, if ten minutes typing saves anyone else the same trouble, it will be worth it 100 times over. thanks to everyone that said they were glad i was okay. Ken | ||
| Captainkirk |
I put new meat on this spring, rolled out of the drive, down the street, left turn and WHOA!!!...scared the •••• out of me. Fortunately I caught it in time. We all know better. Thanks for posting though, as we all need a good kick in the arse now and again!  | ||
| Chainsaw |
I use rubbing alcohol to remove the mold release agent. I then use a coarse wire brush drill attachment to scuff up the tires, sans power drill of course. I hit it once more with rubbing alcohol for good measure. I do this before I mount the wheel on the bike. YMMV  | ||
| Charlieboy6649 |
I don't feel enough dealers give this warning. I being new to motorcycling didn't know anything about release agent. I took off from my first tire change like a bat outa hell. No problems, accelerated more to make the left turn signal that was still green ahead. I slid sideways in full lean through the intersection a good 5 meters! It was no skill involved that saved me, just dumb luck. I stayed upright and proceeded home to clean out my drawers. Be careful out there and look out for us newbies~! | ||
| Starter |
D208 claimed a new paint job of mine due to the same thing about 12 months ago. The funniest thing of the whole exercise was my mate downstaires had already offered his opinion of my tyre being the "shinniest" he'd ever seen 5 min before it happened in the garage whilst we changed it over. You can guess how nervous I was when I picked up the XB9R and it started raining heavily. I though about leaving it there but the 2 hour drive to the dealership gave me courage. | ||
| Wyckedflesh |
I did that on my CB360, just like Ferris, right after I had been told to watch it...I sat there in the middle of the road laughing my ar5e off. It was the only way to keep from crying. See I slid out and caught my brand new clubman bars on the curb hard enough to bend them and break the top triple. I had to wait another three months to get the money together to get a new set. |
