Breaking in new tires

[tineeKAT]

I am looking at getting new tires. My question is:

Can I just get on the highway and ride for like 75 miles to break them in well, without having to be on the street.

AND, when getting new tires, how should one turn at the corners? I have 3 corners right before my house.

Thanks.

[Nate91kat]

Dunlop suggests "they should not be subjected to maximum power or hard cornering until a reasonable run-in distance of approximately 100 miles has been achieved"
Kind of vague. I'm a big Dunlop fan, don't know if other manufactures have similar info on their web sites. Good luck with the new tires.

http://www.dunlopmotorcycle.com/infocenter_faq.asp?id=10#faq

[WildKat]

You would also want to note that w/ new tires, not only do the tires need to broken in to manufac. specifications, but also you'll want to get a good feel for how they handle as well. And not go full boare till you're ready as well.

[KatanaO215]

just riding straight wont break them in completely. you are still going to need to gradually lean the bike over more and more over those first 100 miles. Just breaking in the middle wont do you much good the next time you have it leaned over

[soccersteve]

just be careful, i had a friend who laid his bike down because he had a new tire on, it was wet, and he turned right at a stop sign too quickly.

[The CyberPoet]

Here's what you need to know:

Tires come out of the tire presses coated in silicone mould-release agent (so the tire doesn't stick to the heated press machinery). This is the primary reason new tires are so slippery. Part of the issue is that there is silicone in the grooves as well, so even after the outside is rubbed clean after a few miles, the stuff from the grooves can still migrate out. Riding 75 miles on the highway will pretty much force everything in the tread grooves outward, and will take care of that aspect, BUT -- and this is a big but -- the areas away from the center of the tire that didn't touch the ground enough yet will still have a layer of coating on them.

Do the highway miles, then on the last bit back start weaving a little and go progressively a little wider (and I do mean a little -- no serious stuff), to wear off a wider space. Go through the turns slowly as well, both because of the silicone and the change in tire profiles will have changed the handling. If you have a round-about or other place where you can do numerous turns (saying going through a back neighborhood at low speeds), doing so will help remove the rest and scuff the tires up. Alternatively, you can scuff the edges of the tires manually with sand or fine scotchbrite once you've already done the highway miles, but I'm not a fan of this method (and never sandpaper, esp. rough-grit stuff).

Whatever you do, do not use brake fluid, carb cleaner, brake cleaner or other petro-chemicals on the tires to try get excess silicon off -- it will rob the rubber of vital VOC's which will lead it to fail much quicker, be less pliant, and may ruin the integrity of the tire. A warm water + small amount of dishwashing liquid may help, although silicone is normally rather prone to not washing off well.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[tineeKAT]

Thanks Cyber. GREAT POST!!