It’s time…

For a new rear tire, that is…

When the tire gets down to the wear indicator (or maybe even a little bit before that), your bike needs new shoes.  Or at least the shoe that’s worn out.   I get about 2500 miles (sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more) out of a rear tire, and two to three times that on the front tire.   As the saying goes, your mileage may vary.   I tend not to use my rear brake (other than as a hill-holder once the bike is stopped); for me, it’s all about the front brake.  That’s where all the braking power is, and it’s just the way I ride.   That will make the rear tire last longer.   Others rely more on the rear brake, and that would make it wear more quickly.

The smaller tires and wheels on a small bike (like a CSC motorcycle or a Vespa) means the wheels are spinning faster than, say, the tires on a bike with 18-inch wheels, and it’s that increased contact with the road that will wear out a rear tire in 2500 miles.   But it all depends on the motorcycle, too.   I would go through a new rear tire every 3,000 miles on my TL1000S (it had big wheels and tires, but that was a 130-hp 425-lb motorcycle, and there were lots of times when I used every one of those 130 ponies).    My old Harley would get 8,000 miles out of a rear tire, but that thing was so low on power in its stock configuration that folks on Vespas would clean my clock on Angeles Crest Highway.

You know, the thing about motorcycle tires is once they look worn (like the one on my Baja Blaster in the photo above), they wear very quickly.   You can go from one that looks like that down to the cord in just a few miles.   Take a peek at this photo…

That happened to us on one of the trips to Baja.   One of my friends had a tire that was worn down almost to the wear indicators before we pointed the bikes south.   He thought he could get another 1000 miles out of it, but within a couple of hundred miles it was completely bald. If you look at where the arrow in the photo above is pointing, you can actually see the cord starting to peek through, and we discovered this about 150 miles south of the border.   We rode all the way home at a very sedate 45 miles per hour, not wanting to blow the tire.   After all, there aren’t too many places in Baja where you can buy a new tire for a BMW motorcycle (my friend’s ride).

We’ve got nice weather here today, folks…we had a couple of overcast and rainy days yesterday and the day before.  I wanted to ride to the plant yesterday for a new rear tire, but it was raining.    When I can’t ride and I’ve got some time, that means I’m off to the range, and that’s what my buddy Andrey and I did yesterday morning.   We wanted to keep the planet green by recycling some lead with the 9mm and .45 handguns.   The firing line has a roof over it, so the rain was not much of a problem.

We had a good time, and I had my Flip video in the car.

Yep, you can guess where this is going…here’s a quick video of yours truly and the .45 auto my friend TJ (of TJ’s Custom Guns) souped up for me…

Fun times.

So, keep an eye on your tires, and when it’s time for new shoes, give us a call!