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Do You Need to Temper New Motorcycle Tires?
What to do when you get new tires, tempering and a how to
I’ve just been off on a 10,500 km motorcycle road trip by the time you read this. Off road on a 5 country tour around Southern Africa (South Africa; Namibia; Botswana; Zambia; Zimbabwe) on a pair of BMW 1250 GSA’s with my elder brother.
Now most motorcycle tires are only good for a few thousand km. There are some that will do more, but only if you know a couple of things. I picked the Motaz Adventure tires.
This may surprise you, tires are a little dangerous when brand new. Not many people realize that. They need a few km to bed in, and if done wrong, on a motorcycle at least, thousands of km’s of potential use become mere hundreds.
The tires are spat out of the manufacturing mould glossy and devoid of traction. The first few metres could see you low siding if you don’t get the grip bedded in. A bit of gentle cornering and use will get the mirror like glossy surface to be more sandpaper like in texture, increasing surface grip area and enhancing the coefficient of friction.
It’s a myth that tires are covered in silicon in the factory. Not a single major manufacturer does this anymore. Sometimes release agent is used by the lettering to help it release crisply from the…
