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Could use your help with a difficult decision. I will help a friend and ride a (other man's) bike some 500miles to his home. Appears that the bike is in good shape, brakes work, in other words she is safe to ride. But - from a distance - seems the tires are worn completely worn, and probably very old. The current owner says they hold the pressure over a few days, but they have little traction. Probably looking like the tires Munro prepared himself (in the movie) before tempting fate.
So ... I feel like doing it, and staying out of (major) rain, gusty winds, puddles and of course bad roads on that trip.
Any thoughts ?
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(03-14-2023, 07:07 PM)The Gecko_imp Wrote: Could use your help with a difficult decision. I will help a friend and ride a (other man's) bike some 500miles to his home. Appears that the bike is in good shape, brakes work, in other words she is safe to ride. But - from a distance - seems the tires are worn completely worn, and probably very old. The current owner says they hold the pressure over a few days, but they have little traction. Probably looking like the tires Munro prepared himself (in the movie) before tempting fate.
So ... I feel like doing it, and staying out of (major) rain, gusty winds, puddles and of course bad roads on that trip.
Any thoughts ?
There is only one advice: don't ride it, get new tires or trailer it to a shop for tire replacement.
Any condition of the above fails D.O.T.
Period.
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I look at your quandry pragmattically - it obviously needs and will likely get new tires as soon as it gets "home", so why not be safe and get them before you risk putting 500 (frought with peril) miles on the bike? Be safe! You'll have no regrets if you replace them first!
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Make sure your life insurance is paid up, and go for it! (j/k)
Ride something like that five miles across town to get it home, sure. 500 miles, no way.
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i've learned my lesson with over-worn tires years and years ago. I didn't suffer a blowout but you can have any number of issues from enhanced instability over things like tar snakes to even dreaded tank slappers, and believe me, if you think you're gonna take it easy and not get a tank slapper when you have a bald front tire think again. i got one at only 50mph with a very bald tire on an old Virago and narrowly recovered without crashing.
bad tires = don't ride.
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I’m with the others, Gecko. Tyres without traction, even in good conditions, is just not a great idea over 500 miles. Is it a real problem to for new ones before your adventure?
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(03-14-2023, 09:15 PM)misterprofessionality_imp Wrote: i've learned my lesson with over-worn tires years and years ago. I didn't suffer a blowout but you can have any number of issues from enhanced instability over things like tar snakes to even dreaded tank slappers, and believe me, if you think you're gonna take it easy and not get a tank slapper when you have a bald front tire think again. i got one at only 50mph with a very bald tire on an old Virago and narrowly recovered without crashing.
bad tires = don't ride.
Hey ya, which model Virago?
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@all, thank you, your words ring home - and I won't ...
@GO, how did you know / guess, that it was supposed to be a virago (like in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virago ) riding a virago (like in https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_Virago )
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(03-14-2023, 09:20 PM)GoldOxide_imp Wrote: (03-14-2023, 09:15 PM)misterprofessionality_imp Wrote: i've learned my lesson with over-worn tires years and years ago. I didn't suffer a blowout but you can have any number of issues from enhanced instability over things like tar snakes to even dreaded tank slappers, and believe me, if you think you're gonna take it easy and not get a tank slapper when you have a bald front tire think again. i got one at only 50mph with a very bald tire on an old Virago and narrowly recovered without crashing.
bad tires = don't ride.
Hey ya, which model Virago?
it was a '92 on the VIN but had parts from '91 and '93 models, so a bit of a Johnny Cash edition.
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(03-14-2023, 09:40 PM)The Gecko_imp Wrote: @all, thank you, your words ring home - and I won't ...
@GO, how did you know / guess, that it was supposed to be a virago (like in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virago ) riding a virago (like in https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_Virago )
Ah, because I think Mr. P. indicated so.
Yamaha Virago large displacement were strong bikes for bolting around, but ran out of steam quickly at elevated freeway rates.
(03-14-2023, 11:32 PM)misterprofessionality_imp Wrote: (03-14-2023, 09:20 PM)GoldOxide_imp Wrote: (03-14-2023, 09:15 PM)misterprofessionality_imp Wrote: i've learned my lesson with over-worn tires years and years ago. I didn't suffer a blowout but you can have any number of issues from enhanced instability over things like tar snakes to even dreaded tank slappers, and believe me, if you think you're gonna take it easy and not get a tank slapper when you have a bald front tire think again. i got one at only 50mph with a very bald tire on an old Virago and narrowly recovered without crashing.
bad tires = don't ride.
Hey ya, which model Virago?
it was a '92 on the VIN but had parts from '91 and '93 models, so a bit of a Johnny Cash edition.
Ah ya.
This be mine, an '86 1100 model:
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