A recent post to the BB about tires started the gears turning in my head: “Why do tires do the things they do?” Further, I suspected that this could be another Daily Desmo exploration; perhaps one that has been answered a thousand times, but needs to be asked anew.

Fear not, there will not follow deep thoughts about silica compounds and Kevlar woven, of mold release agents and other such wizardry which is beyond my reach – nay, let me be honest – beyond my threshold of caring.

I just want to know why front and rear tires wear differently enough to warrant a swap of one and not both?

Is it only my secret shame that I equally wear both the front and rear tires on my Ducatis?

Perhaps I’m doing “it” wrong? Not since years ago and far away has a thought plagued me such as this – not really, but give me a little dramatic license here.

Looking at motorcycle dynamics, and perhaps influenced by my own “push the front” riding style, you would think that a front time would – by design – undergo the same amount of wear, or perhaps more, than the rear tire in a given amount of miles. Consider the sportbike design: the transition of weight from front to rear during acceleration, especially when coming out of corners. That rear tire is like Hercules himself performing great feats of strength as it literally sacrifices its skin in the catapult-like launch of machine and muscle (we’ll make some assumptions here – you know who you are) against for evil forces of inertia, gravity, wind resistance, and friction. But wait! Like the Titan Atlas, on whom all of the Firmament was rested on his shoulders, we have this poor front tire who seems to do all the heavy lifting in the motorcycle world: breaking, steering, an unequal amount of the vehicle’s weight given its smaller size… Hey, who keeps picking on the little guy and expecting that he’ll run twice as far as his big brother, the rear tire?

No, this is not #1 choice for rubber reincarnation: The Rear and Front tires seem to share a Doctor Evil and Mini-Me relationship while not being equal in stature or roles – “You complete me!”

If I had to choose a rubber product to be reincarnated as, I’m thinking a front motorcycle tire would be at the bottom of the list (I’ll keep what’s at the top of the list to myself).

So, why do I routinely hear of people burning through their rear tire and then having enough tread left on the front for a double-date?

A few possibilities:

The front tire is tougher than me, always has been, and always will be. Well, that’s a given. Drag me behind a car for about a block and I’ve had enough, but we’re talking about something else here entirely. I can understand a Harley running through a couple of rear tires given the weight distribution and general handling characteristics, but in a sport bike it seems that tire manufactures would build in some “planned obsolescence” to ensure that you were either close to the limit or right at the wear markers on your front tire when the rear gave up. Examine, for example, the new “multi-band” long-wearing tires that have hard(er) rubber, or at least what passes for it these days, sandwiched between two nice soft bands of “please let me make it through this curve” that will wear away more quickly. As seen below, they’ve even made the rear tire harder in the center band than the front tire – almost like they’re daring you to try getting two rear tires out of this front…

The newest of the new in tire technology might be able to give you longer overall tire wear, improved grip, and equal mileage out of both tires.

Maybe it’s the way we have our bikes set up? Who hasn’t bought a motorcycle and thought to themselves: “You know what this thing needs? A lot more weight on my wrists and an even more extreme neck angle!” Perhaps we’re fighting the natural process by taking our sport-bread stallions and putting a 300-pound jockey in the saddle… What was that I read the other day? Oh yea, you’ll love this: “Motorcycle dynamics optimized for a 150-pound rider.” Huh? Is that in a Speedo? I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m 5-feet 8-inches with a 46-inch chest (no jokes about implants) and in a full race-replica Alpinestars GP suit with boots, gloves, helmet, and a spine protector I think I’m just a taste over that 150 (at taste can equal anywhere between 5 and 100 pounds – just go with me on this one). So, we get that nice comfy seat, change the pegs, raise the bars, and maybe the sacrifice for the improved ergonomics is an increase in rear tire wear (with the subsequent offset for the front tire). What if we follow that rabbit a bit further and start talking about weight distribution during acceleration out of a curve when the rear tire is already loaded up more than designed (for that 150-pound rider), partly because of the increase in rear preload, partly because we’ve shifted our weight back to be more comfortable, and even more so because we have to really put the spurs to it because the bike is moving a brick instead of a feather?

If this is the rear tire, and it looks like all of it is getting a workout, I wonder what the front looks like…?

Maybe we’re just taking chances? Well, the logic here is that since I’m riding a “murder-cycle” anyway I might as well get every penny out of those tires as I can; after all, and this is just between us, those tire manufacturers only put those wear bars on the tires because the Depart of Transportation makes them. Just look at the tires those race guys use: they don’t have any treat on them at all! These tires here are just finally getting “cut in” like they should be in the first place. I’ll hold off until I start seeing belts, then I’ll spoon some fresh ones on (and you know that those new tires are deadly for about the first hundred miles or so, just look it up!). You think I’m joking here, do a search. Better yet, get on eBay and look at your 748s, 916s, 996s, and 998s that are for sale. I’ll bet a sandwich that you’ll find at least a few that fit this pretty well: ten years old, original tires (oh, and original belts and hoses too), and less than 3,000 miles. Only ridden to and from Starbucks on Sundays – recently inspected by Such-and-Such Expert Motorcycle Guys as absolutely perfect to pick up here at my house and ride cross-country to your home! “I’ll even pick you up at the local airport…”

Mileage or burnout? It doesn’t really matter – this tire is dangerous!

Maybe it just works. All the huffing and puffing aside, there are folks who fit a certain set of tires, ride for a certain number of miles, swap out the back and get a full two-tires out of their front. I’m not bitter, just curious.

In case you can’t read the script: 15,782 miles out of this rear tire (although I would hope that an Avon Venom R isn’t exactly what you’d fit on your 1198R with its 827-pound load rating). This thing has to be as hard as woodpecker lips…

Well, I think I’ve satisfied my own desire to write about this subject. I hope I’ve stirred up some curiosity in those of you who take time to read this. Whatever your tire tales might be, keep them warm and fresh – with that I expect you’ll outlive us all.

It seems that with our culture of disposable objects that this might be a given; wearing things out isn’t so much the measure of when we are done with them, but rather when we become “tired” or, dare I say it, less enamored with those that we currently possess and more enamored with those that are offered at the local buy-a-torium.

Well, why not buy the newest of the new every time that it comes out? Better suspension, brakes, engine, emissions, riding position, looks, and all the rest?

Suspension: is it better because it’s better, or just because it’s new (and thus hasn’t been ignored like that on your existing bike)? Would doing some maintenance on those old (we’ll get to that word in a minute) forks and shock make your bike handle like new, better than new, or possibly better than anything coming out of the factory? Maybe that’s a scary question, we’ll return to that later.

Brakes: your bike has twins up front, so does the new bike. But, the new bike has radial calipers and eight pads per side for increased feel, less distortion, and improved braking! Well, that’s great, but what if you serviced your brakes and put some cast iron full-floating rotors up front with some organic pads? You could even get fancy and go carbon fiber or ceramic if you wanted to get really exotic. But, you’d still have that old bike (there’s that word again).

Engine: New valve design, increased displacement, different engine control system, fuel injection is more precise, power is up… but, you’re old bike seems to be doing just fine. All of the gremlins that weren’t obvious in your test ride but came to be know in the first few months of ownership have been either removed or made to behave themselves enough so as to not be more than “character” for you now. If anything, you’ve been thinking about having some hot cams put in during your next service to really bring some bite and snarl to what seems to be a pretty tame bike (now that you’ve gotten comfortable with how it delivers power and handles). Maybe pull the heads completely, send them off to a shop, get the full works done along with those cams, and maybe see about a big-bore kit while you have the heads off…

Emissions: While the new bike is a marvel at engineering, they seem to be making it harder and harder to hack through that stuff to actually let the engine breath the way “it was supposed to” from the factory. You’ll have to spring for that new “race only” ECU or wait until the aftermarket figures out what they can do here. Oh, but it has the newest of catalytic converter designs – which seem to get thrown into a pile in the corner of the garage when that new aftermarket exhaust gets installed – because all of that emissions stuff is heavy. Wow, that stuff is going to add something like $3,000 to the price of the bike… will have to think about this, already have this figured out with my old bike.

Riding position: Wow, they sure went and made this new bike aggressive. Guess they need more body weight over the front wheel to keep this thing planted even with the traction control.  Traction control… what do I do if that starts acting up? Does the race ECU do anything to that? Are there more sensors involved, what about the ABS stuff? Don’t have any of that on my old bike, but then again, I don’t have to worry about it breaking either.

Looks: Man, this new bike is so hot! I really like what they’ve done with the front end, and the frame is really sticking out there now, even the fuel tank looks mean! My old bike looks so plain next to the new one, although I could spring for those carbon fiber wheels now, and maybe get a custom paint job like those Tricolor bikes (I wonder if getting a gold frame would be an option?).

In the end, it will all be up to what each of us decides is “old” versus what is “classic” in this hobby that we enjoy. To some, old is that thing that isn’t new. It matters not a bit if that means a day, a month, or a year. To others, old implies a history, a form of connection with the past, and stretching further a connection with the present and the future.  I would like to think that by maintaining a motorcycle that has moved out of the public eye by a generation or more, that I have established an anchor for younger riders who might be faced with the inner struggle represented by the dialogue above as one model year changes to the next and what once was top of the shelf moves to a place defined by ambiguity in our culture – a place where things change, often just for the sake of change, to drive us to consume more for the sake of consumption than for anything else.

The blog was hacked early this morning, with a redirect automatically sending visitors to advertising sites. A portion of the header for one of the files was hacked and a java script installed. The problem has been fixed and a security patch applied. I’m glad I’m a computer geek as well as just a regular geek. If you got redirected to advertising sites, clear your cache/temp files and history so that that crap is out of your browser.

I’m having Super Bowl shindig at my place Sunday night. If you’re interested in attending, pls send me an email. BYOB. Finger foods and other munchies will be provided.

It wasn’t the greatest of weather this weekend. The rain and clouds were supposed to blow out Saturday night, but when I awoke at 0500 the clouds were lingering, the wind was blowing, and the temp was a cool 32 degrees. I rolled out the MV, gassed her up and headed to Milton to meet with Brad and Daryl for a Blackwater ride. We almost cancelled it after meeting up. The first half of the ride was brutal. I was cold even with my electic jacket and gloves.  We did an abbreviated ride, but hit the new section of road off Hwy 4. There was A LOT of debris on the road – sand, rocks and twigs, some in corners of course. The return ride was more enjoyable. The wind abated somewhat and the temp rose a few degrees. I tip-toed through the debris AND around Dill Corner. I still don’t know how Mark went down on the straightaway approaching that bend. That ain’t operator error. No way.

The MV loved the cool air. It has to be the coolest sounding bike in my fleet. That motor is awesome. It literally barks between gears and snaps me up in the seat with each shift. Talk about torque.  Sorry, but we didn’t take any pictures. The first thing we wanted to do when outside was put all our gear on and get moving. Loitering on cold windy mornings isn’t my idea of fun.

Last night I worked on the book some more. I’m on Chapter 3 of the picture edits. I was missing 3 pictures for the Alternator Cover component chapter. I looked around for a bike to tear into and chose Mark’s ST4S. I drained the oil and coolant, yanked the left side cover and took the pics I needed. A lightweight flywheel went in while i was in there.

That’s about it for a weekend report. I rolled out enough products last week to last me for a few weeks. I already have my eyes fixed on what to come out with next.

Enjoy your work week.

I rolled out three new products today. The first are intake plugs that fix the problem of what to do when eliminating the charcoal canisters. Up to now, I just put a screw in the rubber hoses. A much tidier approach is to scrap the hoses as well and install the brass plugs I sell. The second product is the promised fuel additive that countaracts ethanol’s tendency to congeal. It also prevents it from attacking plastic fuel cells. The third product is a rider item – Scott no-fog wipes. They’re reusable, work great and more convenient than spray-on applicators.  I have 4 more products to get to by the weekend – a cable luber, Arrow pipes for the 696/1100 Monster, FMF Pipes for the same bike, and a fork oil level gauge.

Weather looks good for a ride on Sunday, but it’s calling for a low of 36 Sat night. I’m riding anyway. I can’t miss riding in the winter. The heat is less than 5 months away.

I spent some more time with the M1100s this weekend. It will stay on the lift until I do a few more mods. Replacing the belts on the darn thing is going to be a challenge. The frame spars on the Monster are HUGE. That’s a good thing for frame rigidity. Likewise the subframe is beefy. But combine a thick frame/subframe with the upswept horizontal cylinder header pipe and you have clearance issues. The disconnecting the header pipe from the midpipe and swinging it out of the way seems to be the ticket. That pipe’s proximity to wires running behind it is kinda scary. There’s a plastic protector strip that shields the wiring, but I’d feel better if the pipe was heat wrapped and the wires ran inside a conduit.

A few new products will go up this week. Fuel stabilizer to tame the effects of ethanol, a cable luber,  adapter plugs to screw into the intake manifolds after eliminating the charcoal canister, no-fog wipes for visors, and a fork oil gauge.

Enjoy your work week.

5 of us did a local ride today under cloudy dreary skies. We rode today to beat the expected rain for tomorrow. I rode the 999s. It was the first time I’ve ridden it since last spring. What a great bike. It’s such a shame it didn’t catch on with many Ducatisti. I rode the 999 today so that I could wheel it over to the shop afterwards to yank the forks. Another case of Ohlins fork seal leak. I wish such leaks would occur on naked bikes, but at least the fairing is fairly easy to remove on the 999. I got to see Mark’s replacement ZX-14. It looks way better in the black version. I spared him the “keep the rubber side down quips”. The last thing that a recently-crashed rider needs to be reminded of is crashing. Brad’s out of town most of the week/weekend. Our ride next weekend won’t be nearly as special without him.

Keith picked up his MTS1100s today. I just did a first service checkup and added a throttle tamer. His MTS is way less snatchy with the wet clutch. I’m still a purist and prefer to see the working of the dry clutch, but wets are more practical and are easier to modulate.

I drove Christina’s car all over Pcola on TH and FR and let her take it home last night. On the way to the mall today the car died on her. The electrical gremlins are back big time. I picked her up and drove her to where she had it pushed off the road. It fired right up and I drove it to a nearby parking lot. Intermittent gremlins are a SOB to isolate, and I don’t have the time to screw with it. We’ll be used car shopping. In the meantime, she moved back into my Avalanche.

The stuff is slowly exiting my closeout page. I’m looking forward to having bare cupboards for storage.

Enjoy your weekend.

I had a chance this week to turn a few wrenches on an M1100s. It was my first chance to check one out to see how they compared to the last generation in terms of being maintenance-friendly. My assessment is that Ducati designers have completely forgotten about designing stuff that is easy to work on. Gone is the flip-up tank. Instead there are a littany of screws that have to be removed in order for the left and right tank side covers to come off. Then there are 3 screws securing the fuel cell. The fuel cell is fairly straightforward to remove, but in all it took more than a few minutes to ditch the plastic/screws just so that I could install battery tender leads. There are some clever design details on the Monster though. The voltage regulator was moved into the path of the wind on the leading edge of the motor. Likewise, the oil cooler was moved higher for protection and aesthetic appeal. All in all, the bike is well laid out, but I think much more could have been done to make it easier for technicians and owners to work on it.

Firing up the DS1100 on the new Monster is an effort in faith. IMHO the battery does not put out enough CCA to effectively turn over the bike. If I’m not mistaken, the old YB16ALA2 put our more CCA than the newer battery. If the battery is a little low on charge, the big DS motor simply will not crank. The superbikes are no better. It used to be that with a starter cable upgrade or weight shaved from the clutch or flywheel were all that were needed to improve how fast the motor would spin over. There’s nothing an owner can do now except pray each time they hit the starter button. When the Superbikes hit 1300cc and the 2-valvers go up to 1200cc+, the battery is doing to HAVE to be upgraded. I wish Odyssey made a battery that would work with the post-2000 Ducs.

Christina’s beater is running again. Electrical gremlins were the culprit. Her 130,000 mile ‘97 Honda Accord with included Ghetto exhaust and pimp tinting is ready to roll, I think.

As soon as activity in the shop slows down the M900 needs to roll in for a checkup before I sell her. The last time I tried to sell one of my older bikes — the ‘74 750 Sport – I decided the finicky carbs were too much for any newbie owner to deal with and I kept the bike. The Monster has no such issues, but it’s due for an oil change and a look over before I deem it worthy for sale.

Enjoy the rest of your work-week.

This weekend is another washout in the panhandle.  The only good thing about it was I got a chance to see Keith. He dropped off his MTS1100s for a service and we had a nice lunch together. I’m very glad that I have a carport in front of the shop to load/offload bikes. It’s no joy to do so in the rain.

I activated the Brakes & Rotors section of the website to organize needs for rotors more than anything else. I added EBC wave rotors to the mix. I put a set on the 1000SS last year to test them out and think they look and function great. The fact that they’re $200 cheaper than Braketech and Galfer is a good thing too. The only problem is availability. I can only get a few sets each quarter due to supply problems. I only have one set for now, and I’ll be activating/deactivating the link when I stock out.

A new section of the website is Bikes for Sale. I’m pruning the collection this year. The ‘00 ST2 will be joining the ‘98 ST2, and my ‘96 M900 will also hit the for sale list. I’ll probably also shed the Gran Canyon. It’s a great bike, but I don’t know how much touring I’ll do in the future, and I’ve only ridden it twice in 2 years.

That’s about it for a soggy Sunday. Mark & Brad road-tripped it yesterday to Tennessee to fill the void in Mark’s garage. We’ll probably do a ride next Sunday, weather provided.

Enjoy your MLK day.