As we enter the Spring season, a large portion of our daily incoming calls are customers calling for quotes on tires. While a few of you know the exact brand, model, and size tire(s) you’re wanting before dialing our number, many of you seem entirely perplexed by the world of tires and fumble through the conversation with a distinct hesitation in your voice. Always wanting to impart our knowledge and experience on those who want to learn, today we’re going to delve into the topic of tires.
The Basics
All of those numbers and letters you see on your sidewalls represent information about your tire. Through the years, manufacturers have displayed that information in either a metric, standard, or alphanumeric format. Metric formatting is the industry standard today, but since we do so much work on vintage motorcycles, here at the shop we commonly see alphanumeric or standard formatting in either the OEM factory sizing or on the replacement tires themselves. Below, you’ll find an example of metric formatting, along with explanations of what the characters represent:
TIRE WIDTH (150): Represented in millimeters, this is the measurement of the width of the tire across the tread.
ASPECT RATIO (80): The ratio of the width to the height, represented as a percentage.
CONSTRUCTION (R): Indicates whether it is a radial (R) or bias (B) tire.
RIM DIAMETER (17): The measurement of the rim, represented in inches.
LOAD RATING (72): The load index number corresponds to a specific weight the manufacturer has deemed your motorcycle can safely carry. In the example above, the Load Rating is a “72”. If you look up the Load Index Chart, 72 = 783 pounds.
SPEED RATING (H): The speed a tire is designed to safely travel. In the example above, the Speed Rating is “H”. If you look on the Speed Ratings Chart, you’ll see that H= 130 MPH (sustained speed).
The tire above is represented in an Alphanumeric Format. The MT converts to 130 millimeters.
- A common tip we give customers who purchase their tires online is to check the date code. We cannot tell you how many times customers have come in with tires purchased online that were visually dry-rotten. The date code is four digits. The first two digits represent the week the tire was produced (1-52), the second two digits represent the year it was produced. In the example here, this tire was produced in the 12th week of 2017.
Common Questions
Can/should I go up/down in tire size?
Can you? Sure, anything’s possible. Should you? In our humble opinion, no- you shouldn’t. The super scientific-y design engineers invest a lot of time and research in determining the absolute best tire size for your motorcycle. That affects wear, handling, comfort, and most importantly- safety. As a general rule, we almost always recommend sticking with the OEM tire size.
How do I tell if my tires are tubed or tubeless?
If you don’t know the answer to this one, we bet if you stopped and thought about it long enough you’d be able to answer it on your own. It’s a very common question though, so generally speaking, here’s our answer: mag wheels = tubeless; spoke wheels = tubed. There are funky models that defy that rule with clever hacks, but almost all motorcycles you’ll come across will follow that rule.
What’s the best brand/model tire on the market?
There are different tires for different applications. The best tire for a HD is never going to be the best tire for a Ducati. Different tires are designed to be best suited for sport, touring, dual purpose, etc. applications. Within those overarching categories of tires, however, there are generally a few models by a few different brands that are quite competitive with one another in terms of price and performance. We recommend first looking at models designed for your application, then narrowing that choice by considering tread, aesthetics, and budget.
Why does my tire wear more on the left side than the right side?
Most roads have a crown that allows for proper water drainage. This means that the center of the road is higher than it’s edges. Essentially, it’s like riding on (an albeit ever so slight) hill, and that effectively wears down the left side due to it constantly making contact with the road, whereas the right side isn’t (while in a straight line).
PRO TIPS:
CHECK TIRE PRESSURE LIKE IT’S YOUR JOB.
Seriously, we check every bike’s tire pressure before taking it off our rack. We’d estimate 95% of tires we check have low-to-significantly-low tire pressure. (We joke that the other 5% were warned enough that they know to stop at the gas station on their way in so as not to get lectured by us again.) Tire pressure affects both wear and handling, and can also present a safety hazard. We can’t tell you the number of times a bike has come in for a simple oil change, we’ve pumped up the tires as a part of our standard checks, and the customer has called afterword thanking us, trying to decipher what magical touch we had to get it to ride so smoothly on the way home. We’re never shy to admit that we simply “put air in your tires!“.
CONSUMER REBATES CAN SAVE YOU MONEY.
Tires aren’t cheap. Motorcycle tires are especially not cheap. A great tip we try to pass on to consumers is to look for manufacturer’s consumer rebates. Although they can be offered any time of the year, the best deals are typically offered early in the season. Savings can be on a single tire or a set- with the biggest savings usually resulting from a set purchase. These rebates can be redeemed either by mail or online, and are sent back directly to the customer in the form of a gift card that can be used anywhere that major credit cards are accepted. We’ve seen rebates as high as $100 for a set of tires in the past, so it’s definitely a savings worth checking into!
As always, feel free to give us a call if you have any questions about your tires.
