Brand new tyres don't have as much grip as you'd think

[gypsyjackson]

A fairly obvious statement, but here's a cautionary tale about a chain of events in my life:

Bought new ER6f today. Very nice.

Guy says, 'be careful with the tyres, give them 100 miles to wear in'.

Light rain on way home.

Roundabout on dual carriageway.

You can probably guess the next bit.

Going round at about 20, I guess, and the grip goes. I'd be lying if I said I knew where from, but my gut feeling is that the back came round. Lowsided, slid for a bit. Only about 10 cars went past before someone stopped to help - very grateful to him.

Damage to bike - broken bar end, bent footbrake lever (still works), fairing scratched up, mirror a little bit scratched, but it bent away, fortunately.

Damage to me - dented pride and bruised ego, but otherwise nothing, which is nice. My Hood jeans have a tiny little hole near the pocket, but all other gear fine.

The interesting, or perhaps annoying, thing is that I really was taking it easy - I wasn't going fast, as I was running the bike in. I had paid attention about the tyres, too. About half a mile before I came to the roundabout, I even thought to myself, 'Right, don't go into this too hot'! I've been over that roundabout considerably faster on my 125, so I really did think I'd be ok!

The moral of the story is 'Brand new tyres really don't have as much grip as you'd think - even when you're trying to compensate!'

Take it easy out there!

[Hetzer]

New tyres have grease on them, which is used to help them release from the mold in which they're made. Add that to cold and wet tarmac, it's easy to lose them.
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[iooi]

What bad luck.....
Could as easily have been a spillage on the road, Grip levels seem to be very good at the moment despit all the rain, guess most roads have been well washed clean now.

You think that was poor grip.. When i got my nice new LC 350 i had to ride it home in 2 inch of falling snow.... Now that was NOT fun.....
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[Spoon261]

I think different makes and models of tyres have different amounts of slipperiness from new.

I got a pair of metzelers ME22 Front, Block C rear for a 250cc bike a few years ago.
The trip home was 5 miles, it felt like I was riding on solid ice all the way and yet the road was warm and dry. I never dared lean the bike at all. Everything was taken very, very slow (acceleration and braking etc.).

Next trip out was much better but I only started to lean very slightly.
Over 150 miles I gradually increased the amount of lean + power and braking.

My next set of tyres were Michelin Pilot Sporty. They were fine all the time from new, but I still ran them in the same way, but never noticed any real improvement in slipperiness (stuck to the road like glue from new).

[krebsy]

Comiserations on the damage....

one school of thought is that the tyres need to wear in, but a lot of the time issues are with the change in profile. you get used to riding on one shape of tyre and then when they get changed it completely changes the handling. My Dunlop sportmax qualifiers stuck like glue from fitting though felt slightly odd until I was used to the profile...

K.
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[LeeR]

I agree with all the above and also commiserate on your misfortune; as fortune would have it I also rode on new tyres for the first time today. I've had my Pirelli Scorpion MT90s swapped for Bridgestone BT45s and they're excellent, it may have been raining, I may have been tippy toeing, and they were new tyres but by 'eck compared to the "dual purpose" MT90s they're soo sticky, the rear is dual-compound which I didn't realise until I got home and read the blurb. All the best for the future on the new bike
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