Motorcycle Safety & Driveability: traction management, lean angles, motorcycle tires

Question
Pat, I was hoping you could provide me with some information on the negative effects of using a tire dressing on motorcycle tires.  I recently purchased a 2001 yamaha R6 sportbike.  While waiting for a part to come in I cleaned the bike and put a tire dressing on the sidewalls.  A week later the bike is still sitting due to the repair and the dressing appears to be soaking through the tread.  Will this burn off as it's ridden, or have I ruined an otherwise perfect set of tires?  Any information you could provide would be appriciated.  Thanks,  Sean

Answer
Sean, YIKES! A friend of a friend did this to a brand new F2 several years ago and made it about 1/2 mile before breaking his collarbone and wrecking half his plastic. The bike had literally less than 3 miles on it.

Your tires are the most important piece of physical equipment. Don't compromise them with ANYTHING. If the manufacturer didn't use it, neither should you. The farther away from perfect they get, the more risk you face. The edges will be like ice. Anything other than the rubber that came on the tire will deteriorate traction.

Using a dressing (I'm guessing something like Armor All or Clearguard?) on the sidewalls shouldn't be too big of a deal as long as it doesn't contaminate any part of the tread. If it does, clean it thoroughly with a stiff brush and soap and water--dishsoap is probably best, about 1/2 and 1/2 soap/water, and then take a hard file to the contaminated tread. (A hard file would be the same thing used to sharpen a lawnmower blade or to file wood down.) You'll need to scratch off the contaminated area with it. In fact, I'd recommend to prevent further "leaking" to scrub down the entire sidewall, too.

Armor All has no place on a motorcycle tire. Sorry. Once you've cleaned up the tire, take it easy with the dramatic lean angles until you have scrubbed them in on the road completely.

If you want to spruce up your tires (heck, I don't blame you, especially on the lovely and riveting R6) get one of those white oil crayons/markers used for tires and color the raised letters that say Dunlop or Sportmax or Battleax or whatever tire you have on there. It looks kind of squidly, but it's definitely an improvement, kind of like a big race car tire, if you know what I mean. And it's a good, methodical project, especially if you like the little details. Very few people do this, and it sets the bike apart somewhat.

It's okay to look like a squid as long as you don't ride like a squid. Good luck to you.

Pat