Who thinks these tires will kill me?

[FFDougK]

Hey everyone...Sgt. Newbie again.  After returning home from UofL today I just happened to glance at my rear tire and saw something that bothered be.  There's a hole in the tire...it still holds pressure but should I replace anyway?  (see pictures below)  If replacement is inevitable, I'm thinking about going with the AVON AM51/52 reported in the other thread.  I'm a very conservative rider (the craziest thing I've done it let the tachy get to 8K before shifting) and don't need supersticky scrape-your-knees tires but I'd like a bit more performance than the exedras I have now.  Do tires require any special treatment/maintenance (other than not driving the crap out of them) to keep them in good shape?  Thanks for the info and don't forget to giggle at these pictures.

Rear tire

(see the hole in the center of the pic)



Front Tire

[Jake D]

Eventually.  Yes.

[davipu]

if you had balls you'd ride those till the end of the season

[FFDougK]

Does that mean a sane person would swap out now...or are you just callin me a wuss?

[Jake D]

Just do a smokey burnout until it pops.  Film it, too.

[davipu]

I'm just calling you a wuss, and when it blows you will get some good experience in emergency manuvers :mrgreen:

[tdan553527]

Be safe and change it, read too many post that start like this

"WRECKED YESTERDAY, THANK GOODNESS FOR MY GEAR"

[Frost]

I'd say they're ok...but if you plan on doing some long trips or hard riding...I'd change them...

they are crappy tires anyway...not really a 'waste' if you do decide to change them...

but they should be able to last for a couple more thousands...

[scratch]

I went over all your posts and found that your bike is a 2000 and it was sitting for six months before you got it; and those are the original tires and they're 5 years old. I would say it's time to replace.

Edit: Really good pictures! Great at capturing detail! The condition of those tires, the cracks in the sipes and the hole in the rear tell me it's time to replace. Shoot, with that clarity, I could compare the cracks in my front tire and tell that mine are not so big!

BTW, did you paint your chainguard or is that sun faded?

[treybrad]

Eh, FWIW, don't be TOO worried about it. I bought my '94 in pretty sad shape. The back tire was squared off... I'm sure the idiot who owned it before me loved burnouts. But they were both OLD, older than yours. They were way dried out, the cracks were bigger than those. I obviously replaced them as soon as I had the money, but I probably put 400mi on those tires w/o any problems. New tires will grip SO much better than dried out ones though.. so it's definitely in your best interest to change them out. I don't really know what to say about that hole in the back... I know it would bother me, but I guess if it isn't all the way through, unless you just happen to hit something right in the exact same spot again.. you should be ok.  :dunno:

trey

[Gleanerizer]

Forget the cracking, the hole, and the general dryness of the tires.  How about changing those tires because they suck royal nuts?  Believe me, the moment I upgraded to AM51/52's I wish I had done it as soon as I got my bike.  Good all-weather grip and handling characteristics for dirt cheap.  Got about 3,000 miles on my current set and they're wearing real slow.  Very happy with mine, and I consider myself a relaxed commuting rider, I push my bike a little in the twisties but I'm no road racer.

If you haven't revved past 8K WOT on the GS you really should sometime.  Gets me up to freeway speed pronto with a grin on my face. :mrgreen:

[Dom]

Tires don't kill people.  People kill people.

[sprint_9]

Change them, if it goes down you only have one other tire to work with, not 3 like in a car.  Get the Avons, they seem like decent tires, Id have them on my bike but I went all out and got some Z6's.

[Bluebellylint]

70 miles ago my tires were in the same shape. When I replaced them it was like an entirely new bike. Now it corners and sticks to the road perfectly.

[Michael]

Hopefully you're reading this, because that will mean those useless pieces of garbage will not have killed you yet.  :lol:
If you only ever went 20 mph and never cornered I'm sure you could get another 2000+ miles out of them.  For the real world, they are past their use-byy date, they are DANGEROUS and you should replace them ASAP.

[JetSwing]

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THOSE TIRES!!

(that was a challenge btw)  :mrgreen:

[FFDougK]

Thanks for all the replies...I appreciate the good humor.  And yes scratch I did paint the chain guard to match the frame, and I'm in the middle of polishing the pillion handle to a mirror finish.  When you're not mechanically inclined you start off with easy mods...now I'm off to buy tires.