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Slippery New Tyres
I copped a lot of flak when I floated this idea in an Aussie bike mag (AMCN). So I'll be interested to see if I get as mauled here.
A long time bug-bear of mine, is the slippery release compound that tyre companies leave on their new tyres. This wears off within the first 100klms or so, but until then can be quite a handful (especially on a wet rd.). Now I know there are plenty of ways to remove this gunk e.g. lightly sandpaper, trim off excess rubber nipples, & my favourite, go for a careful ride. But my point is that the tyre companies have a duty-of-care to provide a safe & roadworthy product, from the moment it's fitted to your bike. Not 100 (potentially dangerous) klms down the road. The tyre companies know that this stuff can cause problems, as all tyre fitters over here, deliver the same "take it easy" speech to people picking their bikes up. They think that it's covering their butts from being sued. But I see it as an admission of guilt, because they know that they're giving you an unsafe product to ride on.
I was accused of being a wimp & woose for raising this issue in the bike press, with one over-zealous bike-journo suggesting that maybe I didn't really have the kahuna's to ride a motorcycle. So can we please keep the debate above that standard, & confine our arguments to the ones I'm actually whinging about (which no one at the bike mag did). So what do you think? Should you be able to give your new tyres a decent handful of throttle, without ending up in the weeds?
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