Scrubbing In A New Tyre

September 2014

I have had my bike for just over a year now and have done 9500 miles. Yes that is right 9500 miles on L Plates on a 125 and yes I am a little proud of that fact. Proud I might be but the back tyre is no longer standing proud. If you have read my previous blog (Keeway Parts Blog Post) then you know I had recently purchased a new rear tyre for my bike, a Pirelli MT75. I bought it from Oponeo (http://www.oponeo.co.uk). I was very happy with their quick delivery and competitive prices with free delivery as a added bonus.

 I was however nervous about putting on the new trye for 2 reasons.
1) My cordial tyre has been a great tyre and I have a lot of confidence in its ability to stick to the road.
2) I have heard some horror stories of people coming off their bikes in dramatic style when riding on new tyres.

So rather then being excited at the prospect of fitting a shiny new tyre I was not looking forward to it one bit. But the tread, or lack of it on my present tyre dictated it was time to replace it with the new one.

I rode my bike down to my good friend Steve's house and with lots of fun, laughter and cups of tea between myself, Steve and the ever helpful and resourceful boyfriend Ren we managed to take off the old tyre and replace it with the new Pirelli. (The Tyre Change). Thanks guys :-) 

So it was now time to ride the bike home dah dah DAHHHHH!!. I sat on Steve's drive staring at the road ahead. This was going to be scary, this was going to be like riding on ice. The bike is going to slip and slide all over the place, I will probably fall off and break something on the bike and and and... you get the picture I was well scared of this new tyre. Ok big breathes, calm it girl, and off we go ... slowly ...carefully and well er hmmm...this is like not a problem at all. The tyre did not slip and slide, it stuck to the road just fine. It is about 15 miles from my mate's house to the the boyfriend's and this included a dual carriageway as well as the usual 30 mph roads and the tyre did not twitch once.

The only real difference I could feel feel was that it was harder than my old tyre but it certainly was not the glass tyre I had expected. Yes I took it easy and was careful and gentle on any bends and corners and by doing so there was simply no problem.

Of course 15 mile is not enough to scrub in a new tyre. So it was taken on a 400 mile round trip down to Hereford for some weekend fun camping. That should scrub it in nicely. I took the boyfriends advice and was initially careful on the bends and gradually built up the lean angle a little at a time. 

With a little bit of careful riding at the beginning I can happily report the tyre scrubbed in nicely without any scary slips and slides. This was only the back tyre, I have no experience with a new front one or changing both together. However from this experience so far I would conclude when riding with a new rear tyre ... 
Be very aware that you have a new tyre. Treat it with respect and ride a little slower and a little more carefully into bends and corners but there is no need to be terrified of it like I was.  You do not have to crawl around at 5 miles an hour. My bike did 50 on the dual carriageway with only a couple miles on it from new just fine. Take it easy for those first 50 miles and it will scrub in no problem at all.

Scrubbing in a new tyre can actually be fun 

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