After a ride last weekend I happened to notice a 5/8″ cut in the tread of the rear Metzeler tire of the motorcycle. We probably ran something over in the road. Yesterday I gently stuck a toothpick in the cut and parts of it were nearly 1/4″ deep. Since the cut was in the groove of the tread, I couldn’t tell if it had gone through the tire. The next thing I did was put rubber cement on the cut. Well I got my answer when bubbles started to appear. It looked like a slow leak and a pressure check this morning confirmed it.
So this morning I called the local tire shop I use, Ken’s Motorcycle Tires and found they were closed until next Tuesday because of an out-of-state family emergency. Better to replace the tire than risk a tire failure. Ken’s can pretty much match any internet motorcycle tire price within just a few dollars and the discount on installation of tires purchased from him more than makes up any difference in tire price. So I’ll wait until next Tuesday to order a tire from him. I began shopping around on the internet for tires and found that the Metzeler was now nearly $90.00 more than the Bridgestone BT020 Battleax for our motorcycle! The Metzeler is a harder tire and will normally last longer in miles, but the Bridgestone is a slightly softer tire and is sticks to the road better. I’ve had the Bridgestone before and loved it, having put nearly 14,000 miles on it before replacing it only because a previous puncture repair had started to leak. I can buy 3 Bridgestones with change leftover for the price of 2 Metzelers!
So, no riding until at least next week.
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Motorcycle House
Chris & Donna's Motorcyle Journeys 
Chris, just take the tire down to that Mexican used tire place on Main Street in Woodstock. They’ll put a good patch on the inside and it’ll be good to go for another 5,000 miles. With a small puncture like that an inside patch is golden. But I wouldn’t trust them to remove the tire from the wheel. Can you take it off yourself?
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Phil I know the place you’re talking about. Taking the wheel and the tire off is simple. BUT, the reinforced sidewall tires is uses make it tough to get off with anything other than a machine or a Nomar. Gone are the days of changing even tubeless tires myself. 😦
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Well, Ken’s is still closed today. But I decided to pull the rear wheel off the motorcycle for when they get back and can order the tire. I decided to see how long it takes this time and it was 8 1/2 minutes from start to finish! It’s a simple job. But this is taking the wheel off the motorcycle and not the tire off the wheel. While I was there I decided to check the rear brake pads, another simple job. One of the pads had just worn down to metal on a corner! So now it’s time for brake pads too! I just went ahead and ordered a tire and brake pads from Motorcycle Superstore and I’ll take the tire to Ken’s to have it installed on the wheel.
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