IF YOU’RE THE KIND OF WEIRDO THAT BUYS TIRES AND WHEELS AS A GIFT, GET THE RIGHT SIZES!

When was the last time YOU, all on your own, thought of buying someone a gift of motorcycle tires or wheels?

Motorcycle tires are usually not high on the list of good gift ideas.

On the other hand, there are bikers who will request very specific tires for their particular motorcycle. In such a case, those exact tires would be a great gift!

It’s worth highlighting that when buying tires for someone else (or for yourself), that you get the right tire and the right size.

For example, some riders are quite finicky about the manufacturers for their bike’s rubber. Some of the major brands of tires you can select from include:

AVON BIKE TIRES

BRIDGESTONE TIRES FOR MOTORBIKES

MOTORCYCLE TIRES BY DUNLOP

BIKE TIRES FROM METZELER

SHINKO MOTORBIKE TIRES

MOTORCYCLE TIRES BY PIRELLI

MICHELIN MOTORCYCLE TIRES

MOTORBIKE TIRES FROM CONTINENTAL

ALL MOTORCYCLE TIRES

I guess if you take the notion to the extreme that “It’s the thought that counts” (when referring to gifts that don’t connect well with the recipient), then you can skip being concerned about the right size and/or manufacturer and just buy any tires – even if the recipient doesn’t have a motorcycle. Perhaps they’ll get the idea that you think they should….

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WORST TIRE REPAIR GUY

I do not like fixing motorcycle flat tires.

In fact, I don’t even bother to change my own tires anymore. (Into the shop for me).

I wasn’t always that way. After years of arduously confronting the task of changing a tire, or less commonly, fixing a flat, I had at least acquired a skill set that rose to the level of incompetence.

Fortunately for me, I haven’t had to fix a flat on the road but once.

And on that one melodramatic evening, I set the record of how badly one can butcher a tire and tube while trying to fix the same.  (Think swiss cheese).  I was on an east coast tour from Philadelphia, PA to Key West, FL.

WORLD RECORD FOR HIGH-VOLUME CURSES

That was the same sweltering night I also set the world record for the quantity of high-volume curses unleashed upon tobacco fields in the deep rural south. (I understand my anguished wails resulted in wide-spread crop damage for the American tobacco industry with resulting price hikes – ooops!)

That was back before tubeless tires became more prevalent, (earlier in the last century).

Not matter how you look at it, fixing motorcycle tire flats is not as convenient as replacing a flat tire on an automobile. (Few bikers carry around a replacement tire ready to be swapped into action when a motorbike tire gives up the ghost).

MOTORCYCLE TIRE REPAIR KITS AS GOOD LUCK CHARMS

And of course, if you do carry a patch kit (and know how to use is), you need air: whether in the form of a manual pump, an electric pump or compressed air cartridges.

Perhaps the best thing about a MOTORCYCLE TIRE REPAIR KIT is that if you actually carry one around with the requisite tools, you are probably savvy enough about maintaining proper air pressure and careful enough about not pushing the life of your tread down into it’s final 10% of wear life – which means you may never actually need to use the Motorcycle Tire Repair Kit!

The trick is to bring a motorcycle tire repair kit along as a good luck charm (and keep your fingers crossed on the throttle).

DIFFERENT TIRE REPAIR KITS

Click on the following link to see a variety of motorcycle tire repair kits. What you’ll find are portable tire kits (good luck charms) and more substantial kits for the garage.

In regards to the portable tire repair kits, you can get them to repair tires with tubes, or tubeless tires, and some kits contain the necessary items to fix both.

Some repair kits do not include a way to provide air for the tires and some provide air, but don’t actually have the items to “repair” a tire.

So, keep these differences in mind to better understand why there is such a range of prices.

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THE #1 MOTORCYCLE PART (IS NOT THE NIFTIEST GIFT)

There’s a lot to like about motorcycles.

Although, to me, the RIDING has always been the defining element of the experience, it’s hard not to get swept up in the various performance and/or aesthetic aspects of a motorbike.

But what would be the MOST important part of the machine itself?

Many would focus on the MOTORCYCLE ENGINE and related parts.

Others would highlight the MOTORCYCLE SUSPENSION.

And there are many other aspects of a bike that are going to have greater or lesses degrees of importance to any rider.

But given all the various motorcycle components, I would say the TWO most vital parts are MOTORCYCLE TIRES and MOTORCYCLE BRAKES.

And of those two, I would argue that motorcycle brakes are the MOST IMPORTANT. Bad tires are a very risky proposition for a rider, but bad brakes are simply worse. The most routine thing we, as riders, do is slow down and/or stop when anything unfriendly presents itself. And that’s one routine we don’t want to have lose its touch.

In reality, you need to keep your bike equipped with good tires and brakes at all times, as well, you need to keep the rest of your bike well maintained, too. But tires are easy to see! By the way, you need to replace your tires before they are 90% worn, since it’s that last 10% of a tire’s life that gives bikers the most grief.

MOTORCYCLE BRAKE PADS, on the other hand, are not so apparent. You need to proactively get down and look at those brake pads. Not everyone is inclined to do that. Furthermore, since brake pads last a pretty good length of time (unless you are racing), it’s easy to forget about ‘em.

If you’re the kind that has forgotten about those little pads that bring you to a stop multiple times every time you go for a ride, maybe it’s time to get a sense of how much life those little guys have got kicking in them, because motorcycle brakes are holding YOUR life in their grip every time you hit the road.

Be good to your motorcycle brakes and replace them well before they’re shot.

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WHAT IS THE #1 MOTORCYCLE TOOL?

Modern motorcycles are way more reliable than they used to be. In fact, you could ride for years with minimal use of tools on the road – except for this one.

OK, there’s definitely MORE than one tool you should always have stashed away somewhere on your motorbike.

WHAT TOOL SHOULD YOU ALWAYS HAVE WITH YOU ON YOUR MOTORBIKE?

But..IF…there were only ONE tool you could carry, for some crazy reason (such as your significant other wants you to go on a long trip and not come back for a while and he/she wants to keep all the tools EXCEPT ONE of your choosing), which tool would it be?

1. Spark plug wrench?
2. Tire repair kit?
3. Bottle Opener?
4. Utility knife with a 1001 gadgets?  (Hmmmmm, maybe, but doesn’t work with the point of this article).

I would suggest that if there were only ONE tool that you could bring on any motorcycle ride that it NOT be a bottle opener.

ALWAYS CARRY A TIRE PRESSURE GAUGE

So which tool would I suggest?  An AIR PRESSURE GAUGE.  Yep.  You know you need to check the air pressure on your tires more often than you do.  It’s just such an unnecessary risk to be riding around with improperly inflated tires.  Especially underinflated tires.  Underinflated tires decrease the usefulness of those two little rubber contact patches that keep your bike right side up.  Check your tire pressure every week.  Small amounts of air can leak out, even with good tires parked in your garage.  Check your tire pressure often. Keep an air pressure gauge on your bike at all times.

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Sure, on a motorcycle they are a different size than on a car.  But how come those darn MOTORCYCLE TIRES don’t last as long as car tires?

Check out this 2 minute video and learn the difference between car tires and motorcycle tires:

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