SAFETY CHECK by Ken Wartel ~ Safety Officer

Pop Quiz: What are the two most important items you depend on every time you saddle up for a ride? If your answer was your portable GPS Navigation Unit and your MP3 Player loaded with every song ever recorded in the world…..EHHHH…. wrong answer but thanks for playing. It’s tires. Unlike our cars, we only have the security of two tires on the road. For that very reason we need to be extra cautious and diligent in the constant inspection of the single most important safety feature our bikes are equipped with. Judging by the reflection factor of all the chrome assembled when we get together for a club ride, it is safe to say that most of us spend an excessive-yet enjoyable-amount of time making sure everything looks good before the ride. A short amount of time spent on some very basic tire inspection could mean the difference between an uneventful flat tire in a parking lot or a major catastrophic blowout at 65 mph !

Take the time on a regular basis (before every ride) to check for cuts, abrasions and low pressure. Check your owner’s manual for proper inflation of both front and rear, as the pressures are different on most bikes. You also need to adjust for “two-up”. Rubber, unlike some of mother natures’ other natural substances, gets harder with age. Generally speaking, the softer the tire the better the traction. Tire tread depth is important but only because of rain. The grooves are there to channel the water out, not for traction. Before dropping five-huge on that next 10 lbs. of chrome, maybe you should treat your scoot to a brand new pair of sneakers! (If you need them). Next month: Understanding why cornering force is equal to the mass of the motorcycle times the square of the velocity divided by the radius of the turn ( NAH ! )