stupid question...

was stuffing things on my sissy bar, looked down and saw this...





ignore or replace? opinions. it's not a hole. it's a gash

 

Stick a bit of drill rod or something into it. If it's much deeper than the sipes, you're probably into the cords and looking at danger territory. If not, I wouldn't stress unless you're running well into the triple digits.

 

Yeah... It all depends on how deep it is. Like cggorman said, if it isn't deeper than the bottom of the sipes it's totally safe. If it does go all the way through, it would probably manifest itself as a slow leak (hopefully). You could inflate the tire to it's max and check pressure in the morning to see if it changed at all...

People ask me tire questions a lot at work, because I have a couple of YouTube videos about tires (on cars)... I always hate to say that a tire is safe, because tire issues can obviously escalate quickly. However... I've had very similar damage several times without ever having a problem.

On the other hand, I once wheeled my Triumph out of the garage, rolled over a cracked acorn shell, and had to replace the rear tire. The damage actually looked just like that, except it was in the bottom of a groove. Just freaky bad luck...

 

If it's deep, use a plug kit. I know it sounds counter intuitive, but punch a small hole if it's that deep and plug it. No leaks and it'll be all sealed. Just like if you got a nail in the tire if you are on a budget.

 

Piffle,, fill it with "ShoeGoo" and go!

You know better then too ask, take it in and have an inside patch on it ,, then grind it down to the cords.

 

Check the depth of it.
Shallow? Run it.
Deep? Burnout contestant.

Then again, I would take tire advice from a guy named "FLATZ..."

 

I don't think I'd ride it. Maybe to a shop to get it changed, but not on the highway or at speed. Only two wheels on the pavement. Not worth the risk. But then, I'm paranoid...

 

Rear? Run it. See how deep it is. If it is gnarly, I plug them so I can at least get some good smoke show time on video

Fronts I don't fu*k around with

 

First off, good on ya for seeing it. If it's not deeper than your sipes you're good. Take a small flat head screwdriver driver or a pick and probe it. If you don't feel belt you're good. Again, air it up to proper inflation and check to see if it's leaking. You could even try spraying a liguid on it, like Windex, or just poor a bit of water on it and check for a leak that way. If you see bubbles it's no good. If it's leaking and it's a new tire I'd plug it. Really just depends on how deep it is. I work at a tire shop part time. Ive plugged countless tires. Without seeing it in person it's hard to say. Car tires and motorcycle tires are completely different when it comes to safety. If it were mine I'd probe for belts. If I didn't feel any and it's not leaking I'd ride on it. Could have just had a small piece of metal embed itself or even a pebble but fell out.

 

If your keeping it local and you got a tube, it's good to go.