Well, the weather forecast says it's supposed to rain for next 10 days and of course these miserable days of rain start on the day I replace my tires. Anyways, I got the pilot powers and was wondering if I should just wait for warm/dry days to break 'em in like I was doing or if it would be alright to scrub em in a bit in the rain.

 

Wait for a dry day. Those tires will be slicker than snot in the rain.

 

I think your only concern is going to be the new profile. You will have less rubber on the ground and your leans will be much quicker, which if your not ready for, could lead to some issues. It generally takes some time to get use to the new tires, and rain conditions may not be the best place to do that. But take it easy and you should be fine.

As far as scrubb'n them in. It really doesn't matter any longer. Tire manufactures do not use release agents as they use to a long time ago. They've come a long way in technology and the tires are ready to go as soon as they warm up. which actually could be an issue since it will take much longer to some heat into the tires if your riding in the rain. But if you've already got a heat cylce in them, you shouldn't have any problems. Also, the term scrubbing them in usually refers to getting pretty aggressive in the corners and if thats what you are reffering too, I'd say no. At no time do you want to get aggressive in the rain. But the new tire itself should have no less grip than a tire that has a few hundred miles on it.

 

Ah, my bad... thought "scrubbing them in" was a mix between breaking in and scrubbing off that coating. Well, we've had a few breaks in the clouds and job's done. Thanks for the help.

 

It is, justasquid is mistaken (though you don't have to "scrub" off the coating with a brush or anything...). New tires are VERY slick if you don't take it easy. Just last month a guy wadded up his R6 before a race day on brand new slicks...three turns into his track session he highsided going 20 MPH. New tires need to be scrubbed in.

Doing it in the rain is seriously sketchy but you can do it.

 

Well this'll be interesting

I'll add this though and y'all can take it for what it's worth:

 

lol....

It shouldn't be too interesting. People will believe what they want. I won't argue too much.. Its never a bad idea to take it easy after a new set of tires, but it really doesn't have anything to do with the tires being new, its about the heat... as you posted already. Just agreeing with what you posted and referring back to my post about the tires having to have at least one heat cycle in them.

I woudn't say Im mistaken. You may disagree with me and thats fine. But if anyone is mistaken, its the guy that wadded his r6. Three turns into a track session is not enough time to heat the tires. If his tires had 100 miles on them, but no heat, he would have had the same issue. His accident came on because of his lack of experience, not the fact the tires were new. Its very easy to save face by stating it must have been the tires fault then admitting he just messed up. If you truly had to scrub tires in, you'd see race's with 100 warm up laps, not just one. Every race bike is fitted with brand new tires. They have warmers on them, thats it. Then they do a warm up lap to get the heat evenly disperced throughout the tires... and then they run ***** out. Race tires aren't exactly the same as street tires, but they are a lot closer than most people realize.

But, back to the OP. Just take it easy and you'll be fine. Im sure by now your tires have several heat cylces in them anyway.

 

Yeah, I got tired of the rain so I baked them for 5 minutes at 350 degrees then took a butter knife until they weren't so shiny. :lol:

But on a serious note, one of my favorite parts of having a new tire is the "new" profile. Man.. I don't lean enough on my bike..