Dodgy tyre

[Darwin_R65]

I've decided I have cluttered the tire poll forum too much and started here.

I have sent an email to Bridgestone to find out if the "difficult obstacle" is really Bridgestone or the local bike shop. I believe it to be the local shop.
I included a link to a video i took it is 4Mb but if anyone wants to see it its at http://users.on.net/~snj13/BMW/BT45001.avi

We will see what they have to say.


here is the email I sent

Hello, I have recently had a Battleax BT45 fitted to my motorcycle and from day one it has felt like riding over a corrugated road at 60kmh. 80kmh and faster is fine, and below 40kmh is fine. The bike shop in Darwin has rebalanced the wheels (first time they forgot to balance it). However there is a noticeable "out of roundness" to the tyre by 2mm and the shop is stalling replacing the tyre claiming Bridgestone is very difficult to get a replacement tyre from.  I am at the point of going to a different shop and asking for a different brand of tyre. The money will be worth the lesson of never going back to this shop. However I do not believe it is Bridgestone, I believe the local bike shop is to blame. They have changed their story a few times, from its not enough to effect the bike, to it must be your forks or steering head bearings,  
I have uploaded a video file to
http://users.on.net/~snj13/BMW/BT45001.avi
if you are interested in seeing a video clip of the tyre. I apologise it is 4Mb in size and I do not have the ability to reduce it further.

thankyou for your time in this.
John Price

[Darwin_R65]

Hi John,
Thanks for your enquiry.  Unfortunately Bridgestone Australia don't sell Bridgestone Motorcycle tyres. In Australia Eurotread Distribute Bridgestone Motorbike tyres. You can contact the QLD branch of Eurotread as per below:

Eurotread QLD Sales Division
17 Terrence Rd
Strathpine
QLD 4500
(07) 3205 7033

[k_enn]

FWIW, it sure looks like a tire defect to me.  At first I was wondering if there was any chance the wheel was out of true.  The wheel appears true, and the tire to be out of round on the tread portion of the tire.

I was looking at the portions of the video where you hold the ruler next to the tire.  You can easily see the fluctuation of the space between the tread and the concrete surface.  At the same time, I cannot see any fluctuation along the seam where the tread meets the sidewall.  I interpret that as indicating that the thickness of the tread section is not consistent.  

Whoever warrantied the tire ought to replace it.

[Barry]

The tyre clearly isn't round but at 2mm it is only just outside BMW's acceptable limits. I'd still want it changed though. I just measured my runout and it's only about 0.5 mm.

If you can't get it changed you could carefully measure the wheel runout if there is any and maybe re-position the tyre on the wheel to make sure the runouts are not additive. Might get it within spec if you are very very lucky.

See attached service bulletin for run out specs.

[Darwin_R65]

Tyre reps emailed me yesterday asking for tyre specs, what bike, and who the dealer was.

Today I got a phone call from the bike shop saying they'll do a replacement tyre.

excellent, I'm happy with the sspare parts division, they showed true customer relationships, however hte workshop, i still wouldn't trust them to change the air in the tyre.

[Darwin_R65]

Well once Eurotred got on the scene things happened very quickly, and my tyre was replaced yesterday. (Had to wait a week for delivery to Darwin, but thats normal here.)

The service manager looked at me and said "Looks like they knew about those tyres" I wanted to make a comment about him not believing me and dragging this out over 5 weeks (ordered the tyres originally on 5Sep2010) but decided to shut up and walk away.

Took it for a ride and it feels incredible compared to before.
The bike leans very easily around corners, and I'm now confident in these tyres to lean over, although i jumped yesterday when my foot scraped.

So riding to work has once again become a pleasure and source for removing stress, although the wet season has just begun, and I'll need to dig out the waterproofs.

They are predicting a much wetter year this year than last.

John  

[Darwin_R65]

One more comment, when they balanced the wheel, they placed the weight on one of the snowflake spokes, not on the rim.

I asked why? and they said the weights come off too easy on the rim so they place them on the spoke. Now after them displaying their technical prowess with tyre my first reaction is "you guys are idiots, and I don't want you touching my bike again.".

I don't see how it could be better. On the rim centrifugal force press the weight onto the rim, on the spoke it would be pulling it off all the time. So I'm expecting to only get 3-6 months before I lose a weight and i go to a totally different shop.

Has anyone had any experience with weights placed on the spoke instead of the flat rim surface?

John

[balibeemer]

Flat weights can be attached to the rim with double sided tape.