Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

o f nat io na l sales manager of the Two-Wheel D ivis ion. Ac c o rd in g to Arnold van R u iten b e e k, senior vice p re si d ent at C o n t in e n t a l. Tysor ' s n ew res p onsi lities w ill include Co nt ie nta l' s line of bicycle tires as well a s specialty t ires fo r go-karts. ' The press releas e announcing Tysor's p ro m o t ion ' also c ontained the in format ion that C ontinental has expe rienced growth and market penet ration .in th is c ountry despite a n 18% decline in motorcycle t ire im po rt s . be di stributed th rough MS Ra cin g 's Riv ersid e, Cali forn ia , a n d Geneva, Ill in oi s, facilities. According to Dave Duarte, who h as o perated the Sacra men to faci li ty for years, both for previo us owner Joh n Pent o n a nd for MS Racin g , sa id , "T he a n n o u ncement too k me by surp rise," said Duarte, who ad mitted he wa sn 't pleased with th e wa y th in gs had been ha nd led by th e new o wners who purch ased MS Racin g from founder Malcol m Smi th . Du a rte owns th e b uild ing th at h as ho used H i-Poi n t, bu t sai d he h asn ' t had time 10 think abo u t what he'll do a fter the facility clos es. Penton still o wns a n d o pe ra tes H i-P o int T railers USA, a separa te co m pa ny. MS Ra cin g 'S J i m Lewis said, " Closin g th e Sacra me nt o facility a nd co nsolida ting th e distr ibution of Hi Point p roducts into o ur o ther facilities is being don e to have bett er co n tro l on di str ibution. It's als o a belt tightening move." P irelli T ire Corporation has announced the ' automotive d ivis ion of Pirel li, effective January 1. has completed it s transition both corporately and phys ically to become in t e g ra t e d in t o PirelliArmstrong Tire Corporation and the division's headquarters has been relocated from San Jose, California. to New Haven. Connecticut. Also effective January ' 1. motorcycle tire marketing will be handled exclusively by Robert Gregg's firm, Agent Gregg. Inc. of Everett. Wash ington . Gregg has been for quite some time the exclusive U.S. agent for Metzeler. Four-time 500cc World Champion Edd ie Lawson rode a Micheli n-s hod 1989 Yamaha YZR500 at a test session at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey , California, December 1617. At th e session, Lawson said th a t his contract with Kenny Roberts' Grand Prix team (formerly Team Lu cky Strike Robert s, now Team · Marlboro Robert s) stip u la ted th e switch from Dunlop 10 Michel in tires, and Robert s admitted he was looking forw ard to th e cha nge: " It 's very difficul t to be th e number-one Yamaha team and to have a different tire company th an th e other two co m pe t i t ive team s ( Ho n d a a n d Suzuki ). There's always a variabl e there that we couldn't ge t-o u t . . . I feel more comfortab le with th at vari able gone. I can sleep probably a co u p le more hours a ni ght th an I did last year. " . W or k ben ch is a wee k ly co lu m n deal ing with m otorcycle ma in tenance, performance and eq uip me n t. In th is firs t installmen t, we attem p t to u nravel the m ysteries of tire sizi ng, speed and load ratings, and th e often overloo ked DO T code. Have som ething on your mind that Workbench can address? Th en dro p a line to Workb ench, Cycle N ews , P.O. Box 498, L ong Beach, CA 9080/ -0498 A separa te p ress relea se a n nounci ng th e reinfo rcem ent o f ma nagemen t a n d R &D team s by Co nt i n en ta l. co n ta ins th e foll owing sta tement from van Ru i ten beek , "The slowdo wn in U.S . bike sa les durin g th e lat e 80s has bo ttomed o u t. We now see baby-boomer fathers retu rni ng to mo torcycling with their so ns." Understanding tires: The writing on the (sid e)wall Continental also announced the stream li n ing of the war ran ty procedure on its Conti Tour touring tires. Purchasers of the tires. which carry a four-year / 1 6 .0 0 0 . m ile warranty, will no longer have to go through periodic dealer ins pe c t io ns and the. detailed warra nty forms required for coverage have been eliminated. The warranty program now only requires that the motorcycle dealer issue an invoice on which is recorded the make. model and odometer . reading of the b ike. plus the date of sale and in the event of a c la im the original tire purchaser submits the invoice to a dealer. who contacts Continental for settlement. "Dealers have the knowledge to match the t ire to the bike. and the skills to' mount it properly, " said van Ruitenbeek. "That's why we continue to insist that this program covers only tires bought from a motorcycle dealer or from a parts and accessories shop. Ma il order sales _do not ' qualify ." Continental Tire - North Americ a. the U.S. subsidiary of the German tire maker. has announced the p romotion of G reg Tvsor, formerly sales manager for motorcycle tires. to' t h e posit ion m etric. Most tire co m pan ies use th e me tr ic system, whi ch gives tire widt h in mi ll imeters , rather than in ches. A typica l m etric designation , th en , would be l30/ 90H I7 . In this case, th e firs t number , 130, refers to the width in mill im eters. The second number, 90, is ca lle d th e aspect ra tio, a n d den o tes th e re latio n ship o f height to width ; her e, th e tir e is 90% as tall as it is wide. If no seco nd n umber is given, th e tire h as a 100% aspec t ratio. T he letter, H , is th e spee d rating, indica ti ng th e tire is ra ted for sustained sp eeds of 210 kph (130 m p h ). In some ins ta nces, particu larl y o n tires with V (above 210 kph ) or Z (above 240 kph ) spee d ra tin gs, a n o utrigh t maxim um speed may a lso be listed nu me rically. Fo llowing th e size is th e load ra ting, which is indexed on a nu merical sca le, and wh ich refl ects th e maximum load a tire ca n ca rry at its maximum sustained spee d . A third system o f measurem ent is th e o ld Alpha system , wh ich uses letters rather th an numbers to den ot e width, a rid is today largely arch aic. Another conside ra tio n is tube vs. tubeless . Wh il e so me (b u t n ot all ) tubeless tires ca n be used with a tube o n a tube-t ype rim , the revers e is never true. To e xpedi te that deci sion, tires (a s well a s m ost rims ) are marked if they are tubeless. You may decide th at you want to upgrade your tires. If you 're a sport bike rider, you may want to fit tires which offer greater traction than the 'stockers; if your primary usage is touring or commu ting, you'll want improved durabi lity. In the cas e of off-road tir es, you'll need a tire which best suits the terrain you ride in - some work best on h ardpack, ot h ers in sand or m ud . Filling wider tires than stock is another option, but there is a limit, as too wide (o r conversely, 100 narrow) a tire for your rim will result in a poor tire profi le. Stay within the reco m m en ded range of tire sizes for yo ur rim width. One marking that o ften escapes notice is the Department of Transportation compliance sym bol. This begins with th e letters DOT, followed by a len gthy alphanumerical code. O n ly th e last three digits are im p orta nt, as they in dica te the date of ma nufacture - i.e, 369 means the tire was produced in th e 36th week o f 1989. This is especia ll y important if th e tire your deal er is trying 10 sell yo u is buried under a n inch of dust. The few remaining m arkings on a tire's sidewall reflect its cou n try of orig in, lo ad and inflation values, and co ns truc tio n details. We purposel y lef t ou t o ne o the r option - ra di a l vs. .bia s-pl y. For more on th a t, tune in next week. Bria n Catterson If yo u 've ridden a motorcycl e fo r a n y len gth of time, ch an ces are yo u 've worn o u t its tires. And if you did, you 'll undoubtedly rem ember your first trip to the dealer to purchase a new set. Confronted with row upon row of round b la ck rubber goodies from who kn ows how man y manu. Iacturer s, the o p tions seem ed end less. Examining th e tires up cl ose further confused you. Ea ch tir e was marked with various numbers and letters, eac h of which undoub tedly m eans something to someone, somewhere . .. but not to you. So , yo u panicked and did what many in your predicament would do - you purchased the type of tire that ca m e on your bike in the first placel However, the bes t way to face the prospect of buying new tires is 10 be an informed consu m er. Obviously, th e first thing you need 10 know is th e type of tire yo u want. Pi ck one which refl ects th e type of bike you ride and the type of riding you do. For exa m p le, if you own a dual-sport bike but never venture offroad, you may want to fit street tires. Equally obvious , but no less important, is whether you need a front or a rear tir e. This m ay seem black-and-white to dirt riders with th eir mounts' differently-s ized wheels , but street riders often have two of th e same-sized wh eels . Consu lt yo ur deal er onwhich is which. Typ ica lly , an arrow sh ows the tire's r otational d irection. O ccasiona lly a tire is designated a front/rear, m eaning it can be installed o n either wh eel; th e direction then depends on which wheel it 's mounted. Next, determine what size tire you need. The best method is to exa m ine th e o nes on yo ur b ike, or 10 refer to yo ur ow ne rs or shop m a n ual. These days, ti res are desig na ted in o ne o f two method s - English or Road racer Michael Doohan suffered a broken left a rm in a Rothmans Honda test session at th e Suzuka tra ck in Japan on Wednesda y, December 20. Doohan flew home 10 Brisbane, Australia, immediatel y after th e crash an d su rgeo ns th ere insert ed a plate in th e arm , ab ove th e elbo w. Doohan said cold weather wa s th e cause of th e cras h as he felt it was impossibl e to get any heat into th e new rear tir e he was testing. The . acc ide n t wi ll set th e R othman s H onda team back as Doohan was expec ted 10 carry th e load of o ffseason testing becau se teamm ate Wa yn e Gardner is still reco ver ing fro m th e broken leg he suffered last (Continued to pag e 42) r-------------------------------------------------------------~--, I SUBSCRIPT ION ORDER FORM . I I I I I I N a me ---::c;-:-;;-:-:::::::::'7.':-;-;;-:-::-:-- - - - - - I P L EA S E PR I NT C LE R l VI :.A I I I I C ity I - --,- - - -- - - - - Ad d re s s _ -'- S ta t e Order Date: -LZ ip-.,. 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