Have you ever had a tire wear out prematurely and wonder why?
Well - I got an education today - one that cost me $300 and will cost me another $225 or better yet! And maybe - if you read this blog you can learn something and save your self $300 - $500 and - who knows, maybe your life!
Did you know that a tire has a serial number? It isn't quite like the VIN on a vehicle - it is more of a batch number. It tells you what week and what year your tire was made.
Had I known that small little fact - I could have saved myself $300 a real good scare and a ton of time.
I headed for Moncton and my meet up with the Bike Klub at about 11:30 Monday morning.
I was running late after a heated debate with the tracing department of Purolator. I will NEVER use that company again. This is now the third time that they have messed up shipping an order for me and I will never allow myself to be put through the insulting and insufferable thing they call customer service again. I have had NO Marketing materials on this trip because of this company and it has been highly disappointing to say the least. On the way to the Confederation bridge I decided to stop in to Red Rock Harley-Davidson and take some pictures and talk to the owner.
The service manager came over to talk to me as he is a CAV member too and we got talking and he happened to look at the tire on my bike and noticed it was at the wear bars (Later inspection would show and irregular wear pattern - not consistent with low pressure but of tires that are too old). I said how can that be, they are brand new tires...
I have been loosing air pressure in the rear one and I have been filling it every other day. I had mentioned that to hubby when he caught up to me in Charlottetown - he told me that when I got to Moncton he wanted me to have that tire checked.
Well - I looked at the tire and low and behold it was worn - right to the wear bars. Red Rock could not fit me in but they called ahead to Moncton and I was told they would be ready for me when I got in. And they were!
I left the bike in the capable hands of Brian Stuart of Toys for Big Boys and also of Harley Tech Talk and the man who sends us in tech articles once in a while as he has the time. And young master Mark Vale - a member of the Bike Klub took me to the school to meet Chelsea, Paul, Mazz and Stephanie - Keegan dropped in when he got off work and I got the chance to see the 4 confirmed members for 2011. More will be confirmed once school starts mid of next week.
After a great hour or so visiting with the Bike Klub, Stephanie gave me a lift to the dealership.
I got there and they had installed a new tire for me and then proceeded to explain to me, complete with a tech sheet from www.tirerack.com explaining all about how to determine the age of a tire and the showed me (see picture below) how to tell the age of my tire and further explained that a tire only has a 4-6 year shelf life for sale. Now I remember reading something about that in car tires so when I read that what Brian had to tell me about the age of the tire was true it had been built/made in the 13th week of 2002, it came back to me about the news articles on tires I had read in the past.
Now I won't say where I got this tire - the person who sold this tire to me did so I feel in good faith and was probably never trained to know how to tell the age of a tire any more than I was. This practice after all only started in 2000 - that is the practice of stamping the date of creation into the side of the tire.
This person is trying to track down which supplier it came from - in the mean time I want to talk to the dealership that installed this tire. They have a training issue that I am almost certain many other dealerships and independent shops probably have. Their staff should have know or thought to tell a person that this tire was 8 years old - long past it its safe time to use - it wore out in 5,000 km's that is killer scary on so many levels. If the staff didn't know - they need to know and so does every rider out there.
I could have lost my life very easily or have been put in a really tough spot - I got lucky because I have a community of angels who ride with me.
I bought a set from this person and the tire on the front - looks OK and is wearing properly but now I have to watch it like a hawk - until I can get it changed - hopefully in Nova Scotia...the front tire is - are you sitting down...from 2000.
Yah - that's what I said. OH CRAP
Please - every one, it is important to find out what year your tires were manufactured - every time you buy a tire - you need to find those 4 magic little numbers that will tell you if your odds for safety just went up....And to think I rode on that back tire in rain on the confederation bridge - the whole time thinking that it was scarier than normal (meaning I thought riding on the bridge in the rain was scarier than riding on a road in the rain) I guess I wasn't imagining things. It was scarier - just not for the reasons I thought it was.... I guess that every time I looked at my tire I was seeing the good sections because it was plain that in some sections that tire was virtually bald.
Oh well - lesson learned the expensive way because after all I bought the tire and paid the labour in a province that has provincial sales tax but the gang over at Toys for Big Boys took some off of the tire and labour to help the cause.
Their efficiency, concern and service ranks right up there with the treatment I have gotten in Medicine Hat, Prince George, Red Deer and Smithers. Thank you Mark Vale for going above and beyond, Brian Stuart - your tech sheet of information was an eye opener and the hugs were fabulous!
Thank you to all the staff who treated me and my motorcycle so well.
Toys for Big Boys
633 Salisbury Road
Moncton, New Brunswick
Phone: (506) 858-8088
Fax: (506) 382-5601
In the news today:
In Ontario - another motorcycle rear ends a vehicle - rider taken to hospital - what is going on with this people? I can not count the number of rear ending accidents lately - it is like an epidemic - are you not paying attention? Are you following too close?
Twitter has some recommendations for business owners
In BC the names of recent crash victims have been released
Hold on to your pipes boys and girls because California just passed another MOTORCYCLE NOISE law - it now has to go to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to be passed - he owns several motorcycles....
Like every day - I welcome your feed back.
I hope and pray that if you are riding today you will Ride defensively, ride your own ride - do NOT let peer pressure get the best of you...Ride like everyone around you is BLIND, has an UNSAFE load and IS out to get you and please - ride Proud not Loud - invest in a 140 DB Air horn instead!
Well - I got an education today - one that cost me $300 and will cost me another $225 or better yet! And maybe - if you read this blog you can learn something and save your self $300 - $500 and - who knows, maybe your life!
Did you know that a tire has a serial number? It isn't quite like the VIN on a vehicle - it is more of a batch number. It tells you what week and what year your tire was made.
Had I known that small little fact - I could have saved myself $300 a real good scare and a ton of time.
I headed for Moncton and my meet up with the Bike Klub at about 11:30 Monday morning.
I was running late after a heated debate with the tracing department of Purolator. I will NEVER use that company again. This is now the third time that they have messed up shipping an order for me and I will never allow myself to be put through the insulting and insufferable thing they call customer service again. I have had NO Marketing materials on this trip because of this company and it has been highly disappointing to say the least. On the way to the Confederation bridge I decided to stop in to Red Rock Harley-Davidson and take some pictures and talk to the owner.
The service manager came over to talk to me as he is a CAV member too and we got talking and he happened to look at the tire on my bike and noticed it was at the wear bars (Later inspection would show and irregular wear pattern - not consistent with low pressure but of tires that are too old). I said how can that be, they are brand new tires...
I have been loosing air pressure in the rear one and I have been filling it every other day. I had mentioned that to hubby when he caught up to me in Charlottetown - he told me that when I got to Moncton he wanted me to have that tire checked.
Well - I looked at the tire and low and behold it was worn - right to the wear bars. Red Rock could not fit me in but they called ahead to Moncton and I was told they would be ready for me when I got in. And they were!
I left the bike in the capable hands of Brian Stuart of Toys for Big Boys and also of Harley Tech Talk and the man who sends us in tech articles once in a while as he has the time. And young master Mark Vale - a member of the Bike Klub took me to the school to meet Chelsea, Paul, Mazz and Stephanie - Keegan dropped in when he got off work and I got the chance to see the 4 confirmed members for 2011. More will be confirmed once school starts mid of next week.
After a great hour or so visiting with the Bike Klub, Stephanie gave me a lift to the dealership.
Now I won't say where I got this tire - the person who sold this tire to me did so I feel in good faith and was probably never trained to know how to tell the age of a tire any more than I was. This practice after all only started in 2000 - that is the practice of stamping the date of creation into the side of the tire.
This person is trying to track down which supplier it came from - in the mean time I want to talk to the dealership that installed this tire. They have a training issue that I am almost certain many other dealerships and independent shops probably have. Their staff should have know or thought to tell a person that this tire was 8 years old - long past it its safe time to use - it wore out in 5,000 km's that is killer scary on so many levels. If the staff didn't know - they need to know and so does every rider out there.
I could have lost my life very easily or have been put in a really tough spot - I got lucky because I have a community of angels who ride with me.
I bought a set from this person and the tire on the front - looks OK and is wearing properly but now I have to watch it like a hawk - until I can get it changed - hopefully in Nova Scotia...the front tire is - are you sitting down...from 2000.
Yah - that's what I said. OH CRAP
Please - every one, it is important to find out what year your tires were manufactured - every time you buy a tire - you need to find those 4 magic little numbers that will tell you if your odds for safety just went up....And to think I rode on that back tire in rain on the confederation bridge - the whole time thinking that it was scarier than normal (meaning I thought riding on the bridge in the rain was scarier than riding on a road in the rain) I guess I wasn't imagining things. It was scarier - just not for the reasons I thought it was.... I guess that every time I looked at my tire I was seeing the good sections because it was plain that in some sections that tire was virtually bald.
Oh well - lesson learned the expensive way because after all I bought the tire and paid the labour in a province that has provincial sales tax but the gang over at Toys for Big Boys took some off of the tire and labour to help the cause.
Their efficiency, concern and service ranks right up there with the treatment I have gotten in Medicine Hat, Prince George, Red Deer and Smithers. Thank you Mark Vale for going above and beyond, Brian Stuart - your tech sheet of information was an eye opener and the hugs were fabulous!
Thank you to all the staff who treated me and my motorcycle so well.
Toys for Big Boys
633 Salisbury Road
Moncton, New Brunswick
Phone: (506) 858-8088
Fax: (506) 382-5601
In the news today:
In Ontario - another motorcycle rear ends a vehicle - rider taken to hospital - what is going on with this people? I can not count the number of rear ending accidents lately - it is like an epidemic - are you not paying attention? Are you following too close?
Twitter has some recommendations for business owners
In BC the names of recent crash victims have been released
Hold on to your pipes boys and girls because California just passed another MOTORCYCLE NOISE law - it now has to go to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to be passed - he owns several motorcycles....
Like every day - I welcome your feed back.
I hope and pray that if you are riding today you will Ride defensively, ride your own ride - do NOT let peer pressure get the best of you...Ride like everyone around you is BLIND, has an UNSAFE load and IS out to get you and please - ride Proud not Loud - invest in a 140 DB Air horn instead!
Belt Drive Betty
A MAX Award winning web site!
That's great that the service manager at Red Rock Harley-Davidson helped you out like that! Red Rock always provides the best service!
ReplyDeleteVisit their website:
www.redrockharley.com
Become a fan of Red Rock on Facebook and follow them on Twitter: @redrockharley
Ride On Betty!
Both the PEI shop and the Moncton shop treated me super fine! Thanks for the suggestions - I will make sure I am fans of both!
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