Monday, May 03, 2010

Time to re-tire

tire front 02 tire rear

My 2003 BMW K1200GT needs new tires.

I came to this conclusion over the weekend when I took a good look at them. The center tread is almost gone on my front tire and it’s pretty shallow on the rear tire. I shudder to think that I rode almost 200 miles in the rain coming home from the Return to Shiloh Rally on that front tire last October.

I bought both tires -  Metzelers - on July 25, 2008 at BMW Ducati of Southern Colorado in Colorado Springs. That was 11,324 miles ago, which I think is a personal record for me and a set of motorcycle tires. Checking my records, I see that I’ve averaged 6,477.5 miles on front tires and 7,773 miles on rear tires on this bike before this set. Granted, some tires were replaced before they were worn out because I was on the eve of a major trip and wanted to start out on fresh rubber. Consequently, my expectations are 7,000 miles for a front tire and 8,000 miles for a rear tire.

So I guess I’d better make arrangements for new rubber before I get serious about riding this bike anywhere. In retrospect, I should have re-tired when I was at Grass Roots BMW in Cape Girardeau, Mo., last Wednesday. Oh, well, I’m heading back there in a week or two anyway, so I might as well have them set aside a couple of tires.

I ordered a new gel battery for Maria’s ‘94 K75S. The original BMW lead/acid battery lasted 16 years before it crapped out a couple of weeks ago. A new BMW gel battery would run around $200 with shipping, but I found a TruGel battery for $149.89 at Oncycles.com yesterday and they have free shipping.

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