Advice: How to 'scrub in' a tyre

All new motorcycle tyres have a glossy surface thanks to chemicals used in the curing process. That’s what makes them slippery, and the reason why riders can be caught out – sometimes in the most embarrassing of situations.

It's hard to ‘scrub’ in a brand new tyre or tyres, as riders not only have to deal with the aforementioned slickness but also environmental factors such as traffic and weather conditions.

What often happens is the rider decides to 'take it easy' for a period of kilometres in the belief that this will get the scrubbing in job done, which is not always true.

That’s because they don't lean the bike over much and they are really gentle with the controls. While there's no problem with this initially, if your use of lean angle and force doesn't progressively increase, then the only part of the tyre being scrubbed is the middle. This leaves the edges still with the slippery surface intact.

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Then, one day, you get into a corner a little too hot and have to lean it over further than you have before. Now you're on the part of the tyre that's not been touched to the road before and there is no grip. Next thing you know you're watching your bike and body parts disappear up the road in a shower of sparks and skin.

The key is in the progressive use of the tyre. When the tyre is new, you have to be very careful and gentle with the controls and how much force you put into it. What you will find is that once a particular part of the tyre has contacted the road, it loses its slippery feel.

If you can imagine the contact patch of your tyre as being an oval shape, then when the bike is upright and on the scrubbed part of the tyre that has been used, the total area has useable traction.

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When you lean it over just a few degrees for the first time, you will reach the edge of the scrubbed part of the tyre, and a small amount of 'new' tyre will contact the road. You'll no doubt find that this feels a little slippery and your survival instincts spark up, getting your attention a little bit or a lot (depending on just how slippery it felt).

Once that particular part of the tyre has contacted the road, you can go back to that lean angle and you will find that it no longer feels slippery. This is because the chemical agents have worn off and it is in essence, scrubbed. You can now lean it a little further so that once again you just contact the edge of the 'new' tyre, which is now further around it.

By doing this, the bulk of your contact patch is always scrubbed tyre that will give you grip. If on the other hand you decide to 'take it easy,' and then find you have to lean the bike over dramatically more than it has been leant before, the bulk of your new contact patch is now a part of the tyre that has never contacted the road before. Chances are it will suddenly slide away from you.

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This can be confusing to riders because they may have done several hundred kilometres of 'taking it easy' and believed that the tyre should be scrubbed in. The truth though, is that you will only wear off the chemical when that part of the tyre contacts the road, and not before.

To scrub a tyre successfully, progressively build up the lean angle and force you place on the tyre until you have used what is available to you. Once you've done that, the tyre will grip well through the remainder of its life on the bike regardless (to a point) of lean angle and force.