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Having front flatted in the fast lane on I-15, and once while carrying a passenger and overnight gear, I strongly value anything that helps maintain tire pressure. Off pavement, a big bike will sometimes let you know your front tire is losing pressure by suddenly rolling over on its side in the dirt; nice to avoid that if possible.
Tire sealant, then, is a no-brainer, even with all the attendant draw-backs. As it happens, Ride-On doesn't have any drawbacks, that I can think of. What sucks about tire sealants? They make a hideous mess and throw your tires out of balance in the process, right? Or they cause corrosion. Or they're flammable, so you're riding around wondering if somehow a spark is going to launch you into the air when your tire explodes. Maybe that's an adventure-enhancer for some... I figure, once you've got a hole in your tire and you're 3/4 of a tank from nowhere, you don't really need an adventure enhancer.
Ride-On is non-flammable, non-corrosive, & fully biodegradable -- so if for some strange reason you want to clean it out of your tire, you can just hose it away. It contains fibers six times stronger than steel -- that's what helps plug the holes.
Its up to 95% effective in sealing multiple punctures in the crown of pneumatic tires -- that goes down as low as about 55% for tube tires (cuz sometimes tubes get torn instead of punctured), which is still twice as good as running without: I'm in.
It balances wheels without the need of traditional lead weights -- this is very cool: Not only do you not need to have new tires balanced, but you don't have to have lead on your rims, where it can fly off and crack your riding buddy's windscreen, or get eaten by your kids, or whatever. So not only is the product biodegradable, but it decreases our use of other toxic stuff too.
How R-O actually balances a tire is probably an interesting paper for some enterprizing physicist. My understanding is that something about how the product flows pushes more of the product to where the spinning mass is lighter. The other important bit is that it doesn't lose it's flow behaviour like most sealants do, over the ammount of time you'll have the tire. So your tire gets more accurately balanced, dynamically, and self-adjusts over time. Which is to say, you could see an increase in mileage, or decrease in tire wear. Worth a try.
Ride-On treated tires maintain their set pressure up to 5 times longer than a tire without sealant -- another reason your ride might run more efficiently. Ride-On gives some test numbers: 1-3% better gas mileage, tire wear taking 15%-25% longer. This can also be a safety issue - riding at correct pressure is safer for cornering & braking, so anything that helps you maintain the correct pressure longer is a good thing.
The other side of the coin: Ride-On can be tricky to get hold of. Lately, I've seen more shops begin to carry it - either in bottles, or in the service department, where you can have the shop install it when they install your tires. Locally, BMW Motorcycles of Ventura County (805.499.3770) carries it, currently in the service department.
Tire sealant, then, is a no-brainer, even with all the attendant draw-backs. As it happens, Ride-On doesn't have any drawbacks, that I can think of. What sucks about tire sealants? They make a hideous mess and throw your tires out of balance in the process, right? Or they cause corrosion. Or they're flammable, so you're riding around wondering if somehow a spark is going to launch you into the air when your tire explodes. Maybe that's an adventure-enhancer for some... I figure, once you've got a hole in your tire and you're 3/4 of a tank from nowhere, you don't really need an adventure enhancer.
Ride-On is non-flammable, non-corrosive, & fully biodegradable -- so if for some strange reason you want to clean it out of your tire, you can just hose it away. It contains fibers six times stronger than steel -- that's what helps plug the holes.
Its up to 95% effective in sealing multiple punctures in the crown of pneumatic tires -- that goes down as low as about 55% for tube tires (cuz sometimes tubes get torn instead of punctured), which is still twice as good as running without: I'm in.
It balances wheels without the need of traditional lead weights -- this is very cool: Not only do you not need to have new tires balanced, but you don't have to have lead on your rims, where it can fly off and crack your riding buddy's windscreen, or get eaten by your kids, or whatever. So not only is the product biodegradable, but it decreases our use of other toxic stuff too.
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How R-O actually balances a tire is probably an interesting paper for some enterprizing physicist. My understanding is that something about how the product flows pushes more of the product to where the spinning mass is lighter. The other important bit is that it doesn't lose it's flow behaviour like most sealants do, over the ammount of time you'll have the tire. So your tire gets more accurately balanced, dynamically, and self-adjusts over time. Which is to say, you could see an increase in mileage, or decrease in tire wear. Worth a try.
Ride-On treated tires maintain their set pressure up to 5 times longer than a tire without sealant -- another reason your ride might run more efficiently. Ride-On gives some test numbers: 1-3% better gas mileage, tire wear taking 15%-25% longer. This can also be a safety issue - riding at correct pressure is safer for cornering & braking, so anything that helps you maintain the correct pressure longer is a good thing.
The other side of the coin: Ride-On can be tricky to get hold of. Lately, I've seen more shops begin to carry it - either in bottles, or in the service department, where you can have the shop install it when they install your tires. Locally, BMW Motorcycles of Ventura County (805.499.3770) carries it, currently in the service department.
Click this image to go to the Ride-On website's Retail Store Locator:
