Tires – John La Mond’s Motorcycle Safety Tips [Sponsored Post]

My love of motorcycles goes back to my childhood. I was always captivated by these two-wheeled works of art. When I was about 9 years old, I took a photo of a Harley-Davidson FLH motorcycle that was parked up at Niagara-On-The-Lake Ontario. I still have that photograph to this day. Coincidentally, my Heritage Softail looks very similar to that Harley that I photographed in 1969.

This week I wanted to talk a little bit about motorcycle tires. One important aspect of motorcycle safety is motorcycle tires. Obviously you want good rubber underneath you, but you also should have the right tire. One thing my late father taught me is to always use the correct part that was engineered for the vehicle. When you run a tire that the bike was not designed for, you open up the window for all kinds of problems. Every motorcycle will handle the best when using the proper tire designed for that machine. This is some of the best advice he ever gave me.

 If you try to change the size of the tire your machine was designed for then you may have to change your suspension which may lead you to have to change something else. It opens up a whole Pandora's Box of problems. And although everyone has their preferences in brands of motorcycle tires, I personally don't feel that any one brand is better than another. My dad worked for Dunlop for a time in the late 70's so I have always been a bit partial to their tires. Also, my neighbor on the next street where I grew up, was the world famous Dunlop motorcycle tire designer Tony Mills, who knows more about motorcycle tires than anyone on the planet. But any brand is good as long as you run the proper tires designed for your bike. And obviously you always want to have motorcycle tires with healthy tread life. Running worn down tires is always a bad idea and a recipe for disaster.

Next time you are about to leave the driveway for a motorcycle ride, check your tires. Is it time for new ones? Ride safe and I will see you on the road.