Great thread with a whole lot of knowledge imparted. My takeaways are:

 

Understand the format and where to find the manufacturing date stamp on the tires.

 

Tires are pretty much done by 5 years old regardless of how much tread is left. Rubber hardens and splits in the heat.

 

Tire over-inflation that prevails in 4-wheel world is also a factor in 2-wheel land.

 

Check the bike for the tire inflation sticker, get a pressure gauge (150 baht at Tesco) and make sure the owner/rider understands.

 

Happy trails.

3 hours ago, kimamey said:

I assume front tyres wear more quickly

Assumed wrong. Rear tyres wear more quickly on every form of motorcycle/scooter/moped. On sports bikes with serious bhp at a ratio of 3:1.

Unless one day you can buy a front wheel drive 2 wheeler............

45 minutes ago, thaiguzzi said:

Assumed wrong. Rear tyres wear more quickly on every form of motorcycle/scooter/moped. On sports bikes with serious bhp at a ratio of 3:1.

Unless one day you can buy a front wheel drive 2 wheeler............

Absolutely correct.

The extra wear is due to the "drive". For example, in a front wheel driven car, the front tyres will wear out faster.

1 hour ago, thaiguzzi said:

Assumed wrong. Rear tyres wear more quickly on every form of motorcycle/scooter/moped. On sports bikes with serious bhp at a ratio of 3:1.

Unless one day you can buy a front wheel drive 2 wheeler............

Fair enough I was thinking that the front might wear quicker due to it initiating any change of direction.

4 hours ago, NanLaew said:

Great thread with a whole lot of knowledge imparted. My takeaways are:

 

Understand the format and where to find the manufacturing date stamp on the tires.

 

Tires are pretty much done by 5 years old regardless of how much tread is left. Rubber hardens and splits in the heat.

 

Tire over-inflation that prevails in 4-wheel world is also a factor in 2-wheel land.

 

Check the bike for the tire inflation sticker, get a pressure gauge (150 baht at Tesco) and make sure the owner/rider understands.

 

Happy trails.

Yes it's been quite helpful.  I don't know how linn tyres last in this heat but the older front tyre was showing signs of hardening.  The rear one didn't but the splits were quite obvious on both and looked pretty similar which is why I thought that the highly excessive pressure might have caused the splitting.  Pretty dangerous whatever the reason. 

20 hours ago, NanLaew said:

...Tire over-inflation that prevails in 4-wheel world is also a factor in 2-wheel land.  ...

Under-inflation is my experience in off-roading.  Not gnarly rock-crawling, just mucking around. On commutes to and from work in the hills of New Jersey (USA) in snow and ice, I once had to get out and deflate the tires.  2 wheel drive small Toyota pickup, the classic hog on ice. Bad.  One day I went home, parked the truck and went out again with the family in our tiny Honda Civic front wheel drive in 6 inches of snow, just because I could.  But the truck was much better at sliding down hills, bouncing off curbs and people's front lawns.  It was like billiards.

On 10/12/2018 at 7:44 AM, Damrongsak said:

Under-inflation is my experience in off-roading.  Not gnarly rock-crawling, just mucking around. On commutes to and from work in the hills of New Jersey (USA) in snow and ice, I once had to get out and deflate the tires.  2 wheel drive small Toyota pickup, the classic hog on ice. Bad.  One day I went home, parked the truck and went out again with the family in our tiny Honda Civic front wheel drive in 6 inches of snow, just because I could.  But the truck was much better at sliding down hills, bouncing off curbs and people's front lawns.  It was like billiards.

Yes under-inflation can help in some conditions such as snow or mud. I've heard off people deflating their tyres to cross some particularly difficult ground and then inflating them to the correct pressure after they get to normal conditions again.  That was the reason I thought that over-inflation would adversely affect grip on some of the roads where sand covers part of them. 

23 minutes ago, kimamey said:

Yes under-inflation can help in some conditions such as snow or mud. I've heard off people deflating their tyres to cross some particularly difficult ground and then inflating them to the correct pressure after they get to normal conditions again.  That was the reason I thought that over-inflation would adversely affect grip on some of the roads where sand covers part of them. 

Yep, i would'nt get very far riding my trials bikes on tarmac on the road. If i did, it would get rather interesting...

Front 6 psi

Rear 4 psi, sometimes 3.......

I recently replaced the tyres on my Honda Xoomerx at a real Honda shop for about 2,500THB. So, it's not a large expense although I realize that a lot of Thai people would disagree. Tyres, when in proper condition and correctly inflated, are the only parts of the bike (or car/truck) that actually touch the road when in motion. If not in proper condition it might well be your face that hits the road next. No way it should be risked. 

Beware the thai mcycle shops.  I have noticed they all greatly overinflate and pinch test. Most charge a few baht so the riders don't like coming back often even if they have the spoked wheels with the leaky thai tubes so the guys pump em up like crazy.  I have a gauge and checked and my tubeless were pumped over 50 psi.  Needless to say I now check and inflate my own tires. Very dangerous.  Not only for cracks but loss of traction in sand or rainy weather.

Yep they love to over-inflate. Changed tires on my VanVan last week and told the shop at least 3 times that the correct pressure was 18 psi front and back.  Left the shop and immediately knew they scewed up. Front had 28 and rear 32.  Idiots

Over inflation will cause a very bumpy ride and a noticeable loss of traction. How can people over inflate and not notice?

 

Shell gas stations have pumps with pressure gauge, very useful. 

 

 

Jesus Christ! The state of those tyres in the photo is just plain dangerous. You are not going to tell me you are riding this bike are you? Old age plus too high pressures are the cause.

6 hours ago, DaRoadrunner said:

Jesus Christ! The state of those tyres in the photo is just plain dangerous. You are not going to tell me you are riding this bike are you? Old age plus too high pressures are the cause.

I don't ride it but I noticed the splits whilst checking the pressures as I know they overinflate them.

I made sure they were changed and then I checked the pressures and I've made sure my stepdaughter had been told of the dangers. Will she remember?  Maybe. Maybe not. I'll be checking again often.

On 10/7/2018 at 5:40 PM, kimamey said:

I and I've noticed there are splits in the tyres both front and rear. I'm not a bike rider but I think I might know the reason so I thought I'd ask on here. 

It's actually caused by parking in the sun (or the tires may just be old).

The rubber dries out and cracks, doesn't really matter about the pressure in the tires.

I've changed to Michelin which don't seem to crack like the cheaper Thai tires.

The 60 psi idea seems to have come from those temporary spare tyres to be found on skinny steel rims in the trunk of some modern cars.

 

Unknown to me, they put 60 psi in my normal type spare tyre. When I next came to look at it, the outer layer had delaminated and peeled itself like a banana. Yes folks, there is a warning on the tyre wall which states max pressure 40 psi. I showed it to them but either they can't take the loss of face or they just can't learn.