This will help keep your tires nice and soft

The sad thing about my bike is, it does not get ridden enough; maybe 1000 miles all last year.

Rainfall here in town is typically 150 inches a year, up at my place (3200ft) try 180 inches. Kinda wet. Add to that the dreadful thought that I've been working a 70 hour week for the good part of two decades.

Taking the bike out for a sprint in the hills just doesn't happen often enough, tires get too hard before they wear out. 'Till I started using rubber rejuvenator on 'em. It's a nasty smelling chemical from hell that us offset lithographers use on our printing presses, keeps the rubber rollers soft as a baby's behind. Use with heavy gloves and good ventilation! You will be surprised how well this lovely stuff works.

http://www.generalgraphic.com/rejuvenator.htm

(edit) One other important thing; this stuff will take paint off... use with care!

Yep sir Don, a secret weapon I use too. Its also same stuff in spray cans for ice-snow conditions. I recently had a old cracked tire with plenty of meat but leaked out the whole side wall which was full of cracks. Used the rubber solvent to make a slurry of butyl rubber then smeared it in a puddle of solvent in the tire. Sealed tire next time tested for tubeless. Just be alert till the grease surface wears off it any remains. Here's an example in trial size before committing to gallon size.
http://www.unique-idea.com/TIREGRIP.htm

Makes a great flame thrower for wasp nests too. Sorry about mother nature raining on your parade, nature gets in my way too much at times too.
hobot

Gday Donor & hobot, mmm... sounds like good stuff! Dont know if I can buy it here in OZ, whats the active ingredient?
Foxy

My can of Sure-Drive Non Skid for Tires lists:
Toluene
Ethanol
Petroleum distillate
Propane
Isobutane

Smells like paint thinner, not finger nail polish remover.
I only use it to help the used tires I run on SV650 and at times my winter car tires.
It only soaks in so far by just spray on. You'd have soak and store a tire in it a while to injure it down to the cords. Don't expect great things from it, just a bit less hard surface layer, if following instructions.

Foxy, I have a 5 gallon pail here on my desk, and it says:
"Contains heptane, acetone, toluene, xylene, and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether"
I think you can find these at any natural food store, hehe
seriously, you should be able to find a graphic arts supplier somewhere down under. A few of us die hard nut cases are still in the printing business!
Cheers,
Don

I'm not sure about the one Hobot's referring to, but this one I use, works really well. Industrial grade, it makes paint thinner smell like a dozen roses. Highly recommended.

There are two main solvents for rubber: turpentine and naphtha (petroleum). The former has been in use since 1764 when François Fresnau made the discovery. Giovanni Fabronni is credited with the discovery of naphtha as a rubber solvent in 1779. Because rubber does not dissolve easily, the material is finely divided by shredding prior to its immersion

Click to expand...

Reads like paint thinner to me.
Petroleum distillate is another name for naphtha and close relatives.
Tire Rubber is tough stuff and hard to chemically change so about any and all you can do to 'recondition' rubber is to partially dissolve it or its added softening agents. Rubber printer rollers are main users or this and its a stop gap before new ones arrive. Makes good parts cleaner, just don't get in on paint or plastic finishes. The longer you expose the rubber to this stuff the more special it becomes and less lasting the rubber, but so what if its wet and cold out I'd wrap tire soaked in rags of solvent over night or as long as soft as desired. Then light it and ride it off. Low temp flames compared to say gas, so not as dramatic as might seem to onlookers, especially after sun set.

What matters most on wet pavement or dry Gravel is soft compound, not profile not grooves. Never ever think of these hard surfaces having much traction.
Even if tires were duct tape soft and sticky.

Hobot.... exactly!

it seems like just about everything in creation is in a state of change... all at different rates of change, but changing just the same, and usually not for better.

hence my point of this thread. If, the rubber on your tires gets hard and slippery before the thread goes (can't ride enough, more than one or two bikes, etc., etc.) the rejuvenator that I'm using keeps 'em soft... applied every two or three months.

the tires on my bike are about six years old, chinese K81 wannabes. The bike was down for the last eight months, and while messin with other things on it, I noticed the tires, especially the sidewalls were getting kinda slick, glassy. So I put on the rejuvenator, twice. this all happened about two months ago, then, after finally getting back on the road last weekend, I hit 'em again. Now, if I drag my thumb over the rubber, I get a nice, low frequency vibration. Sounds kinda like a fart.

thanks for your ideas, have a great weekend

Cheers,

Don

Hm, Lower frequency tire hysteria he. Not that's something I can bite into.
Thanks for thumb nail report and making me think though my own experience to see that instead of being afraid of using this stuff to dissolve tires, must think of it as healing their wounds, re-bonding and merging crack cleavage to boot!
Makes tire surface greasy until soaked in or evaporates, so may try what I've left over as lube for tire mounting. I get rocks that ricochet off tires to sound them like drums. Will have to try your elasticity resonance monitoring and get a feel for it too.

Wonder if this stuff would give more endurance to the new age fork gaitors that last about two years whether run and exposed to weather or just sitting waitng to engine.

hobot