So you just bought new tires for your car or motorcycle, just how new are they? More than likely they have been setting around for some time before you bought them. You can find the date of manufacture by looking for the DOT info on the sidewall. On car and truck tires this is usually found on the backside, crawl under and behind the tire to check it out. On motorcycle tires the DOT info and date can be on ether side. All tires are dated, it doesn’t matter where they are made.
With that being said lets take a look and my old tire I just replaced on my panhead. In the pic you can see W182<, this translates to manufactured the 18th week of 1992, in other words I was running down the road (sometimes fast) on rubber that was 16 years old. I replaced it because I was running low on tread.
In this thumbnail pic is a shot of my new back tire, looking close just after the DOT info is W2304. Translated, made the 23rd week of 2004. This tire is 4 years old, coming from a dealer that had to sprcial order it for me.
In this shot is the front tire that I am running, look at the date tag, 1300. This tire was made the 13th week of 2000, 8 years old. The DOT recommends you replace your tires when 6 years old or older.
ABC news show 20/20 just aired a very good story on tires and how manufactures date them. Follow this link to watch this news story at ABC News 20/20 , and you will learn something.
Monday August 4th you can be rocking Sturgis with Kiss. View the widget I just set up on my Motorcycles page with a schedule of events, past highlights, videos, slide-show and more. You can buy tickets, t-shirts, this thing is loaded with a ton of information for Sturgis 2008. Check it out….. www.motorcycles.my68flh.com and ride safe.
A study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, conducted by Michael Morrisey, a professor at University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Harvard Medical School professor David Grabowski, came to the conclusion that for every 10% increase in gas prices there was a 2.3% decline in auto fatalities. Their study was based on fatality figures from 1985 to 2006. In 2006 gas prices reached record highs of $2.50 a gallon. (boy I’d like to have some of that rite now!) Morrisey said in an interview with the Associated Press, “With the annual auto deaths typically ranging around 38,000 to 40,000 a year and with gas now averaging over $4.oo a gallon we should see a greater decline- more around a third”, which would mean a drop of around 12,000 lives a year, or a yearly range of 26,000 to 28,000 fatalities.
Now the bad news…….. as gas prices go up, more people are going to turn to motorcycles and scooters for transportation. This will result in an increase in deaths in this area and we will see more issues about motorcycle safety and helmet use.
Special note……. the NHTSA has yet to release the figures for 2007.
Interesting article today from the Associated Press out of the fine State of Virgina in regards to motorcycle safety………
RICHMOND, Va. – With the number of motorcycle-related deaths sharply on the rise, Virginia officials are looking to improve safety.
The state will launch a program called Motorcycle 411 at its motorcycle training range in Richmond on Tuesday.
The event coincides with national Ride Your Motorcycle to Work Day.
D.B. Smit, the Governor’s highway safety representative, will discuss how the program aims to improve not only the safety of motorcycle riders, but the awareness other drivers have of motorcycles on the road.
The timing of the safety program also coincides with a renewed boost in motorcycle ridership, thanks in part to high gas prices.
In 2007, there were 126 motorcycle fatalities in Virginia, nearly double the 70 deaths in 2006.
Source; Daily Press Richmond VA
