Blue Tires

[Deznuts05]

Please don't mock my searching ablities but I just want to confirm that the blue coloring on the tires are a cause of heat, typically if there's two blue strips that means the tire has been overheated or has been through a few burn outs.

Is this correct?

THanks
Rudy

[RayOSV]

Never heard that before. I think the blue (red, whatever) stripes in the tread are sometimes there from the tire factory.

[g34343greg]

if you're really tearing it up in the twisties or on a track, there will be some blue discoloration on the edges. i remember jaibird posted some pics of his tires after a trip to the gap and they had a little blue to them

[kevinwilly]

Yeah, if you're talking about the faint blue that appears on the tire, it does that when you heat up the surface of the tire a whole bunch.


Burnouts actually won't do it, as too much material is removed for it to happen. Aggressive riding in the twisties is pretty much the only way to do that, and it goes away after only a few miles of normal riding on that part of the tire (so if it's on the very edge it'll stay there for a while if you just ride on the highway).

It doesn't really affect tire life too much. I get the same thing on my car tires after i go and have some fun.

[Deznuts05]

thanks folks I thought I was about to get a bum bike

And to clearify its two blue strips actually pretty wide, spanning the edge to about 1/3 of the way to middle and then again 1/3 of the remaining side.

I suppose the previous owner really put her through the paces with only 4350 miles on her...

Thanks again I hope this helps future used bike buyers understand the history of their used bikes.

Rudy aka hope to be back on two wheels soon

[MAD_CAT]

prepared to be mocked...Blue is gahy

[VermillionX]

No that is fine. That bike can be ridden hard. Just make sure that the previous owner took care of it. You will run into problems if he ran it that hard and did not take care of it.

[RayOSV]

Originally Posted by Deznuts05

And to clearify its two blue strips actually pretty wide, spanning the edge to about 1/3 of the way to middle and then again 1/3 of the remaining side.

I've never seen this before on street bikes nor at the track. Anyone have a pic?

[kevinwilly]

Originally Posted by RayOSV

I've never seen this before on street bikes nor at the track. Anyone have a pic?

I can dig one up in a couple hours, my lunch break is almost over...


And like i said before- it doesn't last very long. A couple miles of riding on that part of the tire and it'll be totally gone. Maybe even less.

And it also takes a while to appear on the tire after you stop.

Search for threads made by Jaibird... he had pictures of it, though it's not the only time i've seen it. (been there on my Katana. On touring tires. Not recommended. )

[Fargin_Bastige]

The bluing occurs when a tire goes through multiple heat cycles. It's normal for a tire that's heated and then cooled multiple times.

Too many heat cycles and the rubber loses its grip