Kenda rear tire, rear shock and Mothers on my seat.

[Habib]

I was waxing the F3 last night and while doing it some of the Mothers Brazilian Carnuba Wax (nothings to good for the :f_spider I was using got on the seat. It wiped off but I'm wondering if it will eventually hurt the fake leatherette plastic based stuff the seat is made from?

Also while polishing the rear fender I noticed what looked like a crack (parting line) all around the center of the rear tire (see pic) and wonder if it's anything to be concerned about. The bike has a total of around 1500 miles.


Next question is about my rear shock. It's a Fox coil over with adjustable spring. The sad part is the weight of the rider it's up there pushing 285 and sometimes on bad roads the rear suspension bottoms out. Will tightening up the spring help prevent the bottoming out but still give the required dampening?

And finally as an FYI........I was mowing the lawn last weekend with my trusty John Deere lawn tractor and noticed that it had Kenda tires. If there good enough for John Deere their good enough for me.

 

[pegasus1300]

Nothing runs like a Deere:roflblack:

 

[Chupaca]

Let's see....

The wax on the seat should be no problem...
The center line is from the manufacturer also not a problem...
The shock is an issue they are dealing with and if you can't adjust it enough they have a replacement shock which is much better but on your dime.....:thumbup:

Meanwhile enjoy your ryde...:riding:

 

[Ron2andia]

I called BRP and asked about the shock... They told me that when enough people call about it it will be considered for a recall... Based on this site I would think there where a lot of calls over that and the vibration of which she echoed the same comment. Basically saying both were not known common issues.

 

[Peter Aawen]

That 'split' in the tire is put there by the tire manufacturer & is commonly called a tread sipe. Generally, sipes run across tread blocks, so as the tread flexes when it contacts the road, the slits in the rubber can open up, create a low pressure area, & help suck & channel water out of the way of the tread blocks, vastly improving traction & wet weather grip, an significantly reducing any tendency of hydro-planing.

But that particular sipe runs around the circumference of the tire, not across, & it's in what is effectively a solid strip of tread all the way around the tire. So, while it does help with lateral traction & wet weather grip, the placement of that sipe & the fact that there are no diagonal sipes running off to remove the water gathered & channelled along it, it all adds up to suggest that it's there more to help with tread block heat management & to reduce wear in that centre strip.

The compound of the tire needs to heat up from rest somewhat in order to grip well, & the flexing of the tire during rotation creates that necessary temperature increase. Once it's up to operating temp, the tire grips the road surface by sacrificing minute portions of itself onto the rough (microscopically speaking) surface of the road; but if the temp increase is too much, the compound gets too hot & it just peels off the tire waaaay too fast, with rapid wear resulting! That particular sipe will be there in an attempt to reduce the heat build up in that particular tread block & reduce the rapid wear issue (as well as enhancing lateral grip)! :thumbup:

 

[4 MARIE]

I like our "aussie member's" answer, and just know that he had me at Sipe. Now we're talking Tire-Tech.

 

[robmorg]

Next question is about my rear shock. It's a Fox coil over with adjustable spring. The sad part is the weight of the rider it's up there pushing 285 and sometimes on bad roads the rear suspension bottoms out. Will tightening up the spring help prevent the bottoming out but still give the required dampening?

Yes, that should help a lot. That's why the springs are adjustable.

The shock is an issue they are dealing with and if you can't adjust it enough they have a replacement shock which is much better but on your dime.....:thumbup:

Good to know. But if this is an OEM shock you are talking about, before I replaced them myself, I would ask my dealer to call their dealer service contact at BRP, explain your problem, and ask them for the upgrade. BRP often does that as a warranty consideration on an individual basis with a known defect. In my case, the 2013 RT was first released with sub-standard front shocks, which were replaced half way through the model year. My dealer arranged that free upgrade service for me. It was not a published service bulletin.