Can I run second hand tyres on my bike?

You can run part-worn motorcycle tyres but we don’t recommend you do.

When you buy a second-hand tyre you’re hoping that the tyre has a clean history. Seeing as you won’t know whether it does or not, you’re leaving a lot to chance.

A tyre’s integrity can be affected by:

• How old the tyre is
• How it has been stored
• How it has been used
• How many times it has been mounted on a rim
• Whether or not it has been involved in an accident

There are lots of factors above that are hard to establish with a used motorcycle tyre.

Cars vs Bikes

In the car world, part-worn tyres are more common but we’d argue that a failure of a tyre on a car is less likely to result in a fatality than on a bike. If your car’s front tyre rapidly loses pressure at motorway speeds, that won’t be a pleasant experience but you’ll likely be able to deal with it. If your motorcycle’s front tyre does the same, you’re in the lap of the gods.

Also most car tyres will last 10,000 miles or more, so a part-worn tyre is likely to have a good bit of use left. However most motorcycle tyres will last around 5,000 miles and so any part-worn motorcycle tyre has probably had the best part of its life.

Part-worns and tyre wear

Every motorcycle wears its tyres differently. Therefore when fitting a part-worn tyre, you’re fitting a tyre that’s profile has been changed by the previous bike it was fitted on. Some bikes square off tyres, others put a lot of weight on the front and wear one side far faster than the other.

If you fit a part-worn tyre to your bike the chances are it won’t do much to improve how the bike handles or feels.

Why new is best

When you buy a new tyre you know that it has been manufactured to an exact tolerance, never been fitted on a bike and has most likely been stored within tolerances, meaning it is safe for use in the way the manufacturer has tested it and had it approved.

While second-hand tyres are no doubt cheaper, we recommend that riders on a budget fit a quality new budget motorcycle tyre rather than plump for a scond-hand part-warn top-tier tyre.