You should have Ride-On in your tires.
Many motorcyclists already know about Ride-On, but I think too many do not. Ride-On is a unique tire product. It is both a dynamic tire balancer and it instantly seals center-tread tire punctures with virtually no loss of air pressure.
I discovered Ride-On in 2010 when I decided to go Darkside on my bike (car tire on the rear wheel, another blog may follow to explain that). I had a hard time finding someone to mount my tire and when I did, they didn't want anything else to do with it. I respected that, I paid cash, and I promised that nobody would ever know who did this tire mount for me. So with the tire mounted, I still needed to balance it. I researched buying my own balance machine and weights, I looked into balance beads and then I stumbled across Ride-On.
Ride-On boasted the same dynamic balancing as balance beads, but with no mess when removing the tire (evidently, balance beads tend to scatter when the tire comes off, but I have no first-hand experience with that). Balance beads are also a bit of a pain to get into the tire because you've got to do it before you seat the bead of the tire. Ride-On goes in any tire at any time. You simply remove the valve core (schrader valve) attach the small length of provided tubing over the valve stem, attach the opposite end of the tubing to the nozzle of the Ride-On bottle and squeeze a bunch of creamy orange goop into your tire. Then just re-insert the valve core and inflate the tire to pressure. If the wheel is not connected to the bike at this point, you will want to roll the tire around your garage/driveway/front yard for a few minutes to evenly spread the goop over the inside-center of your tire. If the wheel is on the bike, you simply have to spin it if it's off the ground or take a short ride to accomplish this, but it should be done immediately after inflating the tire for best results. Once the goop is evenly distributed, that is where it will stay. Ride-On remains in gel form and gently moves itself wherever needed to help balance the tire. You will never need weights or beads again. Got an especially sweet-looking custom set of wheels that you don't want to disturb with unsightly weights - Ride-On to the rescue. And when you remove the tire at the end of its life, the orange goop will stay right where it is. No mess unless you happen to run your fingers through it and even then it's just a simple shop-towel-clean-up.
Beyond this marvel of dynamic balancing, Ride-On has another function which also happens to be its primary function. It seals center-tread punctures instantly with zero loss of air pressure (or so little that it can not be measured on your tire gauge). It does have limits. it seals any hole up to 1/8 of an inch. Now you're probably thinking, "Well a lot of nails and other things on the road are easily 1/8 inch wide, so this isn't much help." Well, a 1/8 inch nail will not make a 1/8 inch hole in your tire. A puncture doesn't typically remove any rubber it just pushes existing rubber out of the way. When the nail is removed, that rubber will try to come back to where it was before. Sometimes a puncture is not even visible to the human eye. Air can still get out of that hole though, unless you're using Ride-On in that tire. Ride-On will instantly squeeze itself into the hole before any air escapes through it. It also clogs that hole and prevents any excess Ride-On from seeping out. Now, if you want to put an actual 1/8 inch hole in your tire, you're gonna want to use a drill with a 1/8 inch bit. This doesn't puncture or push its way through like a nail. It removes all of the rubber in that 1/8 hole - and guess what happens. If you do this without Ride-On in the tire, you will hear a long loud hissing until there is no more air pressure in that tire. If you do this with Ride-On in the tire, you will see a quick squirt of creamy orange goop come out with the drill bit and then you will see nothing else of note. Ride-On will have sealed it with almost no loss of air pressure, if any at all. I do not suggest doing this with a brand new tire, but I do suggest doing this. Do this with a tire that you are replacing at the end of its life and one that you have already applied Ride-On to. Check the pressure before you drill a hole in your tire (best to make sure it is at the same pressure that you normally fill it to for safe riding). Then drill a hole in your tire. As you remove the drill bit, you will see that quick squirt of Ride-On, then you will see and hear nothing. Check the air pressure. It may show a negligible loss of pressure for an actual 1/8 hole, but you just removed every bit of rubber that would have tried to help close that hole. Pound a nail in there now. Drive a drywall screw in there. Check the pressure again and pull those nails and screws out. You will not likely see a change of pressure at all in these cases. I can say this from experience because I did this after my first use of Ride-On. I was too curious to not test it on my own. Now this was bald tire with no real tread left on it and Ride-On still did its job. A puncture of a relatively new tire will perform even better because there is so much more tire rubber helping to squeeze any small puncture closed naturally.
Ride-On also saved me from a potential disaster on a fairly sketchy stretch of New England highway called Route 1. Following friends one night after work, I ran over a piece of aluminum flashing that was in the road. I was following too closely to the car in front of me and couldn't avoid the debris (because if you leave so much as a car's length of space between you and the car in front of you, some Masshole will fill that gap). I checked my tires when I got to my friends' house. I couldn't see anything at first, so I checked again in my garage the next day. I saw two nails in the front tire, but couldn't find any damage on the rear. One of the nails went in kind of sideways and didn't get into the hollow of the tire. The other one was in there though. I pulled it out with pliers and the hole was sealed up like it never happened. No noise or anything. I little bubble of Ride-On was the only indication of a hole. I rode on that tire until it was bald without another issue. That is what sold me on this stuff and why I put it in every tire now.
I do my own tire changes now and every new tire I put on my bike gets its customary dosage of Ride-On (two bottles for the rear and one for the front). I wouldn't want to ride without that peace of mind and I think you won't either. They make Ride-On for all kinds of vehicles, but when you've only got two tires, a flat or a blowout is a serious issue. I highly recommend Ride-On for your motorcycle tires. Whether it's just for a clean way to balance your tires or for the safety of instant puncture seals, you get both in one product.
Ride-On didn't sponsor this or give me anything to write this. I buy my own every time. I just really think this stuff is worth telling more people about. We should do everything we can to keep ourselves safe out there. Training will help you with the things you can control and Ride-On will help with some of the things you can't. I plan to make some available in my store in the future. Until then, you can find yours at the link below.
Safe rides, all.
