I had a new tire put on the rear wheel of the EX500 today. My fiance is still in the first 1000 miles of riding, so I did not want to throw a new tire at her this soon, but it was down to the wear bars.
I decided to try to wash the mold release off, so I put it in the sink and made a bowl of steaming hot and very soapy water, about 2 cups of water with an ounce of Dawn in it. I put on dishwashing gloved and dipped a scotchbrite pad in the water, and proceeded to scrub the tire down.
I then rinsed it off with very hot water. I toweled it off and let it sit in the sun to dry off. After it was dry, it had no mold release left, only soft rubber. I took it for a ride and had none of that usual squirmy feel. I took the corners easily at first, then gradually got it down past my usual "normal" cornering. "Normal" as opposed to "spirited."
I was not able to make myself corner as low as I have before(about an 1/8" of chicken stripes were left on the old tire), but from what I understand, the tire still needs to be heat cycled a few times to give maximum traction, and I figured that it was doing well enough to handle better than normal riding conditions on a zero mile tire.
When I got back, there was no sign that the tire had scuffed in during the ride. It looked the same as after washing, so I guess it really did get the mold release off.
I decided to try to wash the mold release off, so I put it in the sink and made a bowl of steaming hot and very soapy water, about 2 cups of water with an ounce of Dawn in it. I put on dishwashing gloved and dipped a scotchbrite pad in the water, and proceeded to scrub the tire down.
I then rinsed it off with very hot water. I toweled it off and let it sit in the sun to dry off. After it was dry, it had no mold release left, only soft rubber. I took it for a ride and had none of that usual squirmy feel. I took the corners easily at first, then gradually got it down past my usual "normal" cornering. "Normal" as opposed to "spirited."
I was not able to make myself corner as low as I have before(about an 1/8" of chicken stripes were left on the old tire), but from what I understand, the tire still needs to be heat cycled a few times to give maximum traction, and I figured that it was doing well enough to handle better than normal riding conditions on a zero mile tire.
When I got back, there was no sign that the tire had scuffed in during the ride. It looked the same as after washing, so I guess it really did get the mold release off.