What Are Chicken-Strips on Motorcycle Tires?
Berts Mega Mall | Powersports Hub
What are Chicken-Strips on Motorcycle Tires?
In every hobby, there are those who spend time critiquing some of the silliest things. In the motorcycle riding scene, there are riders who may comment on your skill of riding based on what your tires look like. They are basing it off of these things called “Chicken Strips”. Before we go more into detail, the presence of Chicken Strips is totally expected and normal.
We’ll go over, what they are, what can cause them, what you can do to avoid them, and a few other things!
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What Are Chicken Strips?
Chicken Strips on a motorcycle are the unused outer part of your tires. Chicken strips typically occur or are mainly noticed on sport bikes. You can notice them a little more because they will still look fairly new compared to the center part of your tire. They are called Chicken Strip because it is said the rider is too “chicken” to lean the bike over and they are always sitting up straight.
What Can Cause Chicken Strips?
Chicken Strips vary on the style of riding the rider has. Riding speed, suspension type, and the type of road surface you are commonly on all play into whether your bike develops Chicken Strips or not. It is also said that riders that are not confident in their leaning have severe Chicken Strips because their bike never gets too deep into a turn. Chicken strips can appear on a new and freshly changed tire. When breaking in a new tire you don’t want to lean in too deeply anyway so you might notice them a little more then.
Don’t Let Anyone Get You Down.
If another rider gives you a hard time or nudges you about your tires having chicken strips, don’t sweat it. Calling someone out on their tires chicken strips is just pointless shaming and unfair to use against others. Sometimes you cannot really do anything about them anyway, just ride in whatever way makes you comfortable and have fun. Determining who is a better or more experienced rider should never be determined by what your tires look like.
How to Avoid Having Chicken Strips on Your Bike?
The easy answer to ridding your bike of Chicken Strips is to lean in deep into every corner you turn into, but that may not be the best option if you feel uncomfortable doing so. Leaning deep does not guarantee them going away so just test the waters with what you’re confident in doing. You can also try changing the speeds you are riding at and adjusting your suspension, but there is no guarantee. One last method we have heard riders resort to is sanding them the way. We do not recommend using this extreme measure as it can result in permanent damage to your tires if not done very carefully, but it is still a method that others have used.
Front Tire Chicken Strips?
Front tire Chicken Strips are never really judged on a normal sport bike. The only time a front tire may have no chicken strips is when it is being raced at a sport bike track. Chicken strips are more associated with the rear tire. If you have a rear end that sits a little higher you will use more of the front tire. You can make these adjustments to your liking, but an ideal set up on a bike will hit the edge of both tires at the same time giving you the absolute maximum lean angle.
Conclusion:
So in conclusion Chicken Strips are inevitable in most rider’s life. While there will always be that “one” person who goes around and checks everyone's tire for chicken strip, just brush it off. As we mentioned there are a couple of things you can do to try and get rid of them but do not ever put yourself in an unwanted and dangerous situation to eliminate the strip of rubber. They are more common than uncommon and as you ride more often they are sure to disappear or look a little more worn down. No matter what enjoy your motorcycle and happy riding!
Related:
-What to Know Before Your First Motorcycle Track Day
-How to Drag Your Knee on a Sportbike
-How to Master a Wheelie on a Sportbike
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