Back in August, I started this thread on front tire wear.
https://www.st-owners.com/forums/threads/front-tire-wear.181392/
This is a follow-up to that post. I had noticed more wear on the left side of my high-mileage front tire than on the right side. Early on, speaking to Igofar, he asked if my bike pulled in one direction or another. In fact, my bike tended to pull right at highway speeds if I lifted my hands from the bars with the throttle lock engaged. He suggested I check my fork alignment to see if the front axle was binding and by gosh, it was. I made an adjustment to the right fork height so that when the axel was inserted between the forks with no tire or fender installed, I could easily slip the axel in and rotate it between my fingers with no binding.
He also said he had been having good luck with Shinko 011 Verge tires, so I ordered one of those for the front replacement. Once installed, I went for a ride and tested whether the bike still pulled right at highway speed. That issue was much improved. At 65 mph I could lift my hands from the bars and stay straight with a bit of body English if needed. However, when the bike slowed to the 40-50 mph range, there was noticeable head shake when I lifted my hands. This was something new with this tire that had not occurred previously.
Consulting with Igofar, he thought the front tire may not have seated properly when inflated so I pulled the tire, broke the bead, and inflated it again. The same issue occurred. In fact, I did this once more with the same result. I double-checked that my wheel bearings were good, the tire was properly balanced, and, that my torque values were correct on the brake calipers and axel. I decided to ride it for a while and see if it got any better with some miles on the tire.
It didn’t. I put 1,400 miles on the Shinko, and it only got worse. I had about 10,000 on my rear tire so I decided to buy a set both front and rear on the off chance the Shinko was simply a bad tire. I ordered a set of Bridgestone Battlax T32 GT’s. I installed the new tires today. I put the rear tire on first and went for a test ride. It still had the head shake at 40-50 mph. Then I installed the front and tested it. Full joy!! The bike had no head shake at any speed and went straight when lifting my hands from the bars. I was a vast improvement. I’m glad it turned out to be a bad tire as I was thinking about getting a different bike if I couldn’t fix it.
https://www.st-owners.com/forums/threads/front-tire-wear.181392/
This is a follow-up to that post. I had noticed more wear on the left side of my high-mileage front tire than on the right side. Early on, speaking to Igofar, he asked if my bike pulled in one direction or another. In fact, my bike tended to pull right at highway speeds if I lifted my hands from the bars with the throttle lock engaged. He suggested I check my fork alignment to see if the front axle was binding and by gosh, it was. I made an adjustment to the right fork height so that when the axel was inserted between the forks with no tire or fender installed, I could easily slip the axel in and rotate it between my fingers with no binding.
He also said he had been having good luck with Shinko 011 Verge tires, so I ordered one of those for the front replacement. Once installed, I went for a ride and tested whether the bike still pulled right at highway speed. That issue was much improved. At 65 mph I could lift my hands from the bars and stay straight with a bit of body English if needed. However, when the bike slowed to the 40-50 mph range, there was noticeable head shake when I lifted my hands. This was something new with this tire that had not occurred previously.
Consulting with Igofar, he thought the front tire may not have seated properly when inflated so I pulled the tire, broke the bead, and inflated it again. The same issue occurred. In fact, I did this once more with the same result. I double-checked that my wheel bearings were good, the tire was properly balanced, and, that my torque values were correct on the brake calipers and axel. I decided to ride it for a while and see if it got any better with some miles on the tire.
It didn’t. I put 1,400 miles on the Shinko, and it only got worse. I had about 10,000 on my rear tire so I decided to buy a set both front and rear on the off chance the Shinko was simply a bad tire. I ordered a set of Bridgestone Battlax T32 GT’s. I installed the new tires today. I put the rear tire on first and went for a test ride. It still had the head shake at 40-50 mph. Then I installed the front and tested it. Full joy!! The bike had no head shake at any speed and went straight when lifting my hands from the bars. I was a vast improvement. I’m glad it turned out to be a bad tire as I was thinking about getting a different bike if I couldn’t fix it.
, Upt'North.
