Tire wear & wear pattern

[mortenk]

Wow.....most would still keeping using that tire. Incredible mileage!

I know - during the dry season I may have left it on for another few thousand miles, but it's wet around here, and it was getting very close to the center wear indicator. The rest of the tire still has lots of wear left (I do a lot of freeway riding). I forgot to add that I fixed two nail punctures on this tire as well. One of them with an inside mushroom plus, and the other with a quick job from the outside only. That last one never was 100% airtight as I would have to inflate a few psi once a month, and I can now see that I missed a tiny piece of metal still lodged in the hole when I fixed it, so mystery solved!

Having said, it felt really nice to get back to a fresh and truly round tire - it makes the ride more enjoyable when leaning into corners etc. I often wonder how dark-siders feel about this - as they are missing out on the proper tire profile and all the joy we get from that . Cost of rear tire for me is 1.3 cents per mile = 50 cents per day, or $10/month for my commute...I could save $1/month by riding this tire another 3,000 miles just to put this in perspective...

 

[T_C]

Having said, it felt really nice to get back to a fresh and truly round tire - it makes the ride more enjoyable when leaning into corners etc. I often wonder how dark-siders feel about this - as they are missing out on the proper tire profile and all the joy we get from that . Cost of rear tire for me is 1.3 cents per mile = 50 cents per day, or $10/month for my commute...I could save $1/month by riding this tire another 3,000 miles just to put this in perspective...

For darkisdes we lean them just the same, just need a little more muscle to start the turn. Yep, with MT's you feel a little more nimble, but it's just a feeling.

With the latest round of tires, I'm at $0.003 , or 3/10 a cent per mile.

 

[mortenk]

For darkisdes we lean them just the same, just need a little more muscle to start the turn. Yep, with MT's you feel a little more nimble, but it's just a feeling.

With the latest round of tires, I'm at $0.003 , or 3/10 a cent per mile.

Interesting...how about cornering at higher speeds? I assume you have less road contact with a car tire as you lean? That should translate to less grip, which means take it easy during turns...I recognize that I'm kind of hijacking the thread here, so maybe I need to create a new one

 

[T_C]

I assume you have less road contact with a car tire as you lean?

Lot's of people think this, but the tire is pumped up to an air pressure and the amount of road contact will not change. The road has to push back just as hard to support the weight. We don't ride up on a square edge (as many people think) as we lean into it around a corner, the tire sidewall deforms and we roll over and stick to more front and back . It takes a little more effort to start this happening but as you get used to it it just becomes the new normal.

Generally, most car tires on bikes are run at lower pressure when on a bike, ie I run my GYTT at 32psi. If you are running your ST1300 at stock 42 psi then I have to have 31.25% more rubber touching the road to support the same amount of bike above it.