I notice that my front tire is wearing unevenly. It is wearing out on one side only. How is that possible? I am I riding crooked? My wife always told my I was a little off balance
Uneven front tire wear
- Thread starter BigBrownsFan
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2007
- Messages
- 1,323
- Age
- 62
- Location
- Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Bike
- 1&2&3-2005 ST1300ABS
Motorcycle tires normally wear out faster on the left side in North America. In the UK, they wear out faster on the right side. Our left hand turns are longer than our right hand turns. There are a few other factors, crown in the road and the side we drive on the road. UK drivers drive on the opposite side.
IMHO, the vast majority of that wear (assuming the front suspension is in good condition) is due to the fact that left turns are much longer than right turns for those that ride on the right side of the road, especially when you have a multi-lane divided road. Basically, one side has more miles on it than the other. See this for more info... http://www.rattlebars.com/tirewear/index.html
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I have no explanation as to the WHY of this, but I remember, from many years ago, when taking a course to become a M/C instructor, we were told that most riders feel more comfortable performing left hand turns than right. I know myself that I can be much more aggressive in taking on a sharp left hand curve than a right. There could be many reasons for this, one being greater visibility around the bend by moving nearer the shoulder, as opposed to moving nearer the centre line in a right hander. If we are taking those left handers more aggressively, it stands to reason the forces involved on the tire would be greater, thus greater tire wear on the left side.
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I have the exact same thing and STgolfer and I were discussing it at FL-STOC a couple of days ago. Thanks for the explanation, guys. Makes perfect sense to me. And I'm just the opposite in that I'm a bit more aggressive taking right hand curves. LOL
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Kevin_56
Site Supporter
Bill, just reverse your route and wear out the other half. Just watch out for traffic.
I have not seen that kind of wear on a front tire, but have on the rear. Left side wears more than the right. All of the above ideas seems logical to me.
Throttlejockey
Padden is my hero
Mine always wear even.
Oops! I should've read more thoroughly - that was a rear. My fronts have always worn pretty evenly, except I wear out the sides first on some, the middle first on others.
I was just inspecting my tires and was concerned about the uneven front tire wear and thought I'd do a search on it. Glad I did! Now I feel much better. The explanation makes perfect since now that I think about it. Mine is wearing on the left side also. You guys are always making me feel better about something. Thanks!
I used to load my left saddlebag a bit more to alleviate some of the crown influence, but tires wear out so quickly on the chip seal here it really doesn't matter.
ST1100Y
Site Supporter
Received the same info during driving school and numerous safety trainings...
On the brain-processing being being left- or right-handed is a contributing factor (every individual has a "favourite" side where he/she is more confident with steep leaning angles), on the aspect of road layout the wide view distance in LHS turns vs a mostly obstructed view in RHS ones (grass, shrubbery, embankments, etc...), plus that there more chances of debris being drawn out from the right shoulder onto the tarmac by careless drivers.
The crest or road crown seems negligible in the wear pattern of motorcycle tires (whilst it is a significant factor on the corrosion of cars... water/brine being drained to the RHS, thus way more rust and brake wear on this side...)
Same here on the overall wear pattern, but I do seem to lean marginally farer in LHS turns as in RH ones (see reasons above)... the "chicken strip" lines/edges vary like 2mm between left and right... doesn't seem much but peg feelers and boot soles at the left suffer significantly more, then on the right side ;-)Mine always wear even.
Participating Motorcycle Safety Trainings will increase confidence in turns, balancing any impediment in leaning angles at ones "weak side", but there still the issues with obstructed view and contaminated road surface in right turns...