Tire wear

[the Ferret]

After this last trip I am at 6200 miles on my oem Dunlops. This morning I used a tire tread depth gauge to measure how much trad is left on the tires. Front measures 3/32" rear 5/32". Normal replacement for me is 2/32", so I have 1/32" left of front and 3/32" on rear to go... Figure maybe 8000 miles front and rear, or about 1 season on this bike. Thats about what I got out of the Dunlop 205 s on my 750 Nighthawk if I remember right.

Better start looking into getting some new rubber.

Wonder how many miles Randy B has on his rear Bridgestone now?

 

[Randy B]

I'm somewhere between 11,500 and 12,000 on the rear.

 

[the Ferret]

Front tire. 110/80ZR-18 Bridgestone BT-54
Rear tire 140/70ZR-18 Bridgestone BT-54

 

[Oboro_imp]

I'm not too crazy about these Bridgestones. They don't feel as sticky as the Pilot Road 3s on my XR. I think I'm gonna opt for the Pirelli Sport Demons when the time comes to change.

 

[the Ferret]

The Pirelli Sport Demons are a bias ply tire are they not? Our bike calls for radials. Not sure what the difference is or if that would make it handle funny. According to what Ive read Honda spent a lot of time and research matching these particular tires to this bike.

I must admit though other than this bike and my Nighthawk 750 which also took a weird sized tire, I have basically only used Michelins on all my motorcycles, cars and trucks for the last 20 years. Wish Michelin made tires in the right sizes for this bike.

 

[flynrider]

That's the second post I've seen about front tires wearing faster than the rear. That strikes me as odd. I've had a lot of bikes over the years and all of them would wear out the rear tire faster. Seems logical, since the rear tire is almost always under power.

My CB750 gets about 10K miles out of a rear tire and 12-13K out of the front. Same with my older Yammies and Kaw bikes.

Anyone else find this surprising?
That's the second post I've seen about front tires wearing faster than the rear. That strikes me as odd. I've had a lot of bikes over the years and all of them would wear out the rear tire faster. Seems logical, since the rear tire is almost always under power.

My CB750 gets about 10K miles out of a rear tire and 12-13K out of the front. Same with my older Yammies and Kaw bikes.

Anyone else find this surprising?

 

[the Ferret]

Front tires start out with less rubber. According to Bridgestone, their front tires start out with 4/32 tread and rears with 9/32. If that is true with the Dunlops as well in 6200 miles I have used up 1/32 on the front and 4/32 on the rear, so the rear is wearing faster than the front.

Total Motorcycle Tire/Tyre Guide - Bridgestone BT54

 

[The Spaceman_imp]

The Pirelli Sport Demons are a bias ply tire are they not? Our bike calls for radials. Not sure what the difference is or if that would make it handle funny. According to what Ive read Honda spent a lot of time and research matching these particular tires to this bike.

I must admit though other than this bike and my Nighthawk 750 which also took a weird sized tire, I have basically only used Michelins on all my motorcycles, cars and trucks for the last 20 years. Wish Michelin made tires in the right sizes for this bike.

This info matches a recent article I read in one of the moto-journals about how bike and tire manufacturers work closely with each other to get the best possible results from both products. They conduct joint testing, and bike and tire components are "tuned" until they have the right combination on both sides.

Even more interesting: tire makers will build "special editions" of tires that are specifically for a certain bike. You might go and buy the same make, model, and size of a tire at Cycle Gear as what came with your bike, but there are other indicators such as a product code stamped on the tire that indicate that it was made for a specific bike/vehicle.

Personally I'm not fanatical enough about it (or rich enough to spend the money) to go buy OEM tires at the Honda dealer. Selecting one of the two options presented in the Owner's Manual from an online vendor or Cycle Gear is close enough for my purposes.

However, I would never install a bias-ply tire on a bike designed to use radials, or vice-versa. Nor would I install different tire sizes, even if they seemed to fit. I like my skin too much to risk even a small chance of scraping it off with asphalt.

Honda spent a lot of time and effort designing and creating specifications for my bike, and I really doubt I, or some guy in a local shop, can do a better job of it than they did.

 

[The Spaceman_imp]

The link to the Michelin article didn't work on my mobile. I'll try it again at home, it sounds interesting

On the VStrom forum there was a "Darkside" thread that extolled the benefits of using CAR TIRES on the bikes. I cuss you not, they put passenger car tires on their motorcycles. They had endless anecdotal information about mileage, handling, braking, wet grip, which brands and sizes to use, etc. I guess if that argument can be made, there's not much that can't be argued.

Yeah I'm very conservative when it comes to the bike. Maybe its because I know what skin debriedment feels like.

 

[The Spaceman_imp]

Don't get me wrong; I doubt putting bias-ply tires on a bike that came with radials caused anybody to crash in and of itself. As ferret said, it probably just feels "different." Could it make a difference in a panic maneuver? I don't know, but if it did, it would (again, probably) be a very minor difference.

The truth is more riders are going to crash because their tires are worn, are brand-new and still have the mold wax, are under/over inflated, or are not the right model choice to begin with (like running knobbies on wet pavement) than because they picked tire model "A" over "B".

What would be the advantage of bias-ply over radials? Cost? I wouldn't think they'd have better performance; seems like if they did, more bikes would come with them. Radials cost more to produce, and we know manufacturers like to cut costs anywhere they can.

 

[Gypped_imp]

The link to the Michelin article didn't work on my mobile. I'll try it again at home, it sounds interesting

On the VStrom forum there was a "Darkside" thread that extolled the benefits of using CAR TIRES on the bikes. I cuss you not, they put passenger car tires on their motorcycles. They had endless anecdotal information about mileage, handling, braking, wet grip, which brands and sizes to use, etc. I guess if that argument can be made, there's not much that can't be argued.

Yeah I'm very conservative when it comes to the bike. Maybe its because I know what skin debriedment feels like.

Going "darkside" is nothing new. There is a ton of people that yak about it, especially on cruiser forums. I know it's also commonly done on Goldwings. And what kind of tires do you imagine people used for the first 40 or 50 years motorcycles existed?

Personally I always use motorcycle tires, but I like to pretend I'm going to take a turn at speed at some point.

 

[The Spaceman_imp]

The link to the Michelin article didn't work on my mobile. I'll try it again at home, it sounds interesting

On the VStrom forum there was a "Darkside" thread that extolled the benefits of using CAR TIRES on the bikes. I cuss you not, they put passenger car tires on their motorcycles. They had endless anecdotal information about mileage, handling, braking, wet grip, which brands and sizes to use, etc. I guess if that argument can be made, there's not much that can't be argued.

Yeah I'm very conservative when it comes to the bike. Maybe its because I know what skin debriedment feels like.

Going "darkside" is nothing new. There is a ton of people that yak about it, especially on cruiser forums. I know it's also commonly done on Goldwings. And what kind of tires do you imagine people used for the first 40 or 50 years motorcycles existed?

Personally I always use motorcycle tires, but I like to pretend I'm going to take a turn at speed at some point.

The fact that something has been done for a while, or that it's "common," doesn't make it a good idea. Crack and meth addicts have been around in large numbers for decades.

Initially motorcyclists rode on bicycle tires; logical enough given the first motorcycles were bicycles with engines installed. However, that doesn't make me want to go look for beach-cruiser tires that fit my CB.

 

[The Spaceman_imp]

Ever since the "Darkside" threads started on the VStrom forum, I've wondered what an insurance adjuster would say if he came to assess a crash claim and found a car tire on the bike? Especially if it were a one-vehicle accident.

 

[wildezt_imp]

The Pirelli Sport Demons are a bias ply tire are they not? Our bike calls for radials. Not sure what the difference is or if that would make it handle funny. According to what Ive read Honda spent a lot of time and research matching these particular tires to this bike.

I must admit though other than this bike and my Nighthawk 750 which also took a weird sized tire, I have basically only used Michelins on all my motorcycles, cars and trucks for the last 20 years. Wish Michelin made tires in the right sizes for this bike.

i guess there is Michelin Commander 2 in Radials for 150 /70 -18 ..don't know whether its compatible for the CB..

 

[The Spaceman_imp]

Every OnStar equipped vehicle is producing data that prosecutors can subpoena on vehicle speed, location, etc. It was used to convict a college student who drove his parent's Escalade into Jacksonville Stadium and cut a bunch of donuts on the field. I'm certain a LOT of vehicles have data recorders as well that aren't widely mentioned.

However, the thing that really bugs me is Progressive's new spy-bot they're promoting on TV. It's "only for giving discounts" now, but I'll bet in 5 years you won't be able to buy car or bike insurance without agreeing to having one installed on your vehicle. Of course, the insurance rates will drop dramatically once we do agree, just like they did when seat belts were legally required, crash-proof bumpers were mandated, ABS and airbags became widespread, etc.

I hate the insurance industry with a passion. Vehicle, health, homeowner, life, business. They can all go hagafuku themselves.

 

[Randy B]

i guess there is Michelin Commander 2 in Radials for 150 /70 -18 ..don't know whether its compatible for the CB.. Should work but no Michelin front in that same type. I just looked it up and voila, the Pilot Road is available for the front in the correct size. That's a perfect tire for the CB1100, W-rated (168 mph sustained speeds), sticky, long-lasting, and would likely be a very good match with the Commander II. You always want the stickier tire up front, and they are both radials. Someone was wanting to switch to Michelins; this might be the ticket, but of course check with Michelin first. The Commander II is H-rated (130 mph maximum sustained speed) so I can't see any issue there unless someone unplugs the speed sensor (the bike is ECU limited to 112 mph as most of us know).
Speed rating is a misnomer. Those ratings should be called handling ratings more than speed ratings because they effect the handling characteristics more than anything. Yes they do tell you how fast you can "safely" take the tire up to, but there is a lot more to it than that.
I'm not going to get into the specifics of tire construction, but suffice it to say it's a BAD idea to mix and match speed ratings because it WILL intorduce unpredictable handling characteristics into the vehicle.
This is true in vehicles with 4 wheels, but even more true with vehicles on 2 wheels.

 

[Randy B]

I sold tires for years and had many classes on what the "speed rating" means. Trust me when I tell you that it's a whole lot more complicated that just how fast you can safely run a particular tire.
All I'm saying is don't mix and match ratings. If you run an H rated tire on the front, then run the same H rating on the rear. Same with any rating because the handling will be off and the faster you go the more unpredictable it will be.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

I'm somewhere between 11,500 and 12,000 on the rear.

I appear to be in that range too (miles) for the rear OEM.

 

[jimgl3_imp]

Ferrett, I had Dunlop OEM, sport demons, and Metzeler Z8's. I liked the sport demons best. Plan to go back to them.