Manfred
Stuart Brogden
I posted this by error in the NT1000 sub-forum. I don't have one of those. This is the front tire on my NT700 - a Road Smart IV with 15,350 miles. Seems to me it has a bit of life yet in it. What say ye?
Front Tire Wear
- Thread starter Manfred
- Start date
I've never had a bike get as good life out of tires as the NT. I haven't run the 4s but people report good mileage out of them. Those look great. I burnt through a RS3 in 3k miles on the back of a 1050 vstrom, and I doubt that the front would have made 5k miles. I did ride that bike pretty hard though.
JQL
Growing old disgracefully
I'm currently running the Dunlop Road Smart IV GT on my FJR1300. The front is giving me about the average mileage and certainly the same as the Michelin Road 5 GT did. The rear is amazing. It is going to give me about double the average and certainly twice as long as the Michelin Road 5 GT.
I rather like the Dunlops as they have a more sportier feel and have excellent grip in the dry. They are also more stable on loose material. The downside is they aren't quite as good as the Michelin in the wet and can get a bit squirrelly in the wet on roundabouts and sharper corners.
I will continue to use them as I very rarely ride in the rain these days. Having reached 70, and being retired, I can choose when to ride or not to ride...
I rather like the Dunlops as they have a more sportier feel and have excellent grip in the dry. They are also more stable on loose material. The downside is they aren't quite as good as the Michelin in the wet and can get a bit squirrelly in the wet on roundabouts and sharper corners.
I will continue to use them as I very rarely ride in the rain these days. Having reached 70, and being retired, I can choose when to ride or not to ride...
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Manfred
Stuart Brogden
Mellow
Admin
Is it even English...sounds Scottish...Rain..
I would say that is about the best milage you could get out of that tire. How did you do that?
When I was running GoldWing tires on my Kawasaki C10, I got 12,000 miles which was excellent.
I am running BattleAxes on my Vtrom. I carry 75 pounds of garbage and we have 80 mph speed limits here but the current pair has lasted 6,000 mi. Right before this last 1500 mile trip. The Rear had .223 in before the wear bar. I will certainly take another trip on them. The OEM Battle Axes lasted 11,500. By the way, I left on this trip with the chain adjusted to 1 in, Push down and pull up. When I got home, it was closer to 1.25. I turned the adjuster screws 45 degrees and it came right back. If you can set the throttle lock or take your hands off the bars at 45-55 and no wobble, you are golden.
My 550 lb VFR and my 780 lb FJR take the same tires. Guess which bike gets higher tire milage?
Ah! I remember now! Had a bit of rain in Wyoming! Water falling from Sky.
Rain in Spokane...? We had a wee bit in June. Its waiting till I ride to the Cascades in two weeks.
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Manfred
Stuart Brogden
I dunno. On my old Sabre 700, I got over 17,000 miles on a Shinko front tire. It still had tread but suffered belt separation.
Bikes of yesteryear (after they went to Tubeless, of course, ) tended to be lighter. Even my 1983 Goldwing didnt have all the tupperware on it. 80 mph speedlimits were rarer.
From 1974-1987, we had a 55 mph national speed limit (raise your hand if you obeyed that....lier....
) From 1987 to 1995, the limit was raised to 65...raise your hand if you obeyed that
21 years of good tire wear.
With all due respect, if you had belt separation, your tire did not last 17,000.
The Sabre was a great bike...but I was happy with my choice of the Yamaha 650 seca.
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Manfred
Stuart Brogden
The belt separated after 17,400 miles.Bikes of yesteryear (after they went to Tubeless, of course, ) tended to be lighter. Even my 1983 Goldwing didnt have all the tupperware on it. 80 mph speedlimits were rarer.
From 1974-1987, we had a 55 mph national speed limit (raise your hand if you obeyed that....lier....
From 1987 to 1995, the limit was raised to 65...raise your hand if you obeyed that
21 years of good tire wear.
With all due respect, if you had belt separation, your tire did not last 17,000.
The Sabre was a great bike...but I was happy with my choice of the Yamaha 650 seca.
Exactly. Do you want to fly on a commerical airliner with less than 10 percent of its exteame life on the tires?
I dont.
Replacement should never be due to money. False economy.
We had a forum member years ago who had a small leak on his NT tire. The kind where its hard to feel or see whent he tire gets to half full.
The tire started to destroy itself from the insides due to the excessive heat made.
A wise man once said, "Your life is riding on your tires."
When in doubt, throw it out.
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Manfred
Stuart Brogden
There was no evidence of problem with the tire until one day, I felt and saw something. At that time, I parked it, transported it on a trailer and put new tire on it.
JQL
Growing old disgracefully
Best mileage out of a tyre?
On the NT700 I would usually get over 24,000 km out of the rear and over 28,000 km out of the front. For those that don't use Napoleon
that's 15,000 - 16,000 miles rear and 17,500 - 18,000 miles front. This was on Michelin Road Pilot 3.
As an aside, I would get half that out of the brake pads as I was commuting!
On the NT700 I would usually get over 24,000 km out of the rear and over 28,000 km out of the front. For those that don't use Napoleon
that's 15,000 - 16,000 miles rear and 17,500 - 18,000 miles front. This was on Michelin Road Pilot 3.As an aside, I would get half that out of the brake pads as I was commuting!
It looks like it has life from the picture, but for me the only test is whether any of the wear marks are even with the tread. If any are, I replace. I consider myself pretty conservative on this though, so YMMV.
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Manfred
Stuart Brogden
That's why I posted - I don't see any wear bars. I've run bias ply tires on previous bikes and have had trouble seeing wear bars on radials.
That's impressive . Do you have 80 mph speed limits and 100 degree days? I saw the heat wave on the telly....Best mileage out of a tyre?
On the NT700 I would usually get over 24,000 km out of the rear and over 28,000 km out of the front. For those that don't use Napoleon
As an aside, I would get half that out of the brake pads as I was commuting!
Wear bars drive me crazy....Just finding them can be a challage. And legal motorcycle tire tread depth is different from state to state. Mellow proved to me that tires wear faster the farther down they get to being worn out, which is counter intuitive.
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Manfred
Stuart Brogden
Texas requires 2/32 inch depth on motorcycle tires. I shall measure mine today.
In the picture, your wear bars appear to be in the third tread up from the bottom, (EDIT: bottommost fully visible) They should be in all treads all the way across. The two I can see have a good lip on them.
EDIT: There should also be a triangle in the sidewall, with the apex pointed to the wear line.
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