Rear tyre wear....

Mileage on most, but not all rear motorcycle type tyres vary somewhat from 4-6000 miles.
I now use the Conti TK17 on the rear, (Avon, Dunlop on front) but it only come in 18 & 16 inch sizes. These last up to …..15,000 miles, you rear it right, Despatch riders love them.

Aires and crew, it would help to define what state of wear is considered worn out by you'all. Racers toss em out after edges over heated and scrubbed off or melted with globs, yet center almost pristine. I considered them worn out when can't trust to hold air over 20 miles or cords showing so more puncture prone to THE Grit. If I changed tires when center grooves gone they'd only last 2000 miles if that. I really do have to pay attention constantly how I ride or would be spending on tires about monthly, in nice seasons. So I really only ever give er much gas except in leans, so yes I tend to relax and coast and lazy weave on the straights where every one else seems to be most nailing it on.
May you all use up even more tires than me a long long time eh.

OK what's the survey on longest lasting tire regardless of condition and sporting glee's? One dual tread long lasting hard 160 Dunlop tire I tired on SV650 was absolutely freaking dangerous on or off road. Did a search to see others being taken down on it too so replaced while still essentially new,ugh. I tired to use it up but was so hindering i gave up about half way through it and shop I took it too made me do a burn out for minutes before it popped and cheering from onlookers in city area. Yet similar tire on Ms Peel allowed the wildest harshest flings I've ever done in my life, yet lasted to use on Trixie break in till tube blow out made me ride it home 6 miles on THE Grit. Its still got decent grooves so didn't toss out yet but pensive I've destroyed its cords and might blow out again at speed, ugh.

The old Avon Safety Mileage gets ridiculously high mileage with its near square profile and deep tread depth. A horrible tire for cornering grip but a great tyre back in the day when a UK motorcycle was used as economical daily transport. A bike with a Safety Mileage on the back could sneak home in a bit of winter snow or deal with mud in a farm yard, and the seem to last forever.

I dont know how far because the only one Ive had came to me on the bike, hard as a rock, lots of tread, scary to go around corners on.
It got turfed.

Glen

Reading some of the replies It made me realise how small the UK is! I can go coast to coast in a day and be back home in time for a cuppa , you lads in the US will turn a coast to coast ride into a week long jaunt and would probably get through a set of tyres easily! so now I understand the laid back attitude to tyre wear compared to us over the pond. But I think the UK roads are superb for a bit of scratching If you stay off the motorways and I could probably get about 4-5 thou out of a TT100 on the Commando and also a T160, its about the same for the modern tyres on my Triumph Sprint, all depending on how many punctures I get but the old Avon Speedmasters on my Beezas lasted forever!

Excellent video Glen hope you enjoyed the UK

JimC said:

Where do you find that many curves in Florida? Track days, maybe? Pounding down the slab isn't conducive to long tire wear.

Click to expand...

One might think that, Jimbo...but living on the "left"coast of Florida (St. Pete / Tampa area) there's plenty of curves and twisties about 45 minutes north of us in the Dade City, Brooksville, Floral City "triangle" north of us...take a look via "Google Maps" and you'll see what I mean. Theres' a HESS gas station up in Brooksville that regularly has 100 - 200 smokin' bikes assembled on any given weekend...Nortons, BSA's, Guzzi's, Trumps, Ducati's, Bimota's, Kaw 500's, etc. along with the expected assemblage of tricked-out JAP bikes in attendance. Everyone converges on this part of the state for just this reason...perfect, agressive, sport-biking roads....a well-kept secret from the rest of the state & country. I think some of my mileage claims might be referenced back to the state's Dept. of Transportation (FDOT) that has very specific criteria regarding pavement design and employs advanced asphalt mixes that result in a smoother surface, less noise, etc....which ='s less wear & tear.

I'm watching you Glen, you done and know neat stuff I don't. Saftey Mikeage huh. I'm torn between being a joy riding kid or a commuting sensor. Some big powerful sport tour bikers run true sports car tires and love em, getting like 30-40,000 miles and handling pretty dam good in corners and bad or wet condtions. Videos of them dicing The Dragon or parking lot chicanes and plenty enough to have good time on, a long time cheaply too. If I lived in Fla might be the best tire as most corners sharp 90' intersections. I wonder if this Safety Mileage might be fine for me, will be restless till I try it. Maybe a new one wouldn't be so hard/harsh? None in our size but if I ever do a Chopper it'll have a sport car tire on rear.

If only...
http://lifeisaroad.com/stories/2004/10/ ... kSide.html

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0ztsRPJmVI[/video]


One of the various spares I have on hand is another rear wheel so while one being used up I can re-do the other and a tire so short down time in riding seasons. I think I'd like used race tires in our size, but hard to come by as racers tend to use em up on their own street bikes. Usually 1/3 cost of new yet easy 3/4's street life left in them. At that price its easier to play like ya leaving black strips through apexes or rooster tail ruts in THE Gravel.

The neatest safest thing about very soft race tires is they grip THE Gravel holding/using it like claws to scratch against the other Gravel plus gets slung out back better for the ballistic thrust, which I grantee is definite help felt when loose enough on THE Gravel. Slicks work best of all as texture and grooves merely roll on top and so only trust is the jet spray which ain't as much as a nice fuzzy surfaced slick that retains stones embedded while still cold and then so hot on tramac returns it grips stones deeper but fling them free instead of rubbing off between fender to sound like bendch grinder gone wild.
If race tires also better on tarmac that's pure icing on just making it there and back. Saftest easiest way to cross THE Gravel is to stay just short of drifting so does drift automatically in kind of self recovery of fall down that ends up pointing where ya wanted too. This grinds tires a bit less than creeping along as hops over-misses about 1/3 THE Grit and requires least power to keep up the pace. Usually 35-45 mph. Even taking it easy I've felt tires, they get on warm side and all fuzzy with a bizzillion cuts up to 1/16" deep. They are tarmac wear eager by then.

Car Tire - YEP!
I just took this one off of my Valkyrie last week,
Goodyear TripleTred with 33,117 miles - (yes that's right.....33 thousand miles)

Hobot, I see Avon still offers the Safety Mileage in a few sizes so there must be some demand. If you are not doing an impersonation of Nicky Hayden on every corner, like the guys in our club seem to, they are probably fine.

Cheshire Bloke, we enjoyed everything about England, hope to do a repeat trip soon. I'd go the same way, ship the bike over and tour for a month.
Nice people,much better drivers than at home, beautiful A and B roads, good food and even the weather was near perfect. Just 3 hours of riding in the rain in one month of daily touring.

Here is a shot taken somewhere in the Dales:

Mark a nice surprise to be shown a cycle used up car tire. Interesting how well its worn and where. Oh well must put that solution out of my Norton mind set, unless its a chopper of course. I've both 19" and 18" rear wheels on hand.

Hm, found data on Safety Mileage, hm kind a flat tracker utilitarian tread. Likely its the sidecar market that keeps em available, oh yeah and Harley die hards.

http://www.avontyres.com/node/3314
http://www.jpcycles.com/product/ZZ21248 ... tgodalmIxA
http://compare.ebay.com/like/3705902884 ... s&var=sbar




Part of the lie I told both myself and my wife to get my 1st Combat in '99 was the economy factor, heheheheheheheehehheehe,ugh. But now gas will be like liquid gold, it could work out comutting like golden days. Two chains rotated in graphite grease and two tires on hand one in use the other in waiting, hehe and waiting and waiting I wish.