Is centre wear normal in S10 rear tires?

[Tenerester]

Is center wear normal on all S10 rear tires or is it just mine? The factory battlewings started wearing flat in the center strip around 5000kms and continued for another 15K kms while the shoulders were in tact. I thought it was a flaw in Battlewings. But I have switched to Metzler Tourance Next tires since then and they also seem to wear flat in the center. This is my third set of tires and the wear pattern hasn't changed. I mostly ride twisties and canyons and rarely ride straight highways. Anything I should be concerned about?

 

[Ron Earp]

I suspect if you objectively evaluated your usage you'd find that you do more distance/commuting mileage hence the centers wearing at higer rate than the side. I've used Battlewings before and for sure they are not softer in the center or wear faster in the center. My Tourances wear in a similar pattern because I simply travel many more miles on the center of the tire than I do on the sides. I wish it were different, I ride as much as I can leaned over, but unless most of your miles are on a short, tight, loop or track environment the center is going to get the most wear.

 

[Nimbus]

Ha ha ha is this the first time you noticed this? Unless you live in the mountains, you'll almost never wear a tire evenly across the tread. I ride quite hard and the rears always "square off" at some point. I only really notice it when the tires are nearly at the cords which is where my current PR4 is after nearly 10K miles. When you lose the nice rounded profile, it feels as if you are sliding/falling very briefly as you turn in past the squared off part of the tire. All that being said, the only rear tire I've ever had wear nearly evenly is the PR4 currently on my FZ09 (same tire I use on my S10). It took a lot of effort to keep it round ::025:: Mostly hammering the snot out of it coming out of 2nd gear turns every time I ride it.

 

[Cycledude]

What air pressure are you using ? If you take the drivers seat off the recommended air pressure is listed there, for some reason most folks seem to run more air pressure than recommended and that will cause much faster center wear.

 

[corndog]

The best tire for wearing round without much flat spot is an Anakee 3.

 

[Checkswrecks]

Normal

 

[airmed]

Physics

 

[Sierra1]

I've taken to accelerating as much/hard as I can while leaned over in a turn before I straighten up. I'm running Battelax BT-23s on my work bike, ST1300P, and they are holding up better the BT-20s. The dual tread compounds on newer tires help, but already mentioned, physics. Hard acceleration, while vertical, will wear out all tires.

 

[Tenerester]

I suspect if you objectively evaluated your usage you'd find that you do more distance/commuting mileage hence the centers wearing at higer rate than the side. I've used Battlewings before and for sure they are not softer in the center or wear faster in the center. My Tourances wear in a similar pattern because I simply travel many more miles on the center of the tire than I do on the sides. I wish it were different, I ride as much as I can leaned over, but unless most of your miles are on a short, tight, loop or track environment the center is going to get the most wear.

Thanks. But I have been riding all my bikes in the same manner and never had this issue. They usually wore evenly. I use Metzlers on all my bikes (except the Ducati). Hence the doubt if this is a S10 trait.

 

[Tenerester]

Ha ha ha is this the first time you noticed this? Unless you live in the mountains, you'll almost never wear a tire evenly across the tread. I ride quite hard and the rears always "square off" at some point. I only really notice it when the tires are nearly at the cords which is where my current PR4 is after nearly 10K miles. When you lose the nice rounded profile, it feels as if you are sliding/falling very briefly as you turn in past the squared off part of the tire. All that being said, the only rear tire I've ever had wear nearly evenly is the PR4 currently on my FZ09 (same tire I use on my S10). It took a lot of effort to keep it round ::025:: Mostly hammering the snot out of it coming out of 2nd gear turns every time I ride it.

Thanks. I noticed the abnormal wear in the first 5000kms (45.000 kms ago), and always thought it was a tire issue. With third set of tires wearing in the same manner it made me wonder. Never had this issue on my other bikes. I normally ride hard and fast on twisties (that's what we mostly have up here in BC) and treat the S10 like my Duc at times .

 

[Tenerester]

What air pressure are you using ? If you take the drivers seat off the recommended air pressure is listed there, for some reason most folks seem to run more air pressure than recommended and that will cause much faster center wear.

Thanks. I usually stick to factory recommended air pressure settings based on the load. Never had a flat tire either.

 

[Tenerester]

Normal

Thanks. Thought so.

 

[Tenerester]

The best tire for wearing round without much flat spot is an Anakee 3.

Thanks. How does the Anakee 3 score on mileage? I got around 20k on both BW and Tourances.

 

[Tenerester]

Physics

Thanks. But did all my other bikes defy the laws of physics then?

 

[Tenerester]

I've taken to accelerating as much/hard as I can while leaned over in a turn before I straighten up. I'm running Battelax BT-23s on my work bike, ST1300P, and they are holding up better the BT-20s. The dual tread compounds on newer tires help, but already mentioned, physics. Hard acceleration, while vertical, will wear out all tires.

Thanks. Please see my other responses. Still wondering why this is S10 specific. Could it be the excessive weight?

 

[Defekticon]

I wore a flatspot in my rear BW and cupped the front badly after a long highway run home from FL last spring. Total miles on the tires was 6000, didn't flatspot or cup until the last 1000 miles which was all highway ~80 mph iron butt style. I'm using Metzler Tourance NEXT tires now which is a 90/10 tire and a harder center stripe compound to better handle longer highway miles. I've got 4000 miles of almost exactly 90/10 riding with a fair amount of two up and have just started to flat spot the rear a little, but no cupping on the front tire at all.

Combination of weight and speed, I was running heavy with luggage on the way home which made the front end light and the rear end heavy.

 

[EricV]

Thanks. Please see my other responses. Still wondering why this is S10 specific. Could it be the excessive weight?

It's not S10 specific, but common to most bikes that see more travel than sport bikes. I suspect that your other bikes are more sport oriented and running softer compound tires than what is normal for the Super Tenere. The ADV tires are harder compound than you may be used to. Lean angles, in regards to tire profile, are different and tend to promote flat spot over time. The methods mentioned by some of the others to "help keep the tire round" are nothing more than attempts to aggressively wear the sides faster to compensate in an attempt to maintain a more round profile. (their choice, not good or bad)

You will probably continue to notice this type of wear on the Super Ten as long as you own it. Some tires are better than others at maintaining a round shape longer. Dual compound tires like the afore mentioned Anakee 3 do well in this regard. Note that the rear A3 is generally liked, but most people hate the front A3 due to it's funkly tri-banded wear profile. (including me)

You haven't mentioned what tire pressures you are running other than to say you tend to run the recommended pressures. You might try dropping your rear tire pressure a few pounds and see how that goes. At some point, doing this will generate increased tire heat and wear, but as a rule, excess pressure wears a tire in the center, too low on the sides and finding a happy medium for your riding style and preferences is up to you.

 

[Kurgan]

I've run Trailwings, Battlewings, Anakees and the Tourance EXP's on a Versys 650, a Vstrom 1000, Aprilia Caponord 1000 and the Tenere, no flat spotting when I road primarily in the mountains. Take some 500 mile highway trip, they would flat spot a bit, back to the mountain roads and they would wear themselves round again.

On the Vstrom and the Tenere, I run 37 front/41 year for tire pressure. At the recommended 33 front/36 rear, the bike wouldn't turn in as easily and I found myself taking the roads slower, instead of muscling the bike through at higher speed with more effort . Slower through the turns, the bike is more upright, more center tread wear.

 

[Sierra1]

I wore a flatspot in my rear BW and cupped the front badly after a long highway run home from FL last spring. Total miles on the tires was 6000, didn't flatspot or cup until the last 1000 miles which was all highway ~80 mph iron butt style. I'm using Metzler Tourance NEXT tires now which is a 90/10 tire and a harder center stripe compound to better handle longer highway miles. I've got 4000 miles of almost exactly 90/10 riding with a fair amount of two up and have just started to flat spot the rear a little, but no cupping on the front tire at all.

Combination of weight and speed, I was running heavy with luggage on the way home which made the front end light and the rear end heavy.
[/quote

Cupping of the front tires is an indicator of hard braking. Heavier bikes cup more/quicker than lighter bikes, but my kid's R6 has moderate cupping and it's light. My ST1300P, is both heavy and is asked to brake harder than is normal, has heavy cupping regardless of tire pressure. I've had the best luck with the Bridgestone BT-23; traction and durability. And I noticed that Yamaha is now making them OEM on the FJR. The more torque that a motor produces will, obviously, produce more friction/wear upon acceleration. Your right hand is a big key to tire wear....and fun. The only way to get high mileage out of tires is to get harder compounds. But traction/fun will suffer.

 

[Dogdaze]

This is another reason for squaring off.........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_BDZakAZrc