Tyre wear...

[Dodgy69]

What happened to the days when you could get 2 back to 1 front.?? Bike has 3k on clock, stock tyres from new and front is wearing before rear.

Wear markers on r/h shoulder are getting close, but on centre and edge, still ok. L/h side not as bad. Roundabouts and camber don't help with uneven front wear, but Ytf has the back got plenty left.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

If you accelerate harder the rear will wear as quickly as the front

[Yorick]

For 15 years both my tyres has 5mm in middle when the sides were bald.

[Tricky]

I assume that you meant two rear to one front?- If so that sounds unusual, or certainly quite different to my experiences

Excluding wierdo front tyres like BT45s on LCs (where fronts do seem to be knackered as quickly as rears) I've historically got twice the wear out of fronts to rears and still do on pretty much all my bikes with a couple of exceptions (namely the EXC off-roader and H2, both of which where its more like 3 or 4 rears to one front)

- that's sporty-ish road tyres like Bridgestone S20/21, Pirelli Rosso Corsas and Mich 2CTs on Tuonos, ZX10, MT10, Duke 790 etc

Whats the bike and what tyres?

[Dodgy69]

Tracer 900 on stock dunlop d222. 3k miles. Front worn first. First time I've had this. In the past often got 2 rears to 1 front (as near as damit.)

I have read posts about folks wearing out front before rear, but it's a first for me. Got to be the tyres.

[Horse]

What happened to the days when you could get 2 back to 1 front.?? Bike has 3k on clock, stock tyres from new and front is wearing before rear.

In ye olden days, tyres were made out of bakelite or recycled bicycle brake blocks.

I suppose it's a case of do you want long life tyres or grip (and longer life for you)?

[Horse]

Ah, just noticed: new bike, stock tyres. IIRC one of the FortNine videos covers this; bike manufacturer gets tyre manufacturer to make cut price edition of tyre, perhaps with less tread depth, or summat.

[Gimlet]

Geometry of the bike and how modern bikes allow you to ride is alot to do with it. More so than tyre quality (which has never been better). I tend to change the front and rear at the same time on both my KTMs. There's plenty of legal tread left on the front when the rear has gone but they become faceted which ruins front end bite in corners. I've tried trying to squeeze two fronts out of a rear but once that front starts getting flatted on the sides, sticking a new rear on without changing the front as well is just a waste of a rear tyre because you can't use it properly, so you might as well change them both together and get your money's worth.
A lot of that is down to braking deep into bends. Modern bikes with their sophisticated reactive suspension, various rider aides and lean sensitive ABS etc allow riders to do things they would never have done on bikes a generation ago and they don't even realise they're doing it.

[Horse]

There's plenty of legal tread left on the front when the rear has gone but they become faceted which ruins front end bite in corners. I've tried trying to squeeze two fronts out of a rear but once that front starts getting flatted on the sides

A lot of that is down to braking deep into bends. Modern bikes with their sophisticated reactive suspension, various rider aides and lean sensitive ABS etc allow riders to do things they would never have done on bikes a generation ago and they don't even realise they're doing it.

Do you mean the 'saw tooth' stepping on the sides?

I used to get that on my K100RT 20 years ago - hardly cutting edge, more of a sledgehammer

[Gimlet]

No I don't get stepping, or scalloping. I'd put that down to a suspension issue.
What I mean is the entire profile wearing down evenly all round the tyre until it becomes three sided with a distinct flat on each side. On an adventure bike if you stand up and look down at the tyre when its turning you can see that three sided faceting really clearly.
Faceting produces two shoulders on each side. You feel the first one just off vertical which effects the general ride quality and confidence under braking, and the second when nearing full lean where the tyre feels like it will wash out. As soon as my fronts get close to that they're gone.

If you attack corners with any sort of enthusiasm faceting with loads of tread left in the middle is inevitable.

[Horse]

Ever use the old Dunlop TT100s?

They're made like that! Suits some bikes, but awful on others.

[Sadlonelygit]

Just to cheer you up my xsr9 has 1400 miles on it and the rear has 1.1mm on it and the front wear marker is nearly flush on the right side, which is strange as i drive on the right!
S20s btw

[Supermofo]

No I don't get stepping, or scalloping. I'd put that down to a suspension issue.

See I have some stepping/scalloping on my rear PR4's on the 690. I wonder if it's the low pressures recommended for the 690 (29 front and rear). But then again could be as the centre is squaring off so causes issues with the odd tread pattern. Not too bothered as got 6k out of them so far and it's only been an issue in the last 500 miles. I could go a bit further wear wise but the handling is starting to go, mainly in that transition from upright to over caused by the flat spot/stepping. Having said that bumping pressure up to 34psi has made it feel better till I get a new tyre. The front has worn really well.

Either way I have some wear left on the front but will replace as a pair. Thinking PR5 next time to try. I've been massively impressed with the PR4 on the 690. Almost as much grip as the stock M7's, I reckon you'd not really notice unless balls out or track riding and I prefer the PR4's feel. And the PR4 has lasted a lot longer. The M7 was dead by 4k the PR4 got 6k

[Gimlet]

The PR5 are a very good tyre. I'm running my second pair on on my 1190 Adv.
Previously I ran Conti Road Attack 3s, which I loved. Immense grip, particularly at the front which inspires huge confidence, and masses of feedback. My only issue was the profile, particularly of the rear, was a little too conservative for me. Several times I ran off the edge. When this happens on Contis you get strange shimmying sensation like the tyre is under-inflated and that's a deliberate warning that you've reached the limit. It's handy to have that warning but it's disconcerting when you get it in the middle of a bend when you're still pushing the bike over and looking for more lean to make the turn... Also, having a more conservative profile than the PR5 to start with, the Conti rear flattened off more quickly and when that happened it made the bike understeer and feel very heavy to tip in. The sportier profile of the Michelins give lighter steering even on worn tyres. I do miss the lovely grippy compound of the Contis. My perfect tyre would have the Continental compound with the PR5 profile.
The most I ever got out of a RA3 rear was 5K but that was on a 4000 mile tour round Scotland and it was properly illegal by the end. 3-4K was more typical.
Which 690 have you got? If it's a Duke or an SMR you could try Conti Sport Attack 4s. They're superb tyres and should return 4K on a bike as light as that.

I switched to PR5s because they have the same profile as the Power RS sports tyre which gives far more scope for cornering shenanigens. They're the closest you can get to a sports tyre for the 1190 with it's 19" front rim. There's a wide flared strip of slick rubber on the edge of the tyre which gives a very broad contact strip when you're right over and when you reach that point you know you're there because you can feel the bike settle onto that grippy strip like it's glued to the road. So you know where you are on the tyre and the bike feels very secure.
I'm getting about 4K from PR5 rears on the 1190. You can get a bit of a ridge developing at the junction between the dual compounds but I've never had a problem with that. They don't offer the same level of feedback as the Contis but they're still very good.

The fronts wear the same as every tyre I've used on this bike. Three sided faceting just beginning to become discernible when the rear is reaching the end. So I always change them as a pair.
The only time I've had the scalloping was on the front of my Ducati when I first bought it. But the previous owner's suspension settings where all over the place and when I changed tyres and got the suspension set up properly it never happened again. But I've never had it on the rear.
Check your suspension, particularly that you've got enough static sag. If the shock is topping out that could cause choppy wear. Otherwise experiment with your tyre pressures. I always find recommended pressures way too firm.

[Horse]

New bike with 3mm tread @ 0 miles.

[The Spin Doctor]

I assume that you meant two rear to one front?- If so that sounds unusual, or certainly quite different to my experiences

Certainly what I USED to get...

But modern radials tend to be much more 1:1.

Front tyres have become a lot grippier and I suspect manufacturers also try to ensure they wear out at the same rate to prevent the old 'squared off rear' / 'pristine front' mismatches... I can recall just how that used to screw up handling too.

[The Spin Doctor]

Ah, just noticed: new bike, stock tyres. IIRC one of the FortNine videos covers this; bike manufacturer gets tyre manufacturer to make cut price edition of tyre, perhaps with less tread depth, or summat.

The OE Dunlop on my new XJ6 wore out in less than 5k and flatted badly - the handling went right off after just a couple of '000 miles.

I tackled the Dunlop rep at the NEC about it... he got very shifty and uncomfortable, and initially told me I must be running them at the wrong pressure... but when I said that I was a bike instructor and hinted about maybe using them for DAS bikes and that we would need to replace the tyres regularly and thus getting 4.5k out of a 'sport touring' tyre that was supposed to be dual compound was a bit shit and I wouldn't be recommending them, he finally admitted that the OE version wasn't the same as the aftermarket tyre.

Specifically, it was a softer single compound.

So gave great grip for road tests...

[Supermofo]

Which 690 have you got? If it's a Duke or an SMR you could try Conti Sport Attack 4s. They're superb tyres and should return 4K on a bike as light as that.

I always find recommended pressures way too firm.

Mine is a 690 Duke. I don't think I'd want to lower the pressure more from the recommended 29psi esp for road riding. On the rear I'm finding the front edge of the tread is higher than the back so as you run your had along the tyre the front edge of each piece of tread is raised slightly. I'd read this is often a sign of under inflated tyres or bad suspension set up. I didn't have the issue with the M7 so wonder is 29psi is low for the PR4 considering most bikes have recommended settings of 36/42 psi so 29 is a lot lower. It managed 5.5k miles before it started though so can't complain. As I said the M7 was shot at much over 3.5k.

[Gimlet]

29 psi sounds very low to me. On most bikes the manufacturers recommendation for all the Pilot series is 42. And the kind of stepping could well be an under-inflation issue.. I don't believe it could be caused by over-inflation.
Try upping the pressure 1 psi at a time.

[Supermofo]

I've already gone up to 34-36 in the rear for the last few hundred miles and it feels fine to be honest so might leave it there for the next set. KTM recommend 29psi but I wonder if that's to get heat into tyres for a light bike?

I'd already experimented a bit as the front can feel slow at recommended pressure so I've played around with that too. 29 is ok on a nice hot day and quick riding but 6C morning commute in spring it can feel a bit slow.