11418 Miles later

[PMC FJRider]

Finally put new tires on......What a difference. I commute the 5 Fwy into LA. Any one who drives the Dodger Stadium area knows they have been doing a lot of work grinding up the lanes. They haven't been grinding the whole lane though. They do 1/2, or only a 1/4 of the lane at a time, for about 50-100 yards, here and there. When I would hit the spots where they did the work, the slight difference in the road would grab the bike and move it as though I was on ice. Very un-nerving. Today was my 1st trip into work with the new tires, and when I rode over the worked on areas, the bike never move out of its line. Nice

The old tires by the way, were so worn down, that you could see the steel belt on the back, and the fronts tread depth wouldn't even register on my gauge. You could see the tread design, but there was no depth. Lesson learned here, is not to wait as long.

DK

 

[FJRMGM]

OK- I'll bite, why brand tires did you put on the beast?

 

[tstaff]

You put over 11,000 miles on your OE tires?

Wow, that's gotta be a record of some sort.

 

[gr8eyes]

So you knew all along why the bike was "grabbing and moving" then right? LOL

It always amazes me how much different a bike feels with new rubber, even if you only have 4-6,000 miles on it.

I remenber a trip to Arkansas I took once. I started out with what I thought was plenty of tread and 3,500 miles. By the time I got home the steel cord was showing through. After that I alwys replaced the tires at 4,000 or sooner if I was going on a trip that would take me past 4,000.

I'm impressed you got 11,000 miles on a set of tires.

Bounce seems to always get real good mileage on his tires too.

Glenn

 

[JSimon]

Mine has slightly over 11,800, not sure of the exact miles, haven't checked lately. I ordered Avon Storms for mine last Thursday, $220.00 although they want $105 to mount and balance them, bah.

I wonder if that scarified (spelling?) surface will wear the tires down faster. Mine really didn't look that bad even at 10,000 miles, they scarified the highway I ride in on which seemed to greatly increase the amount of wear I saw on the tires.

My old tires were Metzlers, I went with Avon Storms based on forum input.

John

 

[Constant Mesh]

You can make the front tire last longer by riding near the center line on curves. This reduces the wear on the left side of the tire and increases the wear on the right side. The net result is near equal wear on both sides and the tire tread goes several more miles.

Regrettably, riding near the center line may heighten the danger from oncoming drivers crossing into your lane.

 

[PMC FJRider]

I was going to keep the tire brand as Brand-X for sake of superfluous argument, but one of my co-workers is a ST rider. With near 80,000 on his, and the whole gammit of tires he has tried over the years, he decided that what he liked best, was what I have as OEM tires.........................Metzeler Roadtech (that should fire up a few people). He commutes almost as far as I do, so I know he puts on 170 round trip daily. I never really had any complaints with the old pair, and now that I have the new ones, I'm as happy as a clam. To make things worse (for some), I put a 190/50 on the back...just to see. I like it so far, again no complaints here. Later in life I will try something else, but for now, this is what I have.

As for changing them, I took the wheels off and took them to a local shop. $40 for both. I also took off the final drive and greased all the splines.

Another co-worker has a Star something cruiser. The Yam dealer quoted him $250 to change out 1 tire ($125 of that labor), that motivated me to do it my self....no sweat, and now I have a better understanding of how things work.

DK

 

[FlyingLow]

$125 labor to change a tire? Holy crap!

You might want to [after confirming this price quote] post this in the dealer feedback section so we know where to not take our bikes for new tires.