Diablo Strada followup review

[SkooterG]

The Strada "E" does have wear indicators. They are just hard to find. Look carefully.

I read some threads that said the Strada rear DOES have a wear bar. So before I mounted the beast, I sat in the floor with it, rubbed it, talked to it, but I swear I could not find anything that resembled a wear bar/indicator. Please enlighten me with a pic if you can.

Yes, the Stradas have wear indicator bars, but they are completely useless IMHO, and I am not the only one who thinks so.

As for a piccie meese-ter Ashe, you should have seen one previously in the following thread in which you participated!



See Skyway's post, #23. In the piccie, besides the belts showing, you can see the wear bars which look like they haven't even been touched.

Previous Pilot Road vs. Diablo Strada thread

 

[MCRIDER007]

Yes, the Stradas have wear indicator bars, but they are completely useless IMHO, and I am not the only one who thinks so.

Hi SkooterG, it looks like you are up and about and everything is getting back to normal. That was a very good picture you linked to since it shows both the center and side wear bars and that it was a tie getting to the wear bars and the cord in the center of the tire. I don't think that makes the wear bars completely useless since they do tell you when the center will be gone but it does mean that one needs to change the tire before it wears to the bars. That is definitely not the way we are used to doing it but it seems to be the way to go on both the Strada and Z6.

 

[SkooterG]

Hi SkooterG, it looks like you are up and about and everything is getting back to normal. That was a very good picture you linked to since it shows both the center and side wear bars and that it was a tie getting to the wear bars and the cord in the center of the tire. I don't think that makes the wear bars completely useless since they do tell you when the center will be gone but it does mean that one needs to change the tire before it wears to the bars. That is definitely not the way we are used to doing it but it seems to be the way to go on both the Strada and Z6.

Up and about, but unfortunately still a ways from normal (if you could ever call me normal :lol: ) I still have several weeks of healing to do. Still no riding.

I still consider those wear bars pretty much useless. You really have no idea how close you are to hitting belts. And hitting belts is NOT a good thing. On the Avons, you have to go waaaaay past the wear bars before you hit belts. I tried one time, and never did get to them. I probably put 3000 miles on the rear Avon after hitting the wear bars. You had PLENTY of warning. You just don't see it coming with the Pirellis and Metz Z-6s. You may think you will be able to gauge the approximate wear, but in reality, you just don't see it coming.

Here's another thread where a few more peeps complain about the same thing.

Another Tire Thread

Simply, you don't see any complaints of this nature on any of the other tires.

 

[borrec]

The Strada "E" does have wear indicators. They are just hard to find. Look carefully.

I read some threads that said the Strada rear DOES have a wear bar. So before I mounted the beast, I sat in the floor with it, rubbed it, talked to it, but I swear I could not find anything that resembled a wear bar/indicator. Please enlighten me with a pic if you can.

Jeff look along the outside edge of the tread and you will see the letters TWI in several places. These show you were to move in towards the center of the tire to find the tread wear indicators. I have 8,000 miles on my Stradas so far and concur with your report. It looks like I should get another 2000 or so. I am going to try ME 880s next./

 

[ejworthen]

Aren't the Strada's the same tire as the Z6 but with a different tread pattern?

 

[RonBB]

this kind of serious analysis is what makes this usually NEPRT topic worthy of staying in the Technical forum.

Agree-This is the best tire thread I've seen in sometime. Thanks to all. Ron

 

[HaulinAshe]

Thanks ScooterG for sticking my nose in the dog poop! I guess I failed to clarify that I was looking for a wear bar/indicator somewhere in the MIDDLE of Strada and could not find one there. Obviously because there ain't one!

It's really flat around here so I am very concerned about running into the belts without warning. Whenever I travel to areas that have twisties it's common for me to put 500 miles on the tires before I arrive. So that is a formula for disaster if I don't have a good appraisal of the remaining tire life.

I like the solid rubber area in the center of the Diablo Strada. I expect, and will confirm within a few weeks, that it will survive better in this area and provide substantially longer tire life than other patterns. But that's not worth a crap if I cannot confidently ascertain how much tire life is left and am forced to change tires prematurely.

And just so I am not wasting another shot at NEPRT...

I am running the Diablo Stradas at 38 psi Rear, 36 psi Front. I normally ride single at 183 lbs, but with all three bags lightly loaded (Rain gear, laptop, extra helmet etc.)

Experimentation continues. Thanks to everyone for putting up with my potential NEPRT.

 

[Bike Effects]

The Strada "E" does have wear indicators. They are just hard to find. Look carefully.

I read some threads that said the Strada rear DOES have a wear bar. So before I mounted the beast, I sat in the floor with it, rubbed it, talked to it, but I swear I could not find anything that resembled a wear bar/indicator. Please enlighten me with a pic if you can.

Jeff look along the outside edge of the tread and you will see the letters TWI in several places. These show you were to move in towards the center of the tire to find the tread wear indicators. I have 8,000 miles on my Stradas so far and concur with your report. It looks like I should get another 2000 or so. I am going to try ME 880s next./

borrec, aren't you the clever guy! Thanks!

Jeff, the Bike Effects one.

 

[Feejer/Weejer man]

People will look and see the problem but will pay no attention and think this will never happen to theirs. Whatever, but I will never mount one on my FJR.

 

[vfr2fjr]

I was part of the "buy a rear and get a free front tire" program by Pirelli for the D. Stradas. I got 6465 miles on the rear and 8160 on the front.

I had run lots of Avon 45/46s on other bikes and two sets on the FJR and was very pleased with them. Also had a pretty good idea how far to push the Avons and as MCRIDER007 said, there was quite a bit of rubber after the center was worn to the wear bars. This is not the case with the D. Stradas. When you approach the bottom of the tread, change them. I'd never hit the cords before, but I did on these.

As far as how the tires handled; I'd rank them as excellent. Very stable with no surprises. Just remember, when you approach the bottom of the tread, that's all there is.

 

[yamahlr]

As part of the winter update, I hope to install the Pirelli's as well. I'm also looking to get the rims chromed, anyone know of a quality plater who could do the rims?

 

[Bike Effects]

As part of the winter update, I hope to install the Pirelli's as well. I'm also looking to get the rims chromed, anyone know of a quality plater who could do the rims?

I don't know of a plater, but I do have a friend in Canada who did his R1 wheels and one of them cracked after some riding. I would, at the very least, institute a vigorous inspection program after you get it done.