Tyre Life

V

Vince

Hero member
For the first time ever I kept account of the ks I have got out of a tyre. 19 months ago I had a rear T32 Bridgestone fitted to my 3c and today it was replaced with another tyre of the same. So on 10/10/21 the bike had 49.412ks showing, it's probably been around the odometer twice maybe, and today 2/6/23 its shows 60,0043ks, so that's 10,632ks out of a rear tyre. I am really happy with that. What wasn't so good was my wheel with the same condition, no tyre ext was weighed and compared with another 3c wheel. That had a std-sized Borani rim, mine has a bigger Morad rim at 3.00 compared to a 2.5 and mine weighs 1.5kg more. That really surprised me.
 
I also run a 3.00 rear rim, Akront, with a 140/70 BT46.
I'd be surprised if it weighed much more than the original 2.15 Boranni, but the bigger tyre is substantially heavier than the original 4.10 TT100.
I could trash a new TT100, in a morning at Donnington Park. Used to carry a spare with me, Sam Browne style and change it at lunchtime.
The Bridgestones now routinely last 13,000+kms, but I don't do nearly as many Track Days as I did, back in the 20th Century.
 
I think that was the tyre off and the drive side off. Apparently, the Morad rim is 1.5kg heavier than the Borani, which surprised me a lot.
 
The 3 inch Morad/Akront would have to be stronger than the 2.15 Boranni, especially being a non flanged rim, so would expect some extra weight.
 
My Morad is what I thought was a close copy of a flanged Borani, but Marty was saying it has a different profile making tyre fitting much harder. The extra weight has me stumped though.
 
I have just been re-reading my recorded story of a very long run I did in 1981 on TOG, that was end to end of the UK, 875 miles non stop excepting fuel, fog and bitter cold. Dunlop sponsored me a pair of tyres for this charity run and I note that the rear was gone after a mer 2,000 miles, which was the total dustance covered including riding to Land End, and returning from John O Groats, 2000 miles??? I dont know what mileage I get from them now, but I am guessing at close to five times that.
CLEM
 
Reading this reminded me I kept a record of every rear tyre I had fitted ...... From 13089 to 225610 miles ........ Why ? ... No idea , just did ...... All are 120/90Hx18 on a `78 Green Mirage .. ... just normal road riding ..... In miles ...... Pirellis seem to wear out the quickest .... Not relevant today of course ...... Usually took them down to the point of the carcass cords showing through .... ( Unless an MOT test was imminent ....) .......

( Missed out Avon AM21`s at 185300 and 196200 miles )

..2023-06-02 (1).png2023-06-02 (2).png2023-06-02.png
 
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Dellortoman said:
I have too many bikes so I don't use any one of them enough to wear out the tyres. They go hard and die of old age.
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I know what you mean ........ too many bikes can be a hinderance rather than a help sometimes ........ keeping on top of maintenance , road tax , replacing service items etc .......... I`ve come to the conclusion ( for me anyway ) that two is all you need ( well ok , three at a pinch .... ) ....... one for everyday , plus one for high days and holidays ........ Sometimes less is more ......
 
Vince said:
... so that's 10,632ks out of a rear tyre. ...
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You should check compression of the engine and the carb- and timing setting as well as valve clearance. Engine obviously produces to less power to wear the tyre off sooner... :oops::ROFLMAO:

I love tires that wear soon but are very sticky. It's less cost to replace them than to repaint the bike and replace the engine covers... When I had standard rims on the Jota and the 1000 SFC, I was mainly riding Metzeler ME33/55 or ME33 and ME99 CompK on the rear. OK tyre when brand new, but after one season, they were so hard they did not wear anymore - but made the bike slide even on dry roads! Very dangerous in the wets then... Loved the BT45, as it was extremely sticky compared to the old Metzelers (from the 90's). They basically melted in the sun though, barely got more than 2.500 out of a rear one and maybe 4.000 out of a front (while the front one as not really worn, but had what we call "saw teeth" - the shed marks on the edge that make it a bit shaky on cornering)

When I changed to the GSX-R rims, I started with BT012SS, which some even used as rain-tyres on the track. Rear was gone on a highway even after 1.500 - 2.000km, front lasted much longer though (roughly 5.000 - 6.000km). Now am using the BT016 on the wider rims. Good tyre, haven't worn one out yet, but both bikes have relatively new tires.
 

Some ponce around flopping from side to side as they approach the start line to warm up their tyres , or use tyre warmers ......... Trev shows how it should be done .....

BTW ..................... I once saw some GSX-R mounted hero doing the girly side to side tyre warm up routine as he rode down a busy HIGH STREET on a Saturday morning ...... !!!!! ...... What a complete and utter nob ........
 
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I do it occasionally for a bit of fun, it wakes me up more than warming the tyre but more recently I did it when I noticed my bike steering suddenly becoming sluggish, that confirmed what I was feeling and approx a minute later the bike was shimmying violently as the front tyre when flat. It's a good test to confirm the bike is handling as expected before you increase its tyre load pushing into bends. Just a tiny bit of wanking as well.
 
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