[RustyG]

Just discovered a issue with my 240 Rear tire on my 2007 VRSCX. After 180,000 miles the rear tire is wearing unevenly.
It is really strange. It looks like normal wear on the left side with the wear marks exposed and worn off whereas the right side still has lots of tread on it.
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The tire is a Michelin Commander II.
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I can't post a picture because the problem will not show clearly.
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Have had many tires on this wheel 180,000/15,000 = about 12 tires on the rear wheel of the bike and this is the first time I have noted abnormal tire wear.
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Anyone have any ideas as to what could be the issue? I am about ready to replace the bad tire but am concerned there is an underlying problem that needs to be addressed before putting the tire into service.

 

[rc4man]

Most of us have seen accelerated rubber wear on the left side with rear tires. I personally have seen this on all the tires I've run, probably 8-9 sets. Regardless of brand.
There have been many threads here about this over the years. I'm surprised that you're only experiencing it now.

 

[rbabos]

Recently changed my 240 out on my DX. Wear was normal. Front before that was changed and there was the typical more wear on one side. I forgot which but any skinny front and fat rear seems to exibit this trait. I'm sure your bike is in tip top shape and alignment is good. Might just be the tire itself as in profile off or rubber compound issues. How many miles did it go? All I can suggest is to check wheel for vertical after setting the frame rails up horizontal with a level and do the straight edge deal side to side to the front when setting up belt tension. If the rear wheel isn't vertical and you haven't mucked with the front engine link, it could be rear motor mounts or the front mount. Check for swing arm play when you have the rear wheel off also. I would not rule out a dinked tire from new however if nothing obvious shows up in the checks.
Ron

 

[RustyG]

Got two near tires in the mail (UPS) today. Will proceed to swap them tomorrow. Front tire is wearing evenly on both sides. I used to have severe scalloping on the left side until I uped the pressure to 38 PSI. That cured the left side scalloping on the front tire.
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The rear tire is wearing evenly on both sides but the left is wearing faster than the right side. Weird. Maybe it is just the tire itself. It's possible it is motor mounts. They haven't been changed in some time. I shudder to thing when it was done last. Not a trivial job.
Will poke around some when the tires are off the bike and maybe come up with something.
Nothing has been done to the bike since the last tire change other than riding it and oil changes.

 

[streetrodracer]

All my tires wear more on the left side, in North America it's I think impossible for them not to due to the fact that we ride on the right side of the crown of the road. In England and a few other place the wear is reversed. This can be amplified by certain tire mfgr. compounds, and as mentioned tire pressure. I deal with this on aircraft that have negative camber on their main wheels/tires, they always wear on the inside, when you carry top recommended tire pressure it minimizes it but at the end of useful life there is always some tread left on the outboard side. It is what it is. With hot FL. high camber roads this really does not surprise me RustyG - and those Michelin tires are double the usable mileage of my AVON Cobras.

 

[rbabos]

All my tires wear more on the left side, in North America it's I think impossible for them not to due to the fact that we ride on the right side of the crown of the road. In England and a few other place the wear is reversed. This can be amplified by certain tire mfgr. compounds, and as mentioned tire pressure. I deal with this on aircraft that have negative camber on their main wheels/tires, they always wear on the inside, when you carry top recommended tire pressure it minimizes it but at the end of useful life there is always some tread left on the outboard side. It is what it is. With hot FL. high camber roads this really does not surprise me RustyG - and those Michelin tires are double the usable mileage of my AVON Cobras.

I was really impressed with the mileage I got out of my Scorchers that came with the bike. Replaced them with the same brand. Now that you mentioned off center wear, yes the front wore a tad more on left then the right. Rear, wasn't really noticeable by the eyeball as much.
Ron

 

[RustyG]

This is the first time in 40 years of riding that the left side of my tire wore out before the right side. As I said the tire is wearing evenly, not scalloping, just faster on the left side than the right.
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New tires are up and running.

 

[rbabos]

This is the first time in 40 years of riding that the left side of my tire wore out before the right side. As I said the tire is wearing evenly, not scalloping, just faster on the left side than the right.
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New tires are up and running.

I think most experience off center wear to some extent. Location or road design will effect how much but the crown of the road always will have to be compensated for and the tires show this eventually. NA likely wear a hair on the left and the others riding on the wrong side of the road will experience right side wear. Fat tires will show it more.
Ron

 

[RustyG]

I don't think they build roads with crowns on them here in the US of A anymore. I do a lot of riding on secondary roads here in Florida and not seen any lately.

 

[Tassie Tony]

I've never had one wear like that.I'd suggest if it's only just started doing it it's a worn do da in your thingamajig or slight moulding fault from the factory.

 

[Knut J]

Left hand turns are literally longer than right hand turns. This means that you
literally ride a greater distance on the left side than the ride side of your tires.

 

[rbabos]

I don't think they build roads with crowns on them here in the US of A anymore. I do a lot of riding on secondary roads here in Florida and not seen any lately.

I think every road has a crown for drainage purposes. Not always visible to the eye but part of the design. It can be in slope, out slope or centerline slope.
Ron

 

[rc4man]

Left hand turns are literally longer than right hand turns. This means that you
literally ride a greater distance on the left side than the ride side of your tires.

Bingo, give the man a Kewpie Doll we have a winner. Following copied from www.rattlebars.com/tirewear

"In the case of right side driving countries like the USA, one does indeed ride farther on the left side of the tire than on the right side of the tire. At a simple single lane intersection that is common in most residential neighborhoods, negotiating a left turn will have you traveling TWICE the distance that you do making a right hand turn. That's at a simple single lane intersection. A double lane will have you making four times the distance. But even when you are confronted with nothing more than a left curving road, the radius of that left turner will be larger than if you were coming the other way on the same road making a right around that same curve. If you don't believe this, check out the How Stuff Works web site about your car's DIFFERENTIAL and why it's called a differential (your shaft driven two wheeled motorcycle does not have a differential, it has instead a "final drive" which drives only one wheel). Also note that Olympic runners start in different locations because the outside runners must run farther to the finish line.

Besides the fact that the left radius is larger which means you will probably go faster causing more stress on your tire than you would going the other way, there is more visibility when making lefts than rights which will add to your tendency to make the turn faster as well. Failure to negotiate a left turn will have you going off the the road onto the shoulder or into a ditch. Failure to negotiate a right turn will have you crossing into opposing traffic. Though neither scenario is appealing, there is a subliminal advantage to left turns (riding shoulders and ditches is better than crashing into trucks head on) and this will have you going a bit faster on lefties too.

The increased radius on left turns means more distance is traveled turning left than turning right on the average riding day. That is plane geometry and plainly undeniable. Because of the natural tendency to make left turns faster (admittedly this is subjective and open to debate, but is plausible for reasons given) there will be more stress placed on your tires as they travel that longer left distance. Increased left side tire wear is evident, though, on both the front and rear tires but because the front tire shows less evidence of flat band center wear (which disguises the side wear bands on the rear tire), side wear is more evident to the eye up front and leaves you to wonder, "Why does the left side† of my front tire wear out first?" Now you know."

 

[streetrodracer]

rc4man that's absolutely true ! Also we go faster in left turns because the throttle is closer to us and it's easier to control than farther away in a right turn. Hence most flat track, dirt, speedway and road racing is to the left. Now add to that the tire wear that 120+ degree F, rough asphalt, high camber roads (in so many places down here in FL.) have for our Thunderstorm deluge rain water runoff and there is the complete answer to left side tire wear. Oh wait and add to that the lesser known slight lean to the left to offset the 30Lb+ H-D OEM rt. side boat anchor exhaust pipe - So I'm surprised these tires last as long as they do ! RustyG seems strange though you never saw it before - maybe you have been changing tires properly at lower mileage so the wear was not as easily visible ? You might want to double check the rear wheel alignment just to be sure

 

[Tassie Tony]

Of course the other theory is he has subconsciously or unknowingly been riding clockwise in his travels up till the last tyre changeover and for whatever reason that has reverted to the norm and the left wear is evident.(only someone on an island could come up with this reasoning).

 

[RustyG]

I only make right hand turns.

 

[Tassie Tony]

More likely it's your doohicky then.

 

[stever975]

I only make right hand turns.

Even if you only make right hand turns, if you live in a country where you ride on the right side of the road, you will spend more time leaned to the left than leaned to the right. This is because as a road curves to the left your arc length is longer than when it curves to the right. The crown in a road isn't steep enough to produce left or right side tire wear.

 

[Tassie Tony]

:banghead:

If you live where you ride on the wrong side of the road and only turn right and your tyre isn't worn on the left or right you have new tyres.:deal:

 

[streetrodracer]

Camber doesn't matter - until it - well, kinda matters.

Sorry Stever all you say is true, except the last sentence. On Florida 2 lane back roads you would be surprised how steep the designed in crown for deluge rain draining is. Here is the litmus test - select a highly crowned road, it's visible to the most casual observer. Ride down that road, try 1/2 way up the camber, center of the lane from the shoulder. Now let go of the handlebars lightly and see what the bike does. Does it stay in the center of the lane ? Does it ride up the camber ? On my side of the planet here in FL. the bike heads for the ditch, riding down the incline unless forced to do otherwise. So there is a bit of counter steering or correction applied to the handlebars to keep the bike riding up the camber so it stays in the center of the lane. This of course has to cause tire wear, probably mainly on the front but the lean angle eventually gets wear to the rear as well. On 4 lanes or wider roads this is true to a lesser degree, but it's still true. Best test ? Take two bikes, one on the left side of the crown, one on the right, ride them 10K miles in a perfectly straight line, then inspect the tires. Left crown rider right wear, Rt. crown rider left wear. No curves involved. Now that test will probably never happen, but that would be the guaranteed result. If you look at the pressure and where the contact patch on both tires are on a cambered surface ( and the steering correction to keep the bike in the lane ) it ain't rocket science. If there is any doubt imagine a motorcycle riding around a huge ball. It wants to fall off the ball - only keeping it pointed uphill with the rear tire slightly to the right using the left side of both tires will it even begin to continue to orbit the ball. :blahblah: