I don't know weather to be disappointed or not. I ride like an old lady.
Can I buy say a Dunlop E4 and use it on the rear with the Cobra on the front?
And yes, it does appear to be more worn on the left half than the right. Howls much more loudly when I corner right than left. The Vic dealer that mounted this one did a bad job that ended up ruining my belt and pulley within a thousand or so miles. That cost me $1200 at an independent shop to repair.
No belt noise now in 2500 miles with the new install so I assume the 2nd guy did it right.
yes you can run Elite 4 on the rear. Keep in mind the rear tire follows its not a leader.
Last time I had a dealer mount my tire I checked the air and found it was off by 3 pounds. Guessed he had a bad gauge as far as I was concerned
I'd agree. With tires once they begin a funny wear pattern correcting the alignment helps but not as much as you would hope. I go through it with the sidecar bikes a lot.
They run pretty crooked going down the freeway. Have to keep a lot of air in the front tire to minimize cupping and hardly any in the other tires because they are auto tires with very little weight on them. It's a balancing match. Once a wear problem gets started correcting the tire pressure etc has some affect but you loose thousands of miles off the tire.
Looks like they must have put the wheel in sideways the first time.
I had to pull the axle into line on the wifes bike after it's first service.
The mechanic tightened it down crooked. I wasn't impressed. It never made a peep driving it either.
On my bike if the belt isn't exactly centered in the pulley it sounds like a flock of birds are living under the saddlebags.. you won't miss it.
Tires will wear more on the left due to the crown of the road. Cobras like pressures on the high side, I use 43 front and 44 rear. Cobras are a multi-tread, but I sense that they tend to be on the soft side to favor grip. I got 15K out of a Cobra rear which is lower than my norm. I usually get anywhere from 17 to 22K on a rear tire--no kidding! Being an air pressure Nazi and very smooth on the controls does the trick for me. Also contributing (I guess) is the moderate NW climate, we don't have the hot tire melting summers like a lot of areas in the US.
Your roads seem very smooth and well worn in your area too. No snow, no studded tires cutting troughs in the road every winter, I guess. Having a gentle right hand is certainly a plus. I'm pretty good off the line, just not so much the rest of the ride. One of the tire manufactures used to recommend putting a passenger on the back for more mileage as it reduces wheel slip.
Here on the East side of WA they re-seal coat the road yearly and the larger the rock, within reason, the better and longer it lasts. The roads are like cheese graters when first done. You don't want to fall off a bike onto one at speed right after it's first finished for certain. You can watch your tires get smaller each ride at that point. I have a Canadian friend who says he has never seen 6000 miles out of a 130 16 HD tire, doesn't matter what brand. I believe him. He loves the sound of an HD accelerating and his throttle hand has two position, on and off. I routinely get 10k, wife gets 9 out of the same tire similar bikes. Thanks for the tip on the tire pressure. I'll have to air my rear tire up some. Did I mention I hate anything to do with changing a tire.
That is an interesting wear pattern for certain.
Now that you mentioned it Ricz I guess that in areas more prone to standing water the roads would have more crown.
You'd know as much as it rains in your area.
I've never had a tire wear like that as we are in the mountains and your leaned over a great deal.
Actually I read a good article that attributed the left side wear to the length of time (and increased speed) that you have when making a left turn as opposed to a right turn.
Actually I read a good article that attributed the left side wear to the length of time (and increased speed) that you have when making a left turn as opposed to a right turn.
Thanks for that. I never have that sort of wear ever though. Not sure why. Mine and the wifes wear straight down the center. Lots of tires over the years. I must be doing something wrong:grin
I can't get my mind around it either. Of course I've been running on a single brain cell since I was about 18 and it's gotten pretty rounded around the edges.
My front Avon looks mint with 6500 mi on it , my rear is very flat in the middle . In many years of riding in the past , I have ALWAYS 2 to 1 front , 1 back . This is the first EVER back looking like it will fold before a front . Just an observation , but Rear is wearing shockingly flat , down the middle .
NOPE ! I have always gone 2 fronts to 1 rear , I believe it stems from my sport bike days being front brake heavy . This is the first time EVER I believe my front will outlast the rear . I blame it on the tires only because it sets a 32 year precedent .
I ran my rear Avon Cobra completely center flat in 8,000 miles(and I don't do too much highway), the front on the other hand with the same miles looks fine on all edges.
I spoke with Avon and they recommend on heavy touring bikes the rear pressure be at least 44psi. I was running between 40-42.
I ran mine at 42psi so that could have something to do with it.
This tire def started life mounted crooked. Dealership "master tech" who did the work had no idea how to do the job right and looked me in the eye and said 'yes' when I asked him if it was ok to continue riding with the noise extant. I could tell he was guessing.
Do you want a new belt and pulley? 'Cause that's how you end up with a new belt and pulley on a 15k miles bike.
Search 'chain rattling noise' if you want to see what was going on with that whole thing back then.
Re excessive wear on one side, here's another theory: I have seen riders who sit to one side causing their bike to never be vertical. Maybe if the OP had someone riding behind him and could tell him if that is the case.
I've been on sport bikes for 25 years & the tires are far softer/stickier. I intentionally alternate riding position to try to help with rear tire flatspotting. No need to do that on my XC (or any comfortable way to do it).
All this talk of short-lived 8k tires is baffling - that's more than double the life of any tire I've had on any CBR I've ridden! I'll get some religion with tire pressures if they can last that long!!
I just got 11,000 miles on a Dunlop E3.... Rarely checked tire pressure and spun it often. Traction was garbage right from new though. Downright sketchy in the rain.
Well damn there goes that theory. My past experiences I usually am a 2 rears to one front rider also. I have been running 40 rear and 38-39 in the front on the E-3 radial. Thats one of my pondering points right now. When its time to replace to I go back with radials. That really limits the field of players. And you dont want to mix and match radial and bias I have to assume , right?
Correct - don't mix radial vs bias. Radials tend to ride in bottom of grooves & bias plies ride on top of ridges. It will squirm around uncomfortably.
Radials do everything better than bias plies - not worth saving a few bucks.
You can mix radial and bias, considering some bikes come like that from the factory.
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