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I looked at my tire a little closer last night and noticed that it is into the wear bars on the right side and not really close on the left. (the center of the tire looks great)Could it be that I use the crap out of my front brake and that is what is causing it to wear on the rigth side? That really doesnt make sence to me, but I am looking for a plausible answer to why this has happened.
A lot, if not all of that wear on the right side is because of the smaller radius right turns and high speed cloverleaf's we have here in the US. Overseas, notably in the countries thatride on the other side of the street like the UK wear the tire out on the left side for exactly the same reason, just theopposite side. Over there its the roundabouts (traffic circles to us here) and smaller radius left hand turns that cause the problem on the left side.
I thinks its just a fact of life we're going to have to learn how to live with.
Unless you want to make three left turns to goaround the block the other way.
My '07 Night Train has the same issue at 7900 miles and the wear is pretty far down, I have heard that different brands of tires like Metzler and others will last longer. But do they last longer becasue they are a harder rubber that might not grip to the road as good?
I think I feel some vibration in my front end around from 50mph and up, whichis probablya wheel balance issue, but is it becuase of the front tire wear that Ijust think I feel a vibration? And would this make the tire wear down even faster?
I have a wider 16" tire on my Heritage but I have 11,000 miles on these tires and they still look new. I'm hoping they hurry up and wear out so I can install some white wall tires.
Air pressure from oncoming traffic forces the bike to the right. Your input is left and the right side of the tire rolls in slightly. Over time of this over and over the right shows wear. If this holds true people that drive on the other side of the road should experience wear on the left side. If this is not correct, then it was one hell of a story and made you think. Ron
Lot of good sense and suggestions about reason for the wear - I have none to add except to say that my 21" sportster front lasted 7500 miles and talking to other 21" front owners of Sportsters/Softails this seems about normal mileage and they do appear to wear unevenly. Rear is worn down the middle but has another 1500 to 2000 in it - I should have the FXSTC before then!.
While some theories may seem plausible, I do not buy them. "If" they were true all bikes would have the same issues and not just this particular size tire. Wouldnt they wear out more on the left side? The road slopes to the right making the bike ride on the left side of the tire and not the center. All roads have a crown of some sort, so by that theory all tires would wear out on the left side and not the center or the right. : )
I say this half hearted, so dont look too deeply into it!
I don't know why the 21" tire wears so much faster than the 16" tire, but I had an 05 FXST that got less than 10K....My FL softail gets over 20K from the front tire. As far as wear on the right side, I haven't a clue.
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