I have a 12 limited...with a little over 9000 miles on it. (9060 miles in 5 months)
Noticed the rear tire is scalloping or feathering on the edges of the tread. I am **** to check the air every time before I ride...adjusted it to 40.00 PSI every time. (36 in the front) Right down to the tenth of a PSI. Gauge is a digital gauge that has been verified with couple of other gauges that are different brands and max operating pressures. 80% of my riding is 2 up...
The tire still has 5/32 of tread left in the middle, these tires have 10/32 tread in the middle when brand new. There aint many curvy roads around here so the tire is kinda flat in the center of the tread.
Any ideas why this happening? This is the stock tire that came with the bike new...Dunlop 408 - 407.

I have had this happen before on a different metric touring bike....around 6K on an dunlop E3. They gave me some good mileage (around 8-12K) but always feathered on the side of the tread. I changed them early because of this sometimes. On the metric it sounded like a ground grip tire when you got off center of the tread...
I cannot hear the tire on the HD bike due to exhaust note.

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

 

What kind of air pressure are you running in your rear shocks? What kind of riding are you doing? Aggressive or passive. What kind of roads are you riding on. Are they cement or asphalt? What part of the county are you from.

If you riding aggressive, ie hammer down 1st to 6th or you're really leaning into the turns then you are going to wear down your tire fast. If you're riding on stone-chipped asphalt you are going to wear your tire down faster.

You've indicated that you've had the same tire wear on other bikes you've riden so I suspect it's just your riding style and the roughness of the roads you predominately ride on.

How does your front tire look?

 

It's shot now... run it until it bothers you bad enough... need a bit more tire pressure... i would bump it up to about 44 when 2 up.

 

Based on my experience, my first 407 tire did the same thing. It had a definite effect on the bike's handling through high speed turns, but other than that, very little, if any, effect other than the noise.

I rode my tire out to 20,000 miles before changing it.

Personally, unless the handling or noise really bothers you, I'd just ride it out.

 

when I had that problem I was told to increase the pressure so far so good. the Tech told me to use the max on the tire not what was recommended in the owners manual, "the manufacture cares about the ride not about tire wear."

 

I would recheck the tire balance, if your continually running the correct tire pressure what else is there left if it ain't the road surface

 

I really appreciate the reply.
Rear shock has 48-50 PSI. (what the owners manual says for 2 up riding)
My wife is small 110 lbs and I am about 180. We started out with 17 PSI as the dealer recommended when we purchase the bike since we were both so light. But found out quickly this was not enough. Coming through Birmingham AL in some construction, it bottomed out multiple times, we were loaded pretty good coming back from a 5 day road trip. Got the book out and put it at recommemded pressure.
I would say my riding style is not aggressive...the wife does not like me to sling her around. I try to ride smooth...easy on the acceleration and easy on the stop. I will get after it to pass or get away from a cage. Not that many curvy roads around here
Roads around here are 50/50 mix of asphalt and gravel/tar mix...with some concrete on the interstates...
I think the tire is wearing fine...actually better than I thought it would. I expect at least 12000 out of it unless this feathering gets worse and gets me concearned. I am not one to run them till they have no tread left... I watch them closely as I know some tires go fast as they get to a certian point.
On my previous bike the dunlop 404 did not develope this feathering wear pattern...just then Dunlop E3. I though it was a bad design of the tire...since they all did it. I got better mileage out of the E3 but changed some of them earlier with some tread still left due to the roaring when you get it off center.
Front tire...has very little wear on it with no feathering at all...still reading just a hair under 5/32 tread left. Factory web site says the tire comes with 5/32 tread new. Basically no wear at all.
Thanks again for the reply.

 

You said your first 407 did feather also...What about the tire you are running now? Did you change brands or go back with the HD 407?
I noticed the Dunlop website recommends the 407-408 and another tire. The American Elite. They are considerably cheaper than the dealers 407 HD branded tire and has all the same specs...height, width, tread depth, load carrying capacity. Anybody tried one of these. I am attracted to the $100 less cost. It is not that I cannot afford the HD branded tire offered by the dealer...just why pay extra for that HD on the sidewall.

Thanks for the reply.

 

I am not sure. I am out of town now and cannot look at the sidewall of the tire. But the Dunlop web site says 42 PSI max. I run 40 PSI 2 up...do you think 2 PSI would make that much difference?
I would not feel comfortable exceeding manufactors 42 PSI MAX pressure.
I would prefer premature wear, rather than a blow out at any speed.
Thanks for the reply.

 

Yep...I agree with this on a car. I run sidewall pressures on my vehicles...except my 3/4 ton truck, cause it will jar your teeth of you fill the tires up.
My concern would be how the full pressure would effect handling? MAybe the same.
Thanks for the reply