Tyre wear indicators

Simple question, a thousand opinions…

At what point has your tyre has too much and needs retiring (pun intended)
My edge indicator triangles are fine… chicken strips only rarely bothered on our roads, but my centre profile has flattened off some and my BT023’s wear indicators are now quite apparent… more so on the leading edge of the tread pattern where a few are just kissing the tyre outer-profile. I am considering tyres for replacement but wonder what you guys take as a definite “times-up” point???

They’re fine, as long as they still feel stable, my tyres usually run out of grip before they run out of tread if you know what I mean?

1 Like

Legally its fine. I cant recall the exact wording but its something like, x amount of millimetres across 3/4 of the tyre. Personally thats the point where I’d be looking at ordering new rubber. I ride quite spirited and you can feel some tyres loose grip at that level of wear. If you plod around gently, you’ll easily get another possibly 500 miles and still be legal.

2 Likes

I tend not to rag round the lanes like I used to as a lad… still like lofting the front a bit and a bit of “spirit” here and there. This explains the centre wear, but checking the tyre pressure, I remembered I was trialling some recommended pressures from the TDM forum (about 5psi lower than factory recommendations) which may also have an effect… I’ve gone back to factory to see if I notice a difference.

1 Like

For me it tends to be the point at which they start to fall over that squared edge. I’ve used Bridgestones a lot but do find they square quite easily and you can really feel when they do that. Just changed the V twin Tuono on to Dunlop Roadsmart IVs as the reviews reckon they keep their shape much better. Only time will tell but here is one of the reviews :sunglasses:

1 Like

I usually find that my tyre replacement is driven by my annual tours. If it looks like I can complete the tour (normally between 1500 to 2500 miles) I will keep the tyres on the bike. But what normally happens is I end end swapping the tyres long before they get near the wear blocks to ensure I can complete the tour without problems.

3 Likes

The legal limit is 1mm over 3/4 of the centre tyre and a visible tread on the remainder, that said those of us that run Supercorsa’s or RRs know that there is no tread in the centre, personally when grip fades I change them and before 2mm. Tyres have recently cost me eye watering amounts, I changed a set as they soon went toast, although I went for a softer option than normal, then fitted a set of RRs and covered about 200 miles and got a flaming tear, another set of RRs and these have now gone up in the last few weeks. As a lot have said if they are performing ok and legal then why change, for road riding I stick with recommended pressures, low tyre pressure can increase the heat generated inside the tyre, which affects the performance and handling of the bike. This is why riding with low tyre pressures can compromise safety, likewise over-inflation does not increase load-carrying capacity; instead, it creates a hard ride and accelerates wear in the middle of the contact patch. I think what is more important is “how old is the tyre”, look at the date code on the sidewall to see when it was manufactured, I always ask for the date when buying tyres as some suppliers buy in old new stock that allows them to sell them more competitively.




4 Likes

DCS, You say the profile has flattened some but it looks ok to me. I recently changed the tyres on my Tracer when the rear had flattened off that much that I thought that maybe the bike would stand up by itself. Far too late, I should have changed them earlier.

Love that image

My Avon Cobra Chrome rears start with 8mm tread and I replace at 2mm, that’s 6/7th way worn to legal limit. Doesn’t seem worth pushing it to eek out another 1/7th of life. Also, new tyres without the squaring-off tip seamlessly into corners and feels so much more smooth :slight_smile:

1 Like

I’m down at around 1.5 mm and square atm. I find that last lap of tread burns off at a much faster rate and a 200 mile ride is all that needs to finish it to bald at times.
This time I’m going to mix tyres since Dougie Doig swapped his in desperation and mixed them since as I’ve got two ‘mixed set’s part worns in stock that have been punctured and bought for nowt. I’ll go by whichever is the older tyre first that needs using.

1 Like

Can always bank on you to get “full value”. :grinning:

Factory recommended tyre pressures are a mystery. My Ducati and my Street Triple have exactly the same wheel diameters and rim widths back and front. The Ducati is 20 kg heavier than the Triumph and is currently fitted with Dunlop Qualifyer IIs. The Ducati recommended pressures are 33/36 front/rear.

Those same tyres on the Triumph show recommended pressures of 33/42. These recommended pressures are echoed on the Dunlop website for those bikes.

The tyre tech at Dunlop could not explain why the lighter bike had a higher pressure recommendation for the rear tyre.

I have decided to run the lower pressure for the rear.

2 Likes

That’s a bit of a mystery. I’d like to know what’s going on with those numbers as well.

42 rear quoted by triumph is to cover all scenarios. For solo riding I always go with a softer rear. KTM quotes two rear pressures, solo and pillion/luggage. Fully loaded is 42

What do you use out of interest on your Street Triple? I have 32 front / 36 rear at present and it feels good for where my riding is at.

1 Like

Very similar to you. Usually in and around f33 r36. The rear is slightly less prone to squaring off and the tyres heat up and retain heat better in our colder climate. I do always tend to get some uneven wear on the front once its well worn. Seems to happen to me nomatter what pressure I keep the front.

1 Like

I think you will find that 42 psi is a very common recommendation for rear tyre pressures. These two videos are worth a watch.

1 Like

I only have time to watch the first one at the moment. It’s an interesting and methodical approach to considering the variables and figuring out which pressure works best for you. It would still be helpful to understand what the expected conditions are for the recmmended pressures to help set a baseline.

Conditions and riding style aren’t really consistent for many people so the ‘preferred’ pressure may actually be two or three different values. Not to mention riding in the wet. You’d have to be a particular type of person to methodically test across all conditions. For most it’s going to be a case of “that’ll do” unless the recommended pressures are noticeably affecting their riding.

Yesterday we had a spirited ride to the Ducati dealership near Aylesbury and I had the front at 33 and rear at 36. Everything was fine so that is what I intend to use on my Ducati 900 SSie and my Triumph Street Triple R (LRH) from now on. :grinning:

3 Likes