OzSTOC
Honda ST1300 Section => Tyres...to suit your ST1300 => Topic started by: Dragonstaff on March 26, 2023, 07:27:17 PM
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This is being replaced on Tuesday, so I'm not particularly worried, but I wonder if anyone has an explanation for the wear on this tyre? It isn't darkside related, because the shape was there before the tyre change on the back, but I strikes me as odd. The knife-edge on the sides is also interesting. On a car I would say alignment,but I don't think that that is a consideration on the front of a bike.
Bridgestone Battleaxe. The new one is a Pirrelli Angel GT
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I've experienced this on other bikes, Super Tenere, FJR, etc. Commonly called scalping and there is no end of suggested causes. Michelin motorcycle tyre guy I met up Mt Mee once said its more common cause is pressures and that not all tyres are made the same for the same bike and rider weights and riding styles. If you go the Angel GT be sure to get an 'A' carcass as its meant to suit the heavier sports tourers.
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yep, I have noticed that an extra 2-4 psi helps reduce it. 44-45 in the front, and 44-46 in the rear 46 2up).
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I ended up with similar wear on the Bridgestone Battlax that was fitted to my ST when I bought it...even down to the strange groove/scratch roughly down the centre.
Even the current front tyre (a Dunlop RoadSmart 3) has started to wear in similar fashion although there's no strange centre groove/scratch as yet...
I've recently upped the tyre pressure from what I had been running so it will be interesting to see if the abnormal wear continues. :think1
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I got caught on a long tour with tyres that had worn out in the centre (still lots of trread away from the middle) and I still had a few thousand km to go before I could get them changed. I dropped the pressures by about 4psi, and the centre wear almost astopped and the sides scalloped really badly, but they got me where I needed to go. The chap that changed the tyres commented that wear indicated that I'd been running pressures that were low, so I told him the story.
The lesson for me was that low tyre pressures contribute to severe scalloping on the sides, so I'd suggest bumping up your pressures. From memory a lot of the ST folk are running with 42 and 44 psi.
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I'm currently running 44psi in the front, 46psi in the rear...
I think some of the initial abnormal wear (front & rear) was due to the dodgy tyre pressure gauge I'd been using which, after checking with other tyre gauges, was found to be overstating pressures by a couple of psi.
My advice is to buy a decent gauge and certainly don't rely on the gauges at your typical petrol station as they can be notoriously inaccurate... :thumbs
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I'm another advocate for running higher pressures than is recommended. It was this very topic that saw me discover the old Yahoo ST group back in 2009ish. Scalloping was something I had not experienced on any of my previous bikes. I think the OEM's were Bridgestones and the front was changed at 8k and the rear at 12k with terrible scalloping. Through an excellent explanation from a member I then used to run 45-46 in both front and rear. The best I got was 28k out of a set of Michelin PR4's.
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Another thing to consider when adjusting tire pressures is the combined weight of rider, pillion, cargo any accessories.
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I got caught on a long tour with tyres that had worn out in the centre (still lots of trread away from the middle) and I still had a few thousand km to go before I could get them changed. I dropped the pressures by about 4psi, and the centre wear almost astopped and the sides scalloped really badly, but they got me where I needed to go. The chap that changed the tyres commented that wear indicated that I'd been running pressures that were low, so I told him the story.
The lesson for me was that low tyre pressures contribute to severe scalloping on the sides, so I'd suggest bumping up your pressures. From memory a lot of the ST folk are running with 42 and 44 psi.
Yeah but...
Doesn't that lead to early tyre centre wearing? I can easily visualise why it would reduce scalloping, but mine tend to go in the centre first, using the common 42/42 (290kpa). I do get mild scalloping. I frequently have a pillion on the ST, usually Mrs Biggles.
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Another thing to consider when adjusting tire pressures is the combined weight of rider, pillion, cargo any accessories.
Good point, JD! :thumbs
Which is why from day one I'd ran 44psi in the rear but due to my dodgy gauge I was probably actually only running 42-ish which, with Sue on the back along with my not inconsiderable weight would have meant we were running the tyre under-inflated... :||||