Squaring off tyres - how fast?

[ThunderGuts]

OK, so I'm obviously aware of the issue but have been fortunate that my last three bikes have all been bought with new/nearly new tyres, that combined with my low annual mileage and the fact I rarely use straight roads as I'm fortunate enough to purely ride for pleasure, means I've not actually encountered the issue as yet. So my two questions are;

1) Does squaring off happen irrespective of riding conditions eventually (on the basis that even a "twisty" route will still probably have a bike spending the majority of the time upright or nearly upright)

2) How quickly does motorway travel knacker tyres out? Is doing the odd several hundred mile motorway journey mixed in with the usual twisty stuff going to see tyres ready for binning rather rapidly, or is the rate this happens at exaggerated and in reality it takes thousands of motorway miles?

Running Scorpion Trail 2 tyres by the way.

Cheers
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TG.

[Riejufixing]

[ThunderGuts]

I'd say 95% of the time I'm pretty easy going on both; I try to plan corners to avoid braking / acceleration and get a smooth transition through them. There are occasions I don't though . . .
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TG.

[MarJay]

Motorway miles do it. None of my bikes have ever really done it except the ones I use to commute on the motorway. In which case you can do it in 3000-4000 miles.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[stinkwheel]

I tend to ride up the motorway to Scotland, hammer the shit out of the twisties, then back down the motorway again. My tyres land up more like a 50p over time but it certainly squares them then brings them back to more of a round over the course of a trip. For perspective, I'll generally do about 200 miles of motorway and 250-300 miles of twisties on a weekend run with the bike fully laden.

A lot depends on the tyre too. We fitted a new PR4GT to my bike and a road5 to the wifes bike. I'm heavier but I also tend to throw it into corners more enthusiastically. After our Euro tour last summer we'd both done exactly the same mileage. Mine was square and worn/feathered off the edge of the tread, hers looked like new with fair sized unused portions of tread.

I also now have a road5 GT...
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[A100man]

Run an Avon Speedmaster - since the rear is square to start with you'll never know the difference
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Now: A100, GT250A, XJ598, FZ750

Then: Fizz, RS200, KL250, XJ550, Laverda Alpina, XJ600, FZS600

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

[ThunderGuts]

Thanks all. Interesting the comment about low speed behaviour. I guess it's all a balance. 6-7k miles for a tyre . . . I can believe that, I bought my bike with 6k on it and it'd just had new boots.
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TG.

[stinkwheel]

Only gas-it in corners.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[c_dug]

I do around 12k miles a year and 90+% of that is city commuting.

The last couple of generations of tyres seem to really resist squaring off, my commute hasn't changed since 2012 and I don't think I've had properly square tyres since... T30's's maybe?

In any case, I use Road 5's now, I'm onto my third rear, and they seem to lose some of the sharpness of their profile a bit (not that they're a particularly pointy tyre) but in my experience never become what I'd consider square.

Edit: Oh, and I accelerate like a plonker from traffic lights a few times a week - my average speed is high twentysomething mph, I'm certainly not avoiding low speed acceleration!
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I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[Nobby the Bastard]

All of mine end up shaped like 50p pences.

on my commute I'm typically either in a straight line or going round a roundabout for the vast majority of the journey. The roundabouts seem to be the bit that makes the tyres bald first. Metzler Z6s.
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Sprint ST 1050

[chickenstrip]

[stinkwheel]

[xX-Alex-Xx]

Just keep swerving side to side the whole time. Issue will resolve itself.
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DILLIGAF

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

not sure if anyone's mentioned it but another kind of deformation that sometimes happens with front tyres is uneven wear nearside to offside, so that the latter chamfers because of crown camber

the ironic implication of this seems to be that, if you avoid motorways and opt for e.g. unmarked back lines, you illeviate rear tyres squaring off but now the problem is with chiselling off the sweet, rounded profile of the front tyre

in practice, what actually happens is that the rear squares off (that's just the natural sort of pattern of wear, eventually), and the front's offside goes angular - but them together, and it can make for some horrible handling habits. bikes never prone to anything resembling slappy fronts start to shake their heads in corners, and when the going gets properly tight, they basically do NOT want to know and you find yourself slipping further and further behind those ahead of you
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"Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."

Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125

[A100man]

[Riejufixing]

[1198]

I’ve got about7k from a set of Contimotions of predominantly motorway miles over the last couple of years. They’re still plenty legal, albeit slightly square now, but I’m now watching them a little more closely. They weren’t particularly expensive and handle well enough for A and B Road use - I’ve been out this afternoon and covered 125 miles on the twisties and enjoyed them all.
I’ll be putting 325 miles on them tomorrow then the same again Sunday And next Thursday too - I imagine they’ll be about buggered by then. They’re on a ZZR - so hardly a light bike either

[garth]

5k motorway miles done in the last three months and the Avon Storms on the V Strom aren't square yet. The trade off for this is there's limited grip. You can't have it all. Pilot Roads come close.
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You ain't a has been if you never was

[Jozzer]

This is an issue I've suffered for all of my biking career and never been able to cure it as of yet...

No matter how hard I crank it through the twisties (and there's a good few round my way) I still only seem to wear the middle of the tyre out, anyone know what that's all about ?...

[ThatDippyTwat]

Commuting - 2K. Thrashing the tits off it - 5K.
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'98 VFR800 (touring) - '12 VFR800 Crosrunner (Commuting) - '01 KDX220 (Big Green Antisocial Machine)

[Jozzer]

[MCN]

[Jozzer]

Conti Attack are super grippy but they do this by using a softer compound.
I was easily getting 7k+ miles on Metzerlers on an R1200GS.
I tried the Contis and never got much more than 3k to the wire.
So I wont be fitting them again.

You and me both buddy, especially considering the price of'em...

[FretGrinder]

I found the Avon Storm ultra tyres to be a fantastic commuter tyre on my CBF1000 when I had it, they were recommended to me as a good tyre.

I was doing 70 miles a day with a lot of motorway miles and I would would regularly see upwards of 10k miles before the middle of the tyre was on its last legs.

For me, I found that they weren't spectacular in wet or dry but we're good enough in both types of weather for general grip, even on the winter roads.

If I was commuting again, I'd go for the successor, namely the Avon Storm 3D XM.

They pale in comparison to the current OEM tyres I have on the MT-09, after 3k miles, they've had it. I'm on a second set as the other half had pilot road 4's put on when new, so we kept the OEM tyres, so I out them on and saved me some cash this year.

I'm more of a fair weather rider these days as I don't have to commute on the bike anymore and I don't have anywhere safe to keep the bike at work, so I'll be possibly looking for something sticker next year.
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Yamaha MT-09

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