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Sanity check on tire wear


swilson

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First noticed this last week, but I was riding in strong winds, so I thought it may have just been a cross wind.

 

Set the throttle lock on the way home tonight so I could use both hands to work on a zipper on my jacket... took my hands off the bars and the bike steered hard right. Whoa. It steers so hard right no amount of body lean could get it to ride straight.

 

Just bought the bike a couple months ago. Never wrecked or damaged. Rear tire is new. I thought the front was nearly new, but a closer look showed me the left side of the tire is worn noticable more than the right side.

 

So just a sanity check for me... the uneven wear is cause by the crown in the roadway, right? And the left side wear is causing the pull to the right, right?

 

I've never experienced this with my work bike, even on worn tires its always tracked straight. Different tires though, and different type of miles.

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First noticed this last week, but I was riding in strong winds, so I thought it may have just been a cross wind.

 

Set the throttle lock on the way home tonight so I could use both hands to work on a zipper on my jacket... took my hands off the bars and the bike steered hard right. Whoa. It steers so hard right no amount of body lean could get it to ride straight.

 

Just bought the bike a couple months ago. Never wrecked or damaged. Rear tire is new. I thought the front was nearly new, but a closer look showed me the left side of the tire is worn noticable more than the right side.

 

So just a sanity check for me... the uneven wear is cause by the crown in the roadway, right? And the left side wear is causing the pull to the right, right?

 

I've never experienced this with my work bike, even on worn tires its always tracked straight. Different tires though, and different type of miles.

 

Scott, to answer one of your questions; yes most if not ALL or the BMW oil heads pull to the right slightly (PTTR).. Your bike seems to be a little worse than most though as most I have been on can be balanced by the rider to go somewhat straight by leaning off to the side or placing the right leg against the tank & left leg out as far as possible then doing the same with the both the arms & head..

 

Now on your tire wear issue.. L/H side tire wear is very prevalent on most motorcycles ridden in the United States.. Just what’s causing it is somewhat up for debate.. Without seeing the tire there is no way to tell you for sure.. Even looking at it might not tell the entire story.. What I can tell you here is they do wear on the L/H side with some riders or bikes experiencing it worse than others..

 

You can probably tell us better than we can tell you though.. First define EXACTLY where the wear is in relation to the center of the tire.. Then get a couple of large friends to help you tilt the bike to the left (of use the kick stand & pieces of wood) & lean the bike over to the left until that defined wear is flat on the ground.. That would be the lean angle that the bike is at when that wear is occurring.. Now IF you are leaning the bike over that far just riding straight down the road then it’s possible your wear could be from PTTR,, on the other hand IF the road crown in your riding area is tilted that much (most common road crown is under ½°) then it COULD be a road crown issue.. On the other hand if that lean angle is the angle you lean the bike on L/H turns or cornering to the left then you have found your probable root cause.. Keep in mind that most people corner harder & faster to the left, & left hand turns are longer than R/H turns.. Also keep in mind that motorcycle tires are somewhat round in profile so only a narrow band usually touches the ground at any one time.. That means that if the part that is wearing isn’t on the ground it isn’t wearing at that time..

 

Twisty

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